Who Else Thinks That A Mechanical Pencil Is The Next-Best Thing To A Fountain Pen?

[BatMirk]

I've been a fan of mechanical pencils for a surprising number of years now, I started using them at school when I was about 9, and have carried one since.
If my memory is correct, I started with a green/black Staedtler graphite 777, but lost it. I then got a Pilot Shaker (H-245), which served me faithfully for a couple of years, until it was finally broken beyond repair. After that (I think I was 11, maybe 12) I got a Staedtler exactly like the first one, and that lasted 8-9 years. I decided to replace it last week. Not because it's broken, it still works perfectly, but because it looks like it's seen enough of war.

Now I have a Penol Double-Click/Knock and I'm enjoying it very much.

 

I've never really used anything other than 0.5 HB lead. I'll take a fine line rather than a broad anyday, and after four years of studying design, craft and goldsmithing, I've found that soft lead will probably be the one thing that pushes me over the edge. While I use softer regular pencils for sketching, the final draft and details had to be done with a 2H pencil or HB mp, due to smearing. My teacher once reduced my overall grade on a project by a whole point (from 5 to 4 out of 6) because some of the writing had been smeared in a corner. (A mistake due to haste, but clearly unforgivable.)

 

I no longer carry regular pencils aroud, though. My daily stash has been reduced to a fountain pen, a mechanical pencil and a few pigment liners.

[migo984]

Yes , I think sometimes pencils cannot be beaten, even by FPs, in certain situations. I have several mechanical pencils, the Pentel Graph 1000 is my favourite. Looks gorgeous with its deep brown barrel. And agree the Ain Stein leads are superlative.

 

But wood pencils are closest to my heart. TomBow Mono 100, Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, and especially my Palomino Blackwing and Blackwing 602s. Used with a Kum long-point sharpener - yummy :-)

 

Marie

[GClef]

This thread started out about disposable MPs, but they're still MPs.

[ajcoleman]

I have also been a fan of good mechanical pencils longer than fountain pens. I was first introduced to Pentel in high school when I had a summer job working for a surveyor in 1979. I had never seen a pencil with such fine lead. When I went on to engineering college, EVERYONE wrote with a Pentel pencil. I still have the 0.5mm Pentel Executive Slim that I used then.

 

I don't write with pencil as much now as I used to, but I always carry one. Lately my favorites have been pencils that are part of a matched set with a fountain pen. I have a number of Parker 45 pen and pencil sets I rotate through and a nice dove grey Parker 51 Vacumatic with a matching pencil. These pencils write very smooth with 0.9 mm Pentel HB lead, much better than they did with the original, harder lead they came with back in the day. Modern vinyl erasers, which sometimes need some trimming to fit, are also an improvement over the originals. I wish more modern fountain pens still came with matching pencils.

[flatline]

All my drafting pencils are 0.3mm with the exception of my Pilot S10's. I bought the whole set of S10's, so I have that particular model in 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9mm.

 

I do not have any 2mm lead holders, but a friend of mine (who, incidentally, has sunk as much into mechanical pencils as I have mechanical pencils and fountain pens combined) has several lead holders that I've been playing with and they're pretty nice for sketching. I think I'll eventually pick one up for myself and maybe one for the little man (he still prefers crayola marker to anything else...).

 

--flatline

[Pen Nut]

I have had a couple of old YoL pencils and although I found them interesting to look at I didnt use them.

 

After the FP it would have to be a roller or ball pen for me.

[Eclectica]

I would agree - most significantly, and especially, if of the demonstrator variety - like the one on my desk:

http://www.rapidonline.com/catalogueimages/module/M081075P01WL.jpg

 

Also it is a case of - 'anything but that smear across the page blobby ball pen - please'.

 

Cheers,

E.

[Vendome]

I've got 3 Parker mechanical pencils, (Arrow, Jotter, 45) but the Staedtler Mars Micro 775 is a classic design.

[attika89]

I came from mechanical pencils to fountain pens. I've always had interest in good mechanical pencils, and soft lead.

Somehow, I got into fountain pens. I never liked ballpoint pens, so I needed a pen that I felt comfortable using.

 

In my class notes I use mainly fountain pens, but when I need to write small, do quick drawings that would get messy with ink or something like that, I use mechanical pencils.

+1 My thoughts exactly!

I fell in love with the Rotring 600 mechanical pencil first, than I saw the fountain pen what was kind of out of my price range. I've started to look up fountain pens after that and I've arrived to this forum

 

Now I have 3 Rotring 600s and a Rotring Rapid Pro 2.0 mm. I love them all.

I love drawing with pencils and fountain pens, but I feel I'm better with pencils.

http://www.kepfeltoltes.hu/130915/udvar2_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg

Edited September 15, 2013 by attika89

[Pterodactylus]

Wow Attila, this drawing is amazing thanks for posting it !!!

Please show us more of your artwork!

[Kugelschreiber]

Wow Attila, this drawing is amazing thanks for posting it !!!

Please show us more of your artwork!

 

+1 (And the same for your drawing above.)

 

Fountain pens = Batman; Pencils (mechanical or wood) = Robin. They compliment each other perfectly and are just fine for 99% of our writing.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Kugelschreiber

[Kugelschreiber]

here are some of my pencils

 

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n419/peterpaul_rguez/pencils/P3080089_zps525df5a7.jpg

 

 

In the Sheaffer case, what is the second pencil or pen from the top? And is that an Ingersol pencil at the bottom?

[Runnin_Ute]

Very rarely since the early to mid 70's have I used any pencil other than a MP. The current one is a nice stainless steel Parker that was part of a set with a ballpoint if memory serves me correctly. I have at least one other, but it doesn't hold the leads well. I have had it since high school. For a time ran either red or blue lead in it.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Runnin_Ute

[randyholhut]

Always like to have a MP as part of the daily carry. Started years ago with Scriptos, the Pentel Quicker Clicker in the 1980s, and the Pentel P205s and Dr. Grips today, as well as the MP mates to many of my favorite FPs.

 

Pencils are rarely the first choice for writing, but they're good for when the weather outside is too cold or too wet for ink pens.

[beak]

For handwriting, the well-made mechanical pencil is very good, and rightly accompanies the FP in standard sets.

 

For draughting, the 2mm is king, IMO - an opinion, btw, based on more then thirty years designing and draughting for the film industry every day.

 

In the world of draughting, there seems to be a natural progression from MP to 2mm clutch; all of those who I know who have been properly introduced to the 2mm will prefer it and use it in preference to the MP. Sharpening is the great barrier with the 2mm, but once mastered the 2mm flies well beyond the limits of the MP.

[Blade Runner]

Question for anybody: Do you prefer a 0.7 mm or a 0.9 mm lead for general purpose writing?

[pen lady]

I write with an MP most of the time. Usually vintage, I have an old Parker that I use for the morning crossword, I have a Parker 21 MP tucked in my shopping-list pad, a black Sheaffer "tucky" in my small appointment diary and a chrome Cross in my journal. There's something sensual about pencil that a BP just doesn't have, and, much as I love my fountain pens, sometimes they can be inconvenient.

[lovemy51]

 

 

In the Sheaffer case, what is the second pencil or pen from the top? And is that an Ingersol pencil at the bottom?

oops, the second one from the top in the Sheaffers case is a Montegrapa mini BP -not a pencil... the bottom is an Eagle MP.

[lovemy51]

Question for anybody: Do you prefer a 0.7 mm or a 0.9 mm lead for general purpose writing?

.9mm 2B lead

[Pterodactylus]

Question for anybody: Do you prefer a 0.7 mm or a 0.9 mm lead for general purpose writing?

I prefer 0.5 or even 0.3 mm.