Nah, mechanical pencils are a niche, and those Japanese ones are a niche within a niche here in the Netherlands too. In Japan they are common, mainly due to the writing system that is very well suited to mechanical pencils, so they are common in schools.
I use the Uni Kuru Toga in its fancy aluminium variant for both Dutch (mostly random notes and DIY measurements) and Japanese (I'm Dutch, but proficient in Japanese). For writing kanji, the self-rotating core just can't be beat. The line thickness remains a very neat 0.3mm with 0.5mm pencil lead due to the cone at the writing end staying, well, a cone.
Fortunately, these pencils can be ordered worldwide these days via various resellers. In Japan you get the luxury of just being able to walk into a 文房具屋 (a stationary shop) and buy one starting from ¥500 or so.
The Kuru Toga is so versatile, I have three with different lead. But I do want to investigate these others :D About thirty years ago, I had a Faber-Castell where the lead sleeve retracted and automatically dispensed new lead so finally I will be able to get a similar replacement. It’s not always Japan!
I guess you're talking about Faber Castell gripmatic.
They are still in production. Problem is they are plastic and the brand and model fades after using it heavily, which makes hard to guess which @#$! lead size you need (I use Staedler leads because the case has feeding mechanism that feeds the lead into the pencil without having to touch the leads with your hand. Neat and tidy).
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Overengineered certainly fits the bill, but boy do I love mine (Pentel Orenz).
At 0.2mm it’s great for a math, especially with the number of super and subscripts I find myself ending up with.
The redesigned clutch on the one pencil is a Kevin good idea I wish all pencils have. Being able to write till the last 0.5mm of lead instead of wasting 10mm.
10mm doesn’t sound like a lot, but standard lead is only 60mm long, so we’re talking about wasting 16% of the lead. It gets even worse if it happens to break into shorter pieces.
I feel like lead distribution/packaging/format is suboptimal. You can only buy leads in very small quantity, compared to the size of their container, and their short length, as you say, means you have lots of losses.
Maybe longer leads would mean more breakage, but I feel like there is room for improvements in terms of general waste.
I have a couple of Rotring 800’s that i adore because of the disappearing tip(makes them much more packable!) However I’m the only person I know who has anything not disposable.
All my German pens and colored pencils are for art, interestingly. Great investment it's been over the years, keep on coming back to faber-castell, but it does seem to be the focus of what is made in your country.
I grew up in Iran and these were very common back in the day. I personally had a very bad reaction to the sound of pencil on a paper and i could only write using these.
In my experience in the US (Texas), most school students only use mechanical pencils for regular work. It's more convenient (no sharpener), and cheaper than a regular pencil.
Getting japanese supplies in Europe ain't easy. Most of the stuff you find in Amazon is from this party suppliers and is overpriced.
I guess in Germany you can buy some stuff from Müller. Whenever I visit Majorca (I know, sometimes it feels you're not in Spain but in a small länder) I go to the stationery section in the Müller located in Plaza de España.
I know that mechanical pencils with a dampened tip where used in Germany at least since the late 80s. This was the heyday of technical drawing and it is where I encountered them. I believe that they were rarely used even back then.
Where I grew up mechanical pencils were common but they were either very utilitarian (stick of graphite that you would adjust by twisting the 'shaved' portion of the pencil), goofy, or the regular click to extend. I got one of the kuru togas at a friends recommendation when I was working on my hand writing and it is the first time in over thirty years that I've had a pen or pencil that I've kept and maintained. It wasn't even expensive, about ten dollars, buying 'disposable' pens and pencils had cost more.
Here in China I realised if you want more than 4 colors or so, multicolour pens are also Japanese imports only. But they're too fat to be useful, IMHO. It's also hard to source ballpoint pens in non red-blue-black colours, for no apparent reason. I guess I'm oddball for liking colour contrast in my notes. The nicest pen I ever bought was machined out of Laotian tropical hardwood but it was a traditional calligraphic pen with the nib and ink management issues. For modern writing implements... you can't beat a fullscreen terminal, vim and a Cherry (German design, China fabrication I guess). https://www.cherry-world.com/
> I guess I'm oddball for liking colour contrast in my notes.
I just started taking notes to learn a new programming language. Writing the code with a red pen and my own notes in blue makes for a fantastic contrast.
I have a Pentel Orenz Nero 0.2mm with such a feature. It is pretty nice, but you will often scratch over the paper with the metal which is definitely a counter argument.
Makes 0.2mm usable though. I think for 0.5mm you don't need it, just get some decent 'lead'.
I have a Pentel (0.5) that I purchased 12 years ago. I treat it with equal ritual and reverence as I do, say, my Korean crossbow, or Leica optics - it has its own altar of sorts. I may have appendages of my own form that are guarded less. I modified it though, using a glue to permanently fix the pocket clip into a particular position.
I was hesitant to post a trivial comment, but I discovered an ancient container of 0.5 pencil inserts this morning, and... I worship high quality Pentels. Built to last!
Alright, I went in thinking "come on, how 'overengineered' can a mechanical pencil be?", and by about halfway through I wanted to buy one, and at the end I readily admit that they've managed to find exactly the problems with these things and fix them, way beyond what I would have thought practical. Remarkable:)
A product is not overengineered when it has many features, but when its many features make basic usage problematic, generally because the thing becomes less robust and fails too often. These features in the video look useful, but we haven't heard anything about failure rates, so we can't say if it's overengineering or not.
This is crazy cool!
I wonder how these miniscule and thin lead sleeves are produced and how they manage to stay within tolerance and even get a rounded edge.
I highly recommend getting the kuro toga pipe slide. The pipe slides up to protect the lead as you're writing, but you still get the clutch mechanism that rotates the lead.
They're available on amazon for not a huge amount of money:
That was fun. I don't use anything except mechanical pencils but none of those really grabbed me and I generally love gadgets. For some reason I don't like the bouncy feel of the spring-protected tips and the only time I break leads is when I drop the pencil on the floor.
The engineering on the spring protected pencils is amazing, I also like the rounded tip, retractable sleeve on the 0.2mm pencils. I hadn’t seen that before this video.
Many years ago I really hoped the Kura Toga would be as revolutionary as the Quicker Clicker was back in the mid-90s, but it always felt like I was fighting the lead orientation. I have eventually settled on the rOtring and draftmatics because I enjoy their aggressive knurling.
I would really like a heavy, aggressively knurled side advance (preferably lower than the Pentel’s). I really miss the transparent barrel that displayed the action of the Quicker Clicker, but like the ergonomics of the fatter, tackier rubber grip.
I found the QC and the Pilot Precise V5, around the same time and nearly 30 years later they are still among my favorites. I mostly use the V5RT these days, but gladly grab a V5 (in blue or green) when I can.
+1 on the Quicker Clicker. A fatter grip would be nice, but it's still hands down the best mechanical pencil I've ever used, and I've tried some fancy ones. My Kuru Toga stopped rotating and it no longer feeds lead properly. I've never had a QC break on me, I just lose them eventually due to frequent use.
The last time this happened, i dismantled the cone of my Kuru Toga and found a small piece of lead stuck between the dispenser and the "side wall". Cleaned it out, and the pencil was as good as new. Switched to a slightly better brand of pencil lead (Staedtler), and have not seen this problem again.
You're looking for the Rotring 800, my friend. Twist to retract / extend the lead sleeve into / out of a rounded nub. And it has a beautiful solid heavy build.
There are also the Pentel GraphGear models, which retract / extend with push, but the build isn't as satisfying.
JetPens’ marketing is amazing. Their online storefront is very well put together, and above all their buyer team ensures they have mountains of imported variety in every category.
It’s so nice to see someone doing something well. Really well.
I have no connection to them other than I spent $500 with them last Christmas on gifts for my entire family.
I've used the Kuru Toga for years. The mechanism is so good that I don't see the argument for any other pencil. Which is actually a shame, as I can't get excited for other pencils anymore.
During my school years we had all kinds of discussions and comparisons for best pencils, best pens, best erasers.
As for erasers - do you recall anything that beats out the Pentel Hi-Polymer block eraser for the overwhelming vast majority of use cases?
I seriously couldn’t gear over just how bad Staedtler block eraser performed when I’d seen so many rave about it. I haven’t tried much other than it & the Pentel when it comes to erasers tho.
I'm happy with my Sakura Foam eraser but the Pentel is certainly a classic. Not sure about Staedtler but everyone I've known throughout grade school and college coalesced onto Japanese brands, presumably for a reason ;)
I have the Orenz Nero, the Kuru Toga and even a Faber-Castell alpha-matic, but my favorite is a Faber-Castell e-motion with its lovely tactile wood barrel and expressive 1.4mm lead.
How does the automatic lead extender know by how much to extend the lead? If I were to write lots of dots, the lead would wear off less than when I wrote lots of dashes, but I would touch the paper and lift the pen an equal amount of times. Guess: is it weight controlled?
The automatic lead advance works like this: When the lead sleeve is retracted by any amount, it springs back to it's full length and along with that advances the lead by that amount. The way this happens in practice is as you write, the lead wears down till the sleeve rubs against the paper. Usually we write with the pencil at an angle with the paper. This angle causes the lead sleeve to retract when it rubs on the paper and then when you lift the pencil for the next stroke, the lead sleeve will spring back into position advancing the lead with it.
I looked hard for a nice pen about 5 years ago. I ended up going with a Zebra Sharbo X LT3. I use them so much that the matte finish comes to a shine in about 3 months and the plastic mechanism inside loosens up in about 1 year. They probably would last much longer if I did not flip them all day everyday. I happily buy new ones when it's time from JetPens. I've tried a few other models but nothing compares to the Sharbo X LT3.
Unfortunately, the pretty colors have been discontinued, but if you're looking for a multipen and don't mind putting up some money, they're great.
These are super cool, but I have to admit I’ve sworn by BIC 0.5mm mechanical pencils for years. Part of it is that they are so cheap and commonplace, I like that at least for one aspect of my life I don’t rely on some super custom, boutique version of an everyday product.
Cool! I just bought one of these (the shake one) and while checking out I accidentally didn't un-check the "sign me up for your newsletter box". Instead of automatically starting to spam me– they actually sent me a confirmation email asking if I really wanted to sign up for their newsletter– how considerate! Bravo Jet Pens for avoiding that dark pattern.
I’ve been a huge JetPens fan for years. Something about the over-engineering makes it almost hobby-like to collect these pens and pencils.
On the downside, I probably own 500 or so pens and pencils of all variety, plus a requisite number of over-engineered pencil cases.
The habit extends beyond JetPens into somewhat exotic materials, like the pens from Tactile Turn out of Texas. It’s easy to spend $400+ on a pen there. It makes a fun conversation piece but very few understand the “cool pen” impulse some have.
In middle school, a buddy of mine drew a beautiful picture of a Bugatti Veyron with a silver Pilot Dr. Grip Ltd. shaker pencil and I was so enamored by his drawing and his pencil. He spent weeks getting the details just right during downtime in math class.
It got me interested in stationary ever since then, and I've always loved JetPens. I've gone through phases where I really like mechanical pencils, although I mostly write with Uni Signo UM-151 0.38mm gel pens. Super smooth with a crisp, fine line.
JetPens is a great site with a very cool niche. Check out Kinokuniya too. There's one in Little Tokyo in LA. Lots of pens, pencils, notebooks, and all sorts of books and manga.
Wow these are amazing. I bought my daughter a mechanical drafting pencil with 0.9 mm lead because 0.5 tends ti break on her. These might be the better solution
There's over engineered mechanical pencils and then there's the Wingback[0]. A £140 mechanical pencil made from stainless steel, featuring bespoke internals made in Japan and finished with a tungsten carbide coating.
It may be over engineered and overpriced, but damn if it's not one beautiful item of stationary.
I've used a Pilot shaker mechanical pencil [1] over 20 years ago, and I'm quite surprised that the shaking mechanism, and many other quality-of-life improvements, still aren't that ubiquitous.
Isn't a button on side that you can press with pointing finger much simpler and faster way for achieving same thing? Was shaking in the video exaggerated and single flick of wrist sufficient or do you really need to shake that much? Looking forward hearing from someone who has used it, from the video it looked more like a gimmick than practical improvement.
114 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 188 ms ] threadAre these pencils common where you live? Here in Germany, they are known, but rather seldomly used...
I use the Uni Kuru Toga in its fancy aluminium variant for both Dutch (mostly random notes and DIY measurements) and Japanese (I'm Dutch, but proficient in Japanese). For writing kanji, the self-rotating core just can't be beat. The line thickness remains a very neat 0.3mm with 0.5mm pencil lead due to the cone at the writing end staying, well, a cone.
Fortunately, these pencils can be ordered worldwide these days via various resellers. In Japan you get the luxury of just being able to walk into a 文房具屋 (a stationary shop) and buy one starting from ¥500 or so.
They are still in production. Problem is they are plastic and the brand and model fades after using it heavily, which makes hard to guess which @#$! lead size you need (I use Staedler leads because the case has feeding mechanism that feeds the lead into the pencil without having to touch the leads with your hand. Neat and tidy).
At 0.2mm it’s great for a math, especially with the number of super and subscripts I find myself ending up with.
The redesigned clutch on the one pencil is a Kevin good idea I wish all pencils have. Being able to write till the last 0.5mm of lead instead of wasting 10mm.
10mm doesn’t sound like a lot, but standard lead is only 60mm long, so we’re talking about wasting 16% of the lead. It gets even worse if it happens to break into shorter pieces.
Now I just use a standard #2 pencil.
Im amazed these aren't common here.
In my experience in the US (Texas), most school students only use mechanical pencils for regular work. It's more convenient (no sharpener), and cheaper than a regular pencil.
I guess in Germany you can buy some stuff from Müller. Whenever I visit Majorca (I know, sometimes it feels you're not in Spain but in a small länder) I go to the stationery section in the Müller located in Plaza de España.
I just started taking notes to learn a new programming language. Writing the code with a red pen and my own notes in blue makes for a fantastic contrast.
I was hesitant to post a trivial comment, but I discovered an ancient container of 0.5 pencil inserts this morning, and... I worship high quality Pentels. Built to last!
Uniball also has custom lead with a softer outside and a harder core.
They're available on amazon for not a huge amount of money:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pipe+slide+kuro+toga (no affiliate link)
Many years ago I really hoped the Kura Toga would be as revolutionary as the Quicker Clicker was back in the mid-90s, but it always felt like I was fighting the lead orientation. I have eventually settled on the rOtring and draftmatics because I enjoy their aggressive knurling.
I would really like a heavy, aggressively knurled side advance (preferably lower than the Pentel’s). I really miss the transparent barrel that displayed the action of the Quicker Clicker, but like the ergonomics of the fatter, tackier rubber grip.
I found the QC and the Pilot Precise V5, around the same time and nearly 30 years later they are still among my favorites. I mostly use the V5RT these days, but gladly grab a V5 (in blue or green) when I can.
There are also the Pentel GraphGear models, which retract / extend with push, but the build isn't as satisfying.
It’s so nice to see someone doing something well. Really well.
I have no connection to them other than I spent $500 with them last Christmas on gifts for my entire family.
During my school years we had all kinds of discussions and comparisons for best pencils, best pens, best erasers.
As for erasers - do you recall anything that beats out the Pentel Hi-Polymer block eraser for the overwhelming vast majority of use cases?
I seriously couldn’t gear over just how bad Staedtler block eraser performed when I’d seen so many rave about it. I haven’t tried much other than it & the Pentel when it comes to erasers tho.
If you're interested in more details and how the mechanism actually works, here is a good link: https://stationery.wiki/Auto-Advance_mechanism
Unfortunately, the pretty colors have been discontinued, but if you're looking for a multipen and don't mind putting up some money, they're great.
(I also have a Sharp calculator from the same era that is still working just fine. The Japanese really built things to last in the 80s.)
On the downside, I probably own 500 or so pens and pencils of all variety, plus a requisite number of over-engineered pencil cases.
The habit extends beyond JetPens into somewhat exotic materials, like the pens from Tactile Turn out of Texas. It’s easy to spend $400+ on a pen there. It makes a fun conversation piece but very few understand the “cool pen” impulse some have.
It got me interested in stationary ever since then, and I've always loved JetPens. I've gone through phases where I really like mechanical pencils, although I mostly write with Uni Signo UM-151 0.38mm gel pens. Super smooth with a crisp, fine line.
JetPens is a great site with a very cool niche. Check out Kinokuniya too. There's one in Little Tokyo in LA. Lots of pens, pencils, notebooks, and all sorts of books and manga.
It may be over engineered and overpriced, but damn if it's not one beautiful item of stationary.
[0] https://wingback.co.uk/collections/mechanical-pencil/product...
Sold.
[1] https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/pilot-id-shaker-mecha...