The quest for the best in mechanical pencils

!Jim — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:19:20 -0800

I can't be the only MeFite who with a mechanical pencil fetish, help me find the ultimate mechanical pencil. I have just recently discovered the joy of writing with an excellent mechanical pencil. After years of your basic cheapy 10-pack affairs, I finally bought a Pentel Sharp, and it's a wonderful thing. The thing feeds super smoothly, feels solid as a tank and fits my hand quite well.

There's just one problem: the eraser. It has this metal sleeve that fits around the eraser. The eraser inevitably slides around inside the sleeve, which means I have to adjust it back out every time I erase something. On this latest pack of erasers, the sleeve actually fits into the barrel for some reason, which causes all kinds of problems with the eraser getting stuck inside the pen, meaning I have to get something sharp and jab it out!

So help me, hive-mind, what have been the best mechanical pencils you've used?

Blue Pencil Lead

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 16:22:56 -0800

Art/drawing experts: does non-photo blue lead come for a mechanical pencil in any size other than 2mm? [details inside] I use Sanford Col-erase pencils to rough my comics. I'd love to switch to a mechanical pencil to do pencil work, but the only size of NP-blue I've ever found in drawing lead were the 2mm monsters for Turquoise (brand, not color) drafting pencils.

I can get mechanical pencil lead in .05, .07, and .09mm sizes for red and normal blue, but both are a no-go when it comes to scanning inked finals. I need non-photo blue or nothing else.

I've Googled and checked art stores for months now, to no avail. Does anyone know if thinner non-photo leads exist?

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The quest for the best in mechanical pencils

Blue Pencil Lead