foray 9 mm mechanical pencils..where do I find them?

June 29, 2010 4:55 PM

This is my very first attempt at anything whatsoever on the internet but am that desperate to find the Mechanical Pencil that I adore. it is a .9 mm flat lead that fits into a Oddice Depot Foray pencil...I bought literally hundreds of them..they were three to a pack and about $5-6 dollars and came with spare leads and erasers. We gave them out as client thanks gift for anyone in our offices. They discontinued them and I am desolate and desperate. I cannot find another brand that works as well or is even close. I saw this sight when searching Google for Mechanical pencils and wonder if anyone might know where oh where I can find my beloved pencil? contact info is [e-mail] THANKS
posted by crreal to Technology (10 answers total)

Here, Office Depot Foray Mechanical Pencil
posted by axismundi at 5:01 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Alternatively, the silver 2 pack.
posted by axismundi at 5:03 PM on June 29, 2010

Did you mean Office Depot Forey? They are on the Office Depot web site. Foray® Mechanical Pencils, 0.9 mm, Assorted Barrel Colors, Pack Of 2. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/282807/Foray-Mechanical-Pencils-09-mm-Assorted/
posted by shaarog at 5:05 PM on June 29, 2010

When looking for pencils, pens, paper, etc. I love OfficeSupplyGeeks.com
They have reviews, recommendations, suppliers, etc.
posted by mmf at 6:03 PM on June 29, 2010

Or did you mean the packages of leads for these pencils? It looks as if they have those on the Office Depot website too:
Office Depot Foray Mechanical Pencil Lead Refills, Tube of 12 Leads, Pack of 3 Tubes

Maybe just your local store stopped carrying them?
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:41 PM on June 29, 2010

I'm thinking she means these:
Foray™ Super Size Lead Mechanical Pencils, 0.9 mm, Assorted Colors, Pack Of 3 due to the "flat lead" stipulated in the question. They're noted as being discontinued.
posted by chazlarson at 8:36 PM on June 29, 2010

I think you must be right, chazlarson. Ok - so rectangular leads is the key feature.

Searching for "mechanical pencils with rectangular leads", I found "Dave's Mechanical Pencils blog" which seems to be written by a guy who has a hobby of collecting different mechanical pencils. He has a review with photos of several different mechanical pencils with rectangular leads. In the post he says this type of pencil comes from at least three distributors:

"MGM of Malaysia call it the A-200 Plus mechanical pencil,
Zebra of Japan call it the MLP2 mechanical pencil, and
Urban and Recipe of South Korea call it the Sketch mechanical pencil."



I searched in Google for the pencils he lists: "Zebra MLP2" etc. The other two pencils didn't have any good search results. Here are two places to get the Zebra MLP2 pencils:

Amazon.com seems to have the Zebra MLP2 pencil (sold through an affiliate called "Plexsupply") - the pricing is confusing but I think it's 2 pencils/$8+$6shipping, pretty expensive. If you were going to order in bulk you might be able to call Plexsupply (the phone number they give is 800-995-7539) and see if they could cut you a break on the shipping charge.

Liberty Office seems to be an office supply store in Texas that also stocks the Zebra MLP2 pencil, but more cheaply ($2 each?). You might be able to give them a call and see if someone there can look at the pencils and see if they'll match your needs, or if they can order pencils that will. The phone number they give is 800-460-8900.

(If you're impressed after calling them it might be good to work with them directly on the phone, if internet searches are confusing for you; there are a lot of junky websites out there.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:27 PM on June 29, 2010

For future searchers, since it seems that these pencils are sought after by artists etc:

You can order them directly from China in bulk for about 10 cents each, but you have to buy a huge number of them (like 10,000). Might be worth it if you really do use a lot of them. They are apparently used for taking Scantron exams (fill in the bubble type exams) in China.

I don't know if any of the places I found are reputable, so won't link them, but I found several places that claim to sell them for export. I found them by googling these search terms: 2B mechanical pencil exam.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:03 PM on June 29, 2010

This blog post pointed to this Office Depot product, where the reviews indicate that that the pencils have the flat-leads you seek.

Oh, and welcome to Metafilter!
posted by unmake at 5:01 PM on July 1, 2010

Unmake's link says that your exact pencils are available at Office Depot still (as item #789208), but chazlarson's link says that Office Depot has discontinued them; bizarre.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:01 PM on July 1, 2010