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The Pen Addict 635/transcript

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The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode: 635
Title: Top 10 Mechanical Pencils
Release Date: October 9th, 2024
Hosts: Brad Dowdy

Myke Hurley

Guests: No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page: Episode 635
Audio File: Audio Episode 635
Podcast page: The Pen Addict 635
Length: 6262 min <br />1.033 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript Next Transcript


  • From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 635, or shall I say, The Pencil Addict. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad. What's up Myke? I'm already laughing too much. This is going to be a fun episode. I'm excited. I'm very excited actually. I'm looking forward to this. Yeah, yeah. So I've, just the premise of it is I have missed using pencils. I'm a huge pencil fan. Like I love mechanical pencils. I grew up using mechanical pencils. That was probably my first stationery love was a nice mechanical pencil because guess what Myke? I could write tiny with them, you know, unlike the pens at the time. So I loved a good mechanical pencil. And then later in life, later really not until I started, you know, doing all the Pen Addict blog and learning more about the stationery and the broader perspective, did I delve into wooden pencils and turns out that's a problem for me too. So here we are, Myke. What month is it? It's Ticonder October. It is Ticonder October. Don't you forget. Listeners, all pencils all the time, except for when I use pens, which there are some exceptions, which we'll talk about. Yeah, I am. I mentioned last week that my focus for this month was to use more pencils. And mostly I'm using wooden pencils just because that's what I've missed the most. I still always dabble in mechanical pencils, even when I'm using my pens. I'm knee deep in the fountain pens or whatever we're designing for spoke pens, you know, whatever ballpoint or gel we're using. I'm always using that stuff. But wooden pencils get left behind and there's such good products out there now for wooden pencils. It's like it's kind of like with fountain pens where people will say, oh, I don't know how to use a fountain pen. I'd never use a fountain pen. I don't get fountain pens. People will say, oh, I don't have a need for a wooden pencil. I just don't get it. I just, you know, have to sharpen it. It's messy. Kind of sounds a lot like fountain pens, you know, in a weird kind of way. But there's something about a really nice wooden pencil that gets me going that I really enjoy. You know, the design of the pencils, the telling the difference between the different graphite cores, even like the same grades between brands or just experimenting with different grades on the hardness scale or softness scale, depending on which side you prefer. And it's just something I wanted to get back into my routine. Usually, I'm pretty good about just mixing in all the things all the time, right? It's usually more pens for sure.

Shift from pens to pencils and personal usage preferences.[edit]

  • But we had gotten into, I'd gotten myself into like a 90, 95% pen usage range when I'd prefer to be more like 70, 30. You know, I'm not going to pretend it's like 50, 50 between pen and pencil usage around here. But I wanted to use more. And I put in the effort to every day so far this month, I've chosen a pencil to be my primary writer for the day. Whether that's filling in, you know, my task list, to-do list, writing notes, doing a few different things like that. So there were a few favorites I've had so far. So I want to talk a little bit about wooden pencils in the beginning because that's kind of been my daily drivers here. And then you and I are going to get into my top 10 mechanical pencils list. And then you have a list as well.
  • I did want to bring up the Tennessee Red, which I just reviewed on the blog, which is several years behind the launch of this pencil. So pencil nerds will know that, hey, they have pencil hype too, right? And then you get the hot new thing out there. And this was one of them back in 2020, the Tennessee Red. And it was kind of a limited edition. This was something Musgrave was doing, kind of revitalizing the Eastern Red Cedar, which was the wood slats they were using for this pencil. They had stopped using those back in the 70s, just reading up on their site. And this became a really popular pencil. It wasn't really my jam because the core was really soft. But like I've changed a little bit in my fountain pen usage to where I'm not just absolutely going to only use extra, extra fine nib fountain pens. I've kind of changed a little bit in what I enjoy the most. So with a fountain pen, I am getting closer to like a Japanese fine line as my stock line, maybe even medium sometimes, which, you know, for the European nibs, that's like fine at the most, mostly extra fine, sometimes fine. But I like the reason why I've kind of morphed into that is because I enjoy the look on the page a little bit better. I enjoy seeing the ink characteristics of a pen that I'm using or how the nib performs if I have a nib grind on a wider nib. So there's all kinds of different ways you can look at this stuff. And with the pencils, I was using very hard graphite cores. I preferred almost like a 2H, which is just a little bit into the hardness scale based on, you know, we can put a link. We can find a link. I'm sure it's a Wikipedia link of the pencil graphite hardness scale where you have like your HB in the center. HB hard, B being, but it's usually I say it's black, but it's because softness, like the darker. The Mohs scale?
  • Sure. Absolutely. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what it's called. But yeah, it's right in the middle is your HB, right? That's your number two pencils, the most common grades. And then it kind of goes out in two directions. It'll either get the hardness will either increase or the softness will increase.
  • And I usually dabbled on the hardness side of the scale just because that's how I always wrote, you know, really small, really tiny. It works really well. But it turns out if you go a little bit over to the B side of the scale, you can get some line edges and some shape to your writing, which I enjoy. There's trade-offs between each, right? With the H side of the scale, the hardness. It's harder to read. The cores are not as dark. Over on the B side of the scale. You get the darkness, but you wear down the tip faster. So you have to sharpen more if you like a sharp point. So there's all kinds of balances here. But back to the Tennessee Red. This is definitely, they market it as an HB, which should be right in the middle. But this has been a, through my experience, an extremely soft pencil. Very much on the B side of the ledger, if not like all the way into 2B. But each company kind of does things a little bit different. And I don't know how universal these grades are, right? They vary between companies. What's one company's HB is another company's B is another company's H, right? It just depends. So Tennessee Red, this Eastern Cedar. This is a gorgeous pencil. Like that plays a role in what I choose to use for wooden pencils, right? We are spoiled, just like in the pen world, with choice. And using a beautiful pencil, it's easy to find something beautiful to use. So I just wanted to put that out there. I really liked it. This could not be my daily driver pencil. It's a little bit too soft for that, even though it says it's an HB.
  • I use some 2B pencils that are like firmer, firmer than this. But it's just a beautiful pencil. I enjoy using it. I have tried to use, well, I think I've succeeded. Using a different pencil every day. Some of my favorites so far, again, I'm sticking with some of the B grades.
  • I've had a Caran d'Ache 3B Eidlweiss that I've loved. I have a Tombow Mono, which the Tombow Mono 4B is the unfortunately named KM-KKS is the model that I love. And I don't understand the naming. Not only is it one of the most beautiful pencils I've ever used, it has one of my favorite cores ever. And it's all the way in the 4B range. But it doesn't wear down as quick as some firmer core pencils to me. I love that one. That one's a great one. Breaking out my pencils again, I found some silly pencils that people sent me. So I got some Agretsuko pencils. I don't know if you're familiar with the cartoon. The heavy metal karaokeing Red Panda, Retsuko, is a great Japanese character. So I got some Japanese character pencils. And I forgot I had those, right? So until I got out my pencil box. Yes, I have a pencil box. I was like, oh, there's my Retsuko pencils. And I've been using, I've probably used that one the most because it's silly. And like, it's something I shouldn't be using. It's like, oh, there's no way this, you know, this, this guy, this old guy is using these Retsuko pencils, but it's actually my favorite. So I've been enjoying those. And today I'm writing with probably, I'm not doing a wooden pencil ranking today. But if I were the Blackwing Eras, this model, which model is, I think it's just called the Eras. They have done some different ones around there. This is probably like a top three pencil I'm using today. It uses the Blackwing 602 core. And it's designed after one of their vintage, you know, like colors, like the painting on the barrel is a really, really dark graphite and they have a muted gold stripe and a red eraser and it's just killer. So design matters to me a lot on the pencils as much as, you know, the core, the core has to win out at the end of the day, which are actually we're writing with, but the design goes a long way for me to pick up a pencil.
  • And this is the Blackwing Eras. Between the Eras and the 4B, that's definitely two of my top five wooden pencils. If not, if not in the top three, I don't know what's number one. We can maybe look at that later down the year. This, it wouldn't be as long a list as the mechanical pencils. I have, I'm a lot more opinionated on the mechanical pencils, which we're about to find out. But why does it include Eras?

Overview of Blackwing product lines and special editions.[edit]

  • Because they did. So Blackwing has several different product lines. So they have their standard product line, which is where you find the Blackwing Pearl or the Blackwing 602 or the Blackwing Extra Fine. Okay. That's their stock lineup. Then they have the Blackwing Volumes lineup, which is their quarterly special editions, where they'll do, you know, basically storytelling around a pencil and do a release. And then outside of those two things, they do small batch or limited runs. And this was like their throwback series. So they've done, I don't know, three or four. They don't schedule these. They're just more random. Where they've gone back into the Blackwing archives, picked out a design of a pencil and mimicked essentially the aesthetic of the pencil and released that under the Eras lineup. And they call them a, they changed the name a little, little bit. Because that's what's confusing. Okay. That's, that's confusing though, right? Like if it's the same product name, but it's a different pencil each time they do it. Like it feels like it would be like Blackwing Eras blank, you know, like you'd come up with like the third name. That's weird. That's why it's actually hard for me to pin down the exact one that I have. I think they do change some of the names a little bit. I'm sure they have a skew to change, but it doesn't seem like the packaging that you have indicates anything. Right, right. So like other ones will be different colors and different, different designs, but yeah. So it's just like a little playground, not really like a labs type situation. They actually have a fourth situation that's pretty much like a labs type of situation. So yeah, they're a little bit all over the place. I've got to say, hats off to Blackwing that they can, you know what I mean? Like they can make so many freaking pencils. Like I respect that.
  • And charge a premium. Yeah. Because they're good, honestly. Like just straight up, whatever you might think about Blackwings that they're, you know, overpriced or rip off. Oh, well. I mean, like per pencil, they're very expensive. Everyone I pick up is legitimately good. Like right. Good writing. Like the graphite cores they use are some of my favorite. Now that I say that, I remember my number one pencil would be the Mitsubishi 9850, the office pencil. And then probably like, you know, this Blackwing Air is the Tombow Mono. The Arrows has, the one that I have has the 602 core, which is kind of like the mid-range in firmness for their product lineup. So yeah, it's good. It's good stuff. I like, I really like everything that Blackwing does. So I'm not necessarily a super fan. Like I don't, I haven't, I don't keep up with them. But every time I use one, I love it. And I was like, yeah, this is great.
  • All right. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Squarespace, the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or managing a growing brand, you can stand out with a beautiful website, engage with your audience and sell your products, services, even the content that you create. Squarespace has everything you need all in one place, all on your terms. Make the most of design intelligence from Squarespace. It combines two decades of industry-leading design experience of cutting-edge AI technology to unlock your strongest creative potential. Design intelligence empowers anyone to build a beautiful, more personalized website tailored to their unique needs and craft a bespoke digital identity to use across one's entire online presence. And Squarespace Payments is the easiest way to manage your payments in one place. Onboarding is fast and simple. Get started in just a few clicks and start receiving payments right away. Plus, give your customers more ways to pay by choosing from popular payment methods like Klarna, ACH, Direct Debit, Apple Pay, Afterpay, and Clearpay, depending on where you're located. You can make the most of Blueprint AI and start a fully custom on-brand website with Squarespace's latest AI website builder, Blueprint AI. After a few questions, their interactive design system transforms basic information about your brand or business into an elevated online presence with curated premium quality content automatically added and matched to your profile and aesthetic. I think this is a really interesting thing for Squarespace. They've always been about making it as easy as possible for you to get a website off the ground and to take all of the work that they have done for decades at this point about building websites and to make that even easier for you. You know, you can still go in and tweak everything to your heart's content, but to really get you started with something personal that you can build upon, I think this is really interesting. Go to squarespace.com and sign up for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict when you decide to sign up and you'll get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and all of Relay. All right, Myke, we have our shout out of the week. Shout out of the week. I realized that this is our only pen link in this entire episode, but I wanted to make sure to give a shout out to Gourmet Pens Club, the podcast of Gourmet Pens, their second anniversary. Happy anniversary to Aziza and Candice. But most importantly, I want to give a shout out to Chi, their producer, who does amazing work wrangling these other two. I don't know how they get a show out every other week between Aziza and Candice, except the wonderful production and scheduling and keeping them on track that Chi does. I know they just have to get more credit than even the talent on that show. Their producer is what makes this show. So I just wanted to put it out there. Happy anniversary to Chi, especially on the Gourmet Pens Club podcast. Who's our producer, Brad?
  • Toby, my dog. Good stuff. He has a lot of jobs. He's the shipping department manager. Yep. Podcast producer. He's the podcast producer. Package delivery security. He does the checks of all the packages and the alerts when the deliveries happen. And podcast producer, we've added podcast producer. I'm worried about burnout for Toby. This is a lot on the plate. Well, don't worry too hard because I'm staring at him hard, hard asleep over here. So he must feel that the show is going to go okay. You know, that's where he's at. What can I play on? He's like, I laid out the show, so we're just going to let the humans talk and he's going to take a little nap. And he'll check in on the editing afterwards, see how the schedule is going to go. See when we're going to get this to drop. But yeah, he really makes sure we get everything going here. So shout out, Toby.

Introduction of top 10 mechanical pencils countdown.[edit]

  • All right, Myke. We're going to do a countdown of my top 10 mechanical pencils. Let's go. These lists are always changing. And these lists vary from something I do on my blog, which I have not updated in a while, which are the top five lists. The lists I keep on the blog are recommendations, right?
  • Recommendations and personal rankings don't always line up one to one. You know, a lot of times they're close. A lot of times they're similar. But sometimes there's particular things that I might like personally that I wouldn't recommend to other people. I think that's pretty easy to understand. But I wanted to just make sure to mention that these are not necessarily... If I say something is my absolute favorite, that doesn't mean I recommend that to everyone else as the best product on the market, right? Makes sense?
  • All right. So we're going to go from 10 to 1. And I think 10 is a good number for me with mechanical pencils. I use a lot of them. It's probably easier for me to rank 10 mechanical pencils than 10 wooden pencils, honestly, because I do have opinions on mechanical pencils. And there's a lot of variety, right? There's not necessarily a ton of variety in wooden pencils, right? You get a core you like and a barrel you like, you're good to go. And it's not too hard to differentiate between a few different items. Mechanical pencils is a lot more difficult. I'm looking... I grabbed seven of the 10 that I have right in front of me.
  • And they're all just like really different in their own way, even though they're all just simple mechanical pencils. Number 10, Myke. And I also, while I was writing this up yesterday, I was like, let me do something fun. And do you know what superlatives are to where you give...
  • In our high schools over here in the yearbook, they would always have like most likely to succeed. Yeah, I picked it up. I wouldn't have known it from the word superlative. Like that wouldn't link to me. But sorry, it's like a little descriptor that goes underneath the photo in the yearbook, right? Exactly. Exactly. So of all these 10 pencils, I added a little superlative to each. And maybe it's about the pencil itself, or maybe it's about the user of the pencil. But I just wanted to have a little fun with this. So number 10, Pentel Graph Gear 1000.
  • This pencil will be many people's number one pencil. This pencil has been around for a long time. It's the most engineering of engineering style of Pentel's designs, right? Companies who make a lot of mechanical pencils will often do a range. They'll do like the most entry-level basic, you know, plastic barrel mechanical pencils. Then they'll start adding some style. And then they'll start adding some functionality. And then they'll get into like a full engineering style pencil, which has a few different requirements. They have a longer and more open nose cone. You like, you'll see a very, you won't see as much conical. You'll see like a step style nose cone where the lead pipe comes out. And you'll see like a few hardness indicators. Because if you're a real hardcore, like Pentel Graph Gear user, and you use it for your job, you might have three Graph Gears with three different graphites in them. So you can twist the little mechanism to mark. Okay, this Graph Gear has my HB lead. This one has the 2H lead. This one has the B lead in there. So my superlative for the Graph Gear is most likely to be called a nerd. This is maybe the nerdiest pencil on here. You look at this. It looks futuristic. It looks like it should be like on a spaceship somewhere. It is a very aggressive, aggressively engineering styled pencil. I hate the way this pencil is so much. I hate it so much. There's so many distinct parts of it that I dislike. Yeah. We might get zero email on this episode, which I get. If we get any email, it's going to be saying I rank this too low. I'll just go ahead and that's the entire list right now is people will be upset. One, if I didn't include this. And two, it should be ranked higher because this is a lot of people's favorite pencil. And I get it. I like it. I don't love it. What's the difference between the 1,300 and 500? So, you want to go with... So, the 300... So, a couple of companies do this. Rotring does this as well. The lower the number, the cheaper the components are. Right. So, the 300 is, I believe, plastic grip, plastic barrel. Yep. The 500 goes to metal grip, plastic barrel. And then the graph gear goes to metal grip, metal barrel. 1,000. But the problem is, why did they do that to the grip? Why did they do that? Well, they did. Why did they cut little ovals out and stick plastic into the metal? Why would you do that? Oh, you just wait, sir. You just wait. I hate it, Brad. We're going to see something up higher on the list that's probably going to give you even more grief than that. It's rough. It's rough. It's a weird look. I mean, I can see one of the things they're doing is they eat. And I've noticed this is a few of your choices. There are different colors for the different lead sizes.
  • Yes. For stock lead sizes. So, Pentel is good about doing that. And we'll talk about that with another one that's much higher up the list. So, it'll be a silver pen. Think silver pencil. They'll think silver aluminum. And then the accent highlights and the text on the barrel. So, like for the 0.5 millimeter will all be gray. For 0.3 millimeter, it'll all be burgundy. Burgundy, yeah. And then 0.7 will be blue. And 0.9 will be yellow. Stuff like that. So, that you know. And then they'll have the lead hardness indicator, which you can twist depending if you add in different leads. Yeah. Yeah. So, again, definitely most likely to be called a nerd. This pencil. It's like all. It's full nerd setup here on this pencil.
  • Number nine. The Alvin Draftmatic. This is a classic OG pencil. And you're going to see a few of these throughout. Interspersed. This list is probably half like OG classic stuff that's been around for decades and half like relatively new stuff. The Alvin Draftmatic definitely falls into the classic category. It's a metal grip plastic barrel pen. And a lot of people love just the design and style of this. Again, with engineering pencils, one of the things I didn't mention is that the grips are designed to be heavier for control of the lead on the page. Right? You're making generally, the general concept of an engineering pencil is you're doing detailed work. So, you want the balance to be very front loaded.
  • And that's what you get with something like the classic Draftmatic, which is a heavy metal grip and then a lightweight plastic barrel. And I have several pencils like this and I actually like the feel of that at all. The superlative for the Alvin Draftmatic is most likely to cause bleeding. Okay. There is no pencil on the market that I've ever tested in my life of doing this that has more aggressive knurling than the Alvin Draftmatic. It looks serious. Like, I mean, the spoke is the most serious that I've used, I think. But this thing. Yes, it's not even close. It looks like you have a furious session. You know, you're doing some serious work over here and your fingers may never be the same. Yes. Yeah. I wouldn't want to write a book with this pencil. Like, a lot of people will do, like, long, you know, lots of words in writing with pencils. I would not choose the Draftmatic for that ever. Your fingers will pay the price. It is as sharp as it looks on the page and will turn a lot of people off. For some reason, when I pick it up, I go, oh, yeah, this is sweet. Now, I won't use it all day, right? I'll switch it in and out. But I really do like the design. And I like the classic. Like, it's a classic as far as designs go.
  • Number eight is a modern surprise. And it's the Tombow Monograph Shaker.
  • I think it's only been around a few years. I forget when I first reviewed it. And actually, I may not have actually reviewed it. Tombow does a lot of wild different things. This is probably the best value pencil on the market. It has a really, really durable barrel. It's an all-plastic pen.
  • Pencil. I'm going to do that the entire show, just FYI. It's an all-plastic barrel pencil, including the clip, including the grip section. And the internal has a shaker mechanism. Which, this is the only pencil on my list that has a shaker mechanism. Because, honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the shaker mechanisms. I don't really need that. But it basically has a weight internal to the barrel. And you kind of shake it up and down. And that's what extends the lead. I have never used a pencil with a shaker mechanism. You should get one. And if you do, you should get the Tombow Mono. I'm building a cart here, which includes some of the Kuretogas I was talking about last week. But I didn't check them out yet because I figured that would be not great. So, currently, I have... I will tell you by the end of the episode what my shopping cart looks like. I will recommend this pencil to anyone more than any other pencil on this list. Because it's only $6. It's a $6 mechanical pencil. It plays way above its price. You could charge me $12 for this pencil. And I would be perfectly content paying the price.
  • The superlative for the Tombow Mono Graph Shaker is most likely to be at a dance party. Because let me tell you, Myke, once you get that shaker going, you do not want to stop. You get the little maracas going. You're just shooting lead everywhere. Shake it like a Mono Graph Shaker, you know? Yeah. You're just going to town. You're just going to town. It's a really... Not only fun pencil, it's legitimately great. Like, this is one of those products that I love because it confuses me at how good it is for the price. And those are some of my favorite products on the market. Fair. Number seven, the Pentel Carry. This one's a hard one to rate for me. Because I love the concept of the carry more than the using of the carry. I still love the using of it. And the reason why I say that is the carry is one of the very few in the world capped mechanical pencils. It's a short pencil that has a cap on it.
  • And, you know, you uncap it. You post it. And the tech design of this, the way it functions when you do cap it, still allowing you to, you know, advance the lead. The whole mechanism, the whole idea of the carry fascinates me. And it's been around for 50 years, right? Over 50 years. And it's just one of the coolest designs ever. I always want to have a carry around.
  • Hashtag Relay. And we agree. It's weird for me to hear it. I know. And it's spelled the exact same way, too.
  • So, the carry is just one of those pencils I have to have. And I respect so much. But I'm going to generally pick some of these other ones. That's kind of how I do these lists. When I'm picking out a personal top 10, I'll lay out all the pencils. And I choose what do I want to use the most. And that'll be number one. And then out of everything that's left, you know, which one's next. And that's about where the carry lands. It's about number seven. I think some people who, this is a good writing pencil, right? For people who write a lot, write a lot of notes, need a lot of portability with their pencils. Like, this is the only pencil I have here. One of the only two that has, like, any kind of tip protection whatsoever, right? The tip's covered. Like, you throw this in a bag and you don't have to worry about bending the lead pipe on this. So, it's good to go.
  • It's just a fascinating design. It's an awesome pencil. I tend to choose more traditional engineering style pencils for my personal usage. Like, number six on this list, which is the Uni Kuro Togo Roulette.
  • I reviewed the Kuro Togo Metal a couple of weeks ago, which we discussed. And I mentioned, really, the big negative about the metal is its price.
  • And related to something in the same exact lineup with the same exact Kuro Togo lead rotation mechanism features. For a half or third of the price, the roulette is the way to go. So, it's not the most exciting pencil in the Kuro Togo lineup as far as color and design-wise. There's a silver one and there's a black one. Like, that's it. But it has a knurled grip, still a plastic barrel, but a big grip section. It's just sturdy and durable. And the price at $13 makes it my preferred Kuro Togo. And it's the only Kuro Togo on my list. And we're going to talk about one that's not on my list in the aftermath after I finish this.
  • But I should just do a ranking of the Kuro Togas. Like, I could do a top five Kuro Togo ranking pretty easily. Roulette would be number one. And it belongs on this list. And like I said when we were discussing the Kuro Togo metal, I choose Kuro Togas to use based on the style of the mechanical pencil, not of the feature that it offers in the lead rotation mechanism. Right?

Transition from mechanical pencils to pens and Pen Chalet promotion.[edit]

  • If you need the lead rotation mechanism, you know, go for it. But I just love mechanical pencils. So I'm going to choose the one that fits my style the best. And that's the roulette. If you've gotten this far into the episode, you're like, I'm sick of all this pencil talk. Give me some pens. Sick of them. Well, let me help you out and tell you all about our friends over at Pen Chalet because they have the products you're looking for. Authentic, amazing rollables, fountain pens, ballpoints, inks, carrying cases, converters, pen holders. No matter what it is you need, Pen Chalet have got it. They have your favorite brands and they're running the best deals available. They're adding new styles of pens every single month to the site. And every couple of weeks, you're going to be able to find new fantastic prices. But we can get you even better prices as you're a listener of this show.
  • Pen Chalet sells limited edition products and all the accessories you want as well as the pens you're looking for. They do international shipping with great shipping rates. And if you're in the US, they do free shipping on orders of over $75. Pen Chalet believe in the fastest and most reliable customer service around. That's what they want to make sure that you, their customers, will have. They offer low prices on high quality pens of a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So go to penchalet.com slash penaddict and you can get yourself 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. And you'll also be able to see some exclusive offers for listeners of this show. What you got, Brad? What I didn't get was a pencil at the top of the list. Come on, Ron. Ron didn't know we were talking about pencils today. I was going to die if there was... Pens only. Pens only. Pens only at Pen Chalet. It's not called Pencil Chalet, Myke. It's penschalet.com.
  • So where did it go? I just saw this really, really cool Heinz pen that's really caught my eye. It's called... It's the Heinz Q24 Leonardo da Pinchi. It's like a pinched... It's a pinched barrel. In the center of the barrel, it has a pinch, if you will. And that's where the cusp of your hand hits. So it's a really cool feature for someone who likes fun, colorful acrylic pens.
  • And then has a little bit of shape in the barrel, a little bit of shape in the cap. And it actually kind of morphs into your hand really nicely. Like, I like these kind of mid-barrel pinches in there. The Tabaldi Infrangible lineup has a rollerball that is really, really nice looking. I like Tabaldi's materials. They do some nice acrylics. And I've enjoyed their fountain pens before. This rollerball is at a really, really, really nice price. So I like that. They have the Ranga Abamanyu, which I mentioned last week. The price on these makes it... Puts it, like, clearly in the no-brainer category. Especially for the colorful resins that they use.
  • This is, you know, something I would choose. Like, I would put that really, really high up on my list. There's a few more Heinz pens in there. There's a couple Y Studios in there, including the all brass desk fountain pen. Which is always popular for those of y'all that like to have a desk permanent pen on your desk. It comes with a really nice matching base to keep that on there. And I have a different one in the brassing style. I really, really like it. It's one of the few Y Studios that use the number six style nib. Most of their standard pens use the number five size nib. So really good stuff over there at Pen Shillay. So go check them out. Are there size four nibs?
  • Probably, yeah. We just don't normally see them. What would a size one be, you know? Yeah. Yeah. How small is that? Who knows? Who knows? Be pretty small. We don't know over here at the Pencil Addict, you know? No, I know. We don't know. Only Pencils here. Go to penshalay.com slash penaddict. And you can check out these incredible deals. Thank you so much to Penshalay for their support of this show and relay. All right. Let's keep it going with an all-time classic. I mean, we're into the top five. We're into all all-timers here. But the Uni Shift Pipe Lock is a pencil I bring up from time to time as one of the great pencil designs ever that no one talks about. This pencil has a grip section that's, I'm trying to describe this, but it basically splits in the middle. It's like a twist.
  • And what it does, it extends the barrel and draws in the lead pipe for protection, basically is what it is, right? So that's the feature. And then you push the grip towards the barrel and lock it in. And then the lead pipe extends and you extend the lead and you use it to write. And then when you're done, you snap it back apart. And it's just kind of a cool feature. I just really like the design and style of this pen. Again, it's one of those plastic barrel metal grips setups that I like. So it's really heavy up front, which I appreciate in a mechanical pencil. It's just fun to look at. It's fun to play with the mechanism, the shift pipe lock mechanism. It's fun to say shift pipe lock, Myke. It's probably in the ball knock zone in as far as like fun terminology to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shift pipe lock. Yeah, yeah. So it's all there. But this is a very underrated pencil, in my opinion. It's not for everybody, but it's one that I am absolutely in love with. Speaking of which, this is the pencil that made me put together the list, Myke. The Pentel Smash. What do you think about the Pentel Smash? Oh, I forgot to do the superlatives, man. Oh, I worked hard on the superlatives. Oh, you know what? You've got to go back. Pentel Carry. Start with that one. Pentel Carry. So we talked about the Pentel Carry. It's the small pocketable pen that's superlative. It's most likely to end up in a washing machine. So this is the one you get lost in your pocket. And, you know, you're never to be finding it again. Then you've got to go buy another one. The Uni Curitoga Roulette. Myke, this is the one most likely to spin you right round, baby. Right round. Like a record? Yeah, like a record, baby. Not only is it the rotation mechanism, the name is Roulette, right? Like, this is the one. Dead or Alive. The Uni Shift Pipe Lock is the most likely to be a fidget toy. Because you will sit there and fidget with this locking mechanism all day. So I'm doing it right now. I need to put that down. Okay. Pentel Smash. Myke. The superlative. I'm going to go ahead and get it out of the way now. This is the pencil most likely to cause FOMO. Because they, they being Pentel, they lean into this product in the Japanese market. And in the U.S. market and the rest of the world market, they just get black. Right. Black barrel. Black grips. I have, I took a picture of one yesterday. Someone brought me from Japan. It's got a blue barrel, a yellow grip, and then the black, black nubbins on there, which I'm sure Myke hates. Gross.
  • They're so cool. I love this pencil so much. This is the pencil that actually made me want to do this list. Because it's such a unique, fun pencil that we don't get a lot of in the U.S.
  • And it's not that expensive. Right. They did a special edition a handful of years ago that they charged like 18, 20 bucks for. The normal ones are like $12. That's still, it's expensive. But it's such a good quality pencil. It's the only pencil on this list, I think. Let me double check. I say that. Let's see. I'm not looking at all of them. Let's see. That one, that one, that one. Yeah. It's the only pencil without a, it's the only pencil with an integrated nose cone. So if you look at all these other pencils on all these lists, they all have like a very defined nose cone. That's just like a feature of mechanical pencils, right? That little plastic, excuse me, metal triangle shape cone on the front.
  • This, the smash, and one of the reasons I like it is theirs is integrated into the grip section and it just flows right into the pipe where the, where the lead comes out. And it's just this really, really cool design. I think that's my favorite feature is that integrated nose cone design. Not to mention all the fun colors, all the wild colors you can get. This is an eBay problem. Like if you live not in Japan and you go look on eBay, there's so many different colors and styles and varieties. I love this pencil so much.
  • Number three, spoke model four. I had to put this in here. I appreciate the restraint for putting it at number three.
  • I think it's fair. And the, the, I think the two ahead of it, uh, are, I think it actually makes a lot, at least makes sense to me. Um, the spoke model four is the pencil that Brian designed that made me reach out to Brian and say, Hey, can we make a pen? Um, this one, this was the one that kind of like changed everything for me as far as design goes. Um, I just think it's a, it's an awesome design. It's a fully, uh, the, the model I have, there's different models, uh, with different grip styles. I have just the cyan barrel and it's got like the black, uh, spokes. And then it has a, um, sandblasted, uh, titanium, uh, groove grip. So it's not a knurled grip. It's just the shape and design in the feel and how it's machined and how it's all put together. Like, again, like I disclosure, if y'all don't know, like I'm part of this company, like, you know, I'm part of spoke design. Um, I have an ownership stake. My superlative superlative for spoke model four is most likely to give Brad money.
  • I mean, the other ones, how likely are the other ones?
  • So yeah, this one, if you buy these, I might get money, but that's not why I'm putting it on here. I'm putting it on here because I think it changed, uh, my perspective of like machine pencils and how cool they can be. And then it actually got me into, um, working with Brian just simply because of this design. I said, Hey, this is like really has an aesthetic that I like. And can we do a pen from this? And just, I guess, I don't even know how many years that's been now. We're probably going on four or five years. And I think the spoke model four is still like one of our best sellers and one of our best designs. So number two, the Pentel sharp, guess where the nose cone of the spoke model four comes from, Myke. It's the Pentel sharp. Yep. So this is another pencil that's been around for like 50 years. This has the most simple, basic, lightweight plastic barrel design that hasn't changed at all in that timeframe.
  • It's the lightest of all these pencils that I have. It's one of the most unique designs because it's so simple that it's hard to mimic, right? No one's been able to like really nail like a copy of the sharp. And that's why it's been around for so long. It's also one of their most popular pencils at Pentel because the price point is really, really strong. When I was growing up, these were in the office supply cabinet, my dad's work. And we're talking like early 1980s, right? They would stock the cabinets with this. And this pencil to this day is less than $6. So I can't imagine how inexpensive it was back in the day when they're buying these by the dozens, by the boxes. And it still rates this highly for me because of what it is and just the lightness, the airiness, the shape, it's narrow. It's got this slight taper. It's got the best nose cone. The mechanism always works. I don't know. There's just something about this pencil that just really knocks my socks off as from a design perspective. And it's not the most popular pencil today when you have other options out there, but it still holds its own. If you put it up like in a one-to-one battle with any other pencil, it's going to hold its own. Despite not being the most flashy or most unique or anything like that. It's really, really good.
  • So the Pentel Sharp, the superlative is most likely to show your age. Like if you love the Sharp, you're probably 50 years old. So that's my deal with the Sharp.

Announcement of the top mechanical pencil, the Rotring 600.[edit]

  • Number one, Myke, should really come as no shock to anyone. I wasn't trying to hide anything or do any... Play any tricks here. It's the Rotring 600. It's not particularly close from one to two, in my opinion. That's how far ahead I believe the Rotring 600 is from the rest of this list. And again, this is very personal. This is one of the more... I will admit that the Rotring has one of the weirder balance points because it is a fully metal, thick-walled barrel pencil. Right? So it has a little bit of a density to it. But that adds into the strength and durability of this pencil. This is a pencil where a student will get it in college and then 20 years later, it'll still be their pencil because it can withstand the test of time. That's how these Rotrings are built. That's how they feel. The gnarling's perfect. The barrel's perfect. There's not too much going on in the barrel. It has a lead indicator window. That's about it. A little gnarling at the top. So, this is... My superlative for this is most likely to become a model. Right? This is the pencil you see in marketing and advertising from non-stationery companies that need something cool on the desk. This is the pencil you see on there a lot of times. I was going to say it's just like the default. Right? Yeah. It's like the default classic engineering technical pencil. And it's well-deserved. It's a well-deserved default. It's still expensive. It's one of the most expensive pencils on this list. Let me look here. So, it's about $33.
  • Yeah. The Spoke Model 4 is the only one that's more expensive. And that's because the Spoke's not made by a big manufacturer. Right? It's just a small company. But all the Pentels and Unis and all that stuff. I think it's the most expensive one here. But I still think it's actually a good value. I'm surprised it's not a little bit more, to be honest. But love the Rotring 600. If I have all of these pencils lined up on the desk, that's the one I'm going to pick every time. And I just have a love for it. It's really that good.
  • Before we get into your list, which I think is super interesting. And I have a couple of things in here related to your list. I just wanted to mention a couple of other pencils that some people might have feedback on. The TWSBI Precision, I think, is reasonably popular. I just never got along with the TWSBI Precision grip section. I didn't really. It was kind of like a blocky. And like, I don't know. I don't mind like rigid. It's kind of like the Pentel Sharp, but blockier. And I didn't really, really get along with that as well. But it's a good pencil and a lot of people like it.
  • I put in the Lamy Safari mechanical pencil in here. Because no one should ever buy the Lamy Safari mechanical pencil. So if you wanted a bottom 10 list, y'all know my love for Lamy. Y'all know my love for all things Safari. You should not buy this pencil. Because they have made the poor decision. My first task, I have a lot of first tasks when Lamy hires me, is to make a cylindrical grip for the Safari pencil. Pencils should not have molded grips. And for some reason, they decided to put the molded grip on the Safari mechanical pencil. And that should never, never happen.
  • The Leuchtturm Dregorfeld mechanical pencil, I didn't put on here. But that's a pencil I want to get. Because I think I will like it. I like that small, compact shape. It's probably going to remind me some of the Pentel Sharp. In that it's lightweight. Even though it's in like an aluminum barrel. I just think the compact size of it is going to fit my hand really well. And finally, the standard Uni Kuretoga. Like the base level $6, $7 one. I still think that's one of the great pencils of all time. I just don't use it that much. I choose all these other ones. I like this drafting style. But that's still a very, very highly rated Kuretoga. That's probably the number two Kuretoga on my list behind the roulette. Would be just the absolute basic plastic barrel Kuretoga. So I think that's pretty great. So that's my pencils, Myke.
  • You participated. You put together a top five list. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. In at number five, the Uni-Ball Kuretoga. I only have the plastic one. So I think I would like to get one of the metal ones. I know we were talking about that last time.
  • Maybe that would push it up the list. But just it's a great mechanical pencil anyway. Like even the plastic one, I like the way they look. The plastic ones do benefit from you being able to see the fun little mechanism inside. Which is, you know, I like that, right? Yep. That's cool. But, you know, they do a particular thing better than anybody else can do. Which is they maintain the line. Like, yeah. They're the only ones that can do it as good as... Only the Kuretoga is the one that can do it better than anyone. You don't have to think about it. Now, what you can decide to yourself is how important that is, right? Like, it's one of these things we talked about last time. You may be... You think that might be more important to you than it actually is. But if it is important to you, then this is the only game in town.
  • Let me... I agree with everything you said. Let me bring up one other point I should have put in my discussion period. You'll notice in my list, and looking at Myke's list here, he doesn't have one listed. I hate auto-lead advanced pencils. Like, when you push down, and then the lead comes out. No, I would never even consider it. Like, I absolutely despise those. You don't have control over that, and it frustrates me. So, like, the Zebra Delgard and pencils of that nature, like, just... They get a full just skip from me. It's just not something I need. I don't even consider them. Yeah. I just don't need that. Anyway, I wanted to mention that because that's a pretty popular... When we're talking about the Kuretoga and a feature that they have that no one else has, the auto-lead advancing is a different feature that other companies do use, and I greatly dislike that. So, anyway, sorry.
  • And at number four is the Spoke Model 4. Yeah! I really like this pencil a lot. I've always liked the look of them. I mean, this goes back, again, years and years and years now, where we both found Spoke for the first time and immediately bought what I think was the Model 3.
  • Something along those lines. A long time ago. Yeah, I'll have to go back and look. Yeah. For me, the knurled grip is the only way to go, and I think that you have a very interesting knurling that you do that I like. But I just really like the overall vibe of the Spoke pencil. I just think that it's aggressive and engineering-y without being too much.
  • You know? But that's what I like about it. It looks like something that an engineer would use, and I appreciate that about it. Yeah. So, I have all these pencils laying on my desk that I talked about, and it actually fits in the group of pencils that I like. So, I definitely have a style, right? It has an aesthetic. It doesn't stand out there. It looks like it fits in. So, yeah, I appreciate that. In at number three is the Leuchtturm 1917 Dragger Fold number two. Yeah. I gotta get one. This one is all about vibe for me. The colors and the design of this pencil is next to none. Like, it looks so good. I really love it. I have one on my desk all the time. This is a vibes-based pick because there are a few things that I don't like about it. But I like the mechanism. The mechanism is really fun. You don't press anything. You twist the top. It has a little twist top. Yes. And that advances the lead. It's not like a continuous twist. You just, like, twist it, and it's on a spring, and it'll bounce back, and that advances the lead. But there's no eraser on this pencil, which is, has a big knock for me.
  • Interesting. I want, I just figure, if you are writing with a pencil, you should include an eraser because you can do something pens can't.
  • Right? Yeah. I mean, that's fair. That's fair. And you notice I didn't mention an eraser once going through 10 pencils. No. Having an eraser, it's not a make or break, but it is an important thing because it's a differentiator. And you don't, you can erase a pencil. And if the pencil has an eraser in it, even though the eraser is not going to be that good, it's better than having to carry a separate eraser. You know? And so, I like that that is an option. Yeah. But this pen is, like, it's a number three that I love, like, a number two. Yeah. I really love the look of it. Like, even, you know, another knock on it, the cone is too long.
  • I can see that with the pen.
  • For some people, it's definitely extended, right? Yeah. Because it's, like, the cone grip section is, like, one piece, but it's too long. And it's, like, not, for me, super comfortable to hold there. But, again, look at it. You know? Just, like, look at it. Right. Don't even use it. Just, like, buy one and put it in your desk. Like, it's, you know what I mean? It's just an incredible piece of design for the price. Like, really fantastic. Yeah. I'm glad you put it in there about the vibes because I think the Pentel Smash is my vibes pencil. Right. Like, it's the outlier in looks, but, like, it's one of my favorites because of it's the outlier in looks. Number two, the Rotring 600.
  • Dun, dun, dun. Yeah. It's a classic.
  • Here's a funny thing. I had it on my list. I had it in at number three or number four, and I used mine today. I was like, oh, up it goes. Yeah. I forget about it because it doesn't excite me, right? Like, the design of the others excite me. But, like, the Rotring 600 is so default. Like, I don't get excited about it. But then when I use it, oh, come on now. It's like everyone else just wants to be that. Like, that's what you're going for. Like, I agree with all that. Like, I agree with, like, yeah. It could almost be boring these days just because it's been at the top of the heap for decades now. Yeah. Right? Like, it has clear separation in its market. So, yeah. It's just unique. It's very unique. My number one is easy. And I'm actually surprised you didn't include it. It's the Studio Neat Mark III. Oh, yep. I'll let you talk about it. Then I'll tell you why I didn't include it. For me, the Mark III is the absolute perfect mechanical pencil. Like, it's – what I love about the Mark III is the same thing that I love about the Mark I, which is that Tom and Dan had no restraints from previous opinion.
  • Like, that's what I see in these products where they designed what they thought would be the right product, not necessarily following the convention. Right? So, like, if you look at the Mark III, it doesn't have a defined grip section. Right? Which the market would tell you should. There's no nose cone at all. There's no pipe even. Like, and then it's made of aluminium, which is Cerakote. It just feels good. I have the white and silver. And I need to get one of these color ones at some point. What I actually want to do, like, and I want to make this look – I want to do a Cortex one because I love it so much.
  • But it being just this straight piece of all aluminium, the balance on this pen is, for me, just perfect. They did – I think they also did a really smart thing. They made it thinner than the Mark I. So, like, it's a thinner body, which really helps. That was needed. Yeah. Much needed. To go to a pencil. Yes. And, yeah, I love this thing. I use it every single day. I have the white and silver one. And, yeah, I could just sing its praises all day. I just think it's fantastic. Yeah. So, it's probably right outside the top ten for me, just from a style perspective. But you hit on the exact reasons why I don't put it in my top ten. If you're going to have a straight cylindrical barrel, that's fine. Like, I have, like, the Alvin Draftmatic is completely straight. The rotary is, you know, even though it's got, like, a grip section and a knurled section – I mean, a faceted section and a knurled section, it's still, like, straight, right?
  • But if you don't have, like, a defined grip section and a straight barrel, I need a longer nose cone to give me the mechanical pencil vibe that I want. I need more of a clearance there. So, I either need – I need one of, like, three things to, like, move this up. But, like, they've defined what this pencil is, and that I appreciate. It's interesting because one of the things I specifically like about the Mark III is you hold it like a pen. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that's one of the things I don't like. Yeah, and I find that – it's interesting to me. But, yeah, but I guess that's your difference. Do you want to hold it like a pencil or do you want to hold it like a pen? And I love that I hold it like a pen. Yep. So, if you look at my entire list outside of maybe the monograph shaker, they all have that engineering front end. I guess the carry doesn't either. But they all have a tapered point, a longer tapered point with a lot of clearance around the pipe for a visual, right? So, that taper starts higher off the page. Not as high as the Dreggerfell. That's really long. That's different. So, yeah, that's my aesthetic preference for a mechanical pencil. This is a great writing pencil, the Mark III, right? If you just want to have a great pencil for your desk and that you use to write and you carry it with you, like, it's awesome. I'm actually probably going to get another one. I'm probably going to get one of the color ones. I really like the pencil. But to break into my top ten, I am clearly much more on the engineering side of the pencil. I'm much more on the superlative of the graph gear where I'm most likely to be called a nerd with these pencils that I have as opposed to the Mark III, which I absolutely love. I think what is clear from my top five and your top five is that you're going for the nerds and I'm going for, like, the most popular kid in school. You know? Yeah, the vibes. Like, I'm going for the prom king and prom queen. Like, it's all about the beauty for me. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to shoot the video at the dance. Yeah.
  • So, this is what I have. I'm cool with that. This is what I have on my shopping list. All right. There's two Pokemon Kuretogas because that's from last time. Yeah. The roulette Kuretoga, the unishift pipe lock, and the Tombow Mono shaker. Perfect. Perfect. Like, I'd tell you to get a Smash, but not one of the black ones. Oh, Smash 2. I forgot about that. I want to get it. I just want to get it because I want to see what it's all about. But, yeah, it's just a shame that I can't get the color one. Yeah. I've had the black for over a decade. I'd have to go look and see when I first reviewed the Smash. It's been around for a long time in the same iteration.
  • They pretend like they're going to make it worldwide, then they never do. So, we'll see. I found, like, a version with color and cold pens, but it's, like, 22 pounds, and I don't. Is it orange, blue, purple, or red? They did a Katakana series about three or four years ago. Yeah, it's orange. It's cocky green. Okay. There's an orange one, a blue one, and a cocky green one. Okay. I'll have to look at it. But, yeah. Yeah, a few years ago, I... Exclusive to Cult Pens, it says here on their website. So, heck, yeah. Well, good. I would love to see more of that, honestly, from them. Yeah. It's a great pencil.
  • All right. I think I said I put a bunch of things in the show notes. Oh, I'm also going to include a link in the show notes for people that might be interested. So, last week, I did a stream. I put the YouTube video on my YouTube channel showing off a bunch of things Cortex brand related, including some prototypes. I kind of show some of the processes that I've gone through with the products that we make, and I also show up a bunch of stuff that we are hoping to ship over the next year. Nice. So, it's the first time we've done this where we're, like, showing things in development. One of them is our series of pocket notebooks that we're hoping to ship next year. I'm looking forward to that. I saw the video pop up in my feed, and I just put it in my watch list. I haven't watched it yet, but I saw, like, the image of it, and I was like, oh, yeah, I know these networks.

Closing remarks and sponsor acknowledgments.[edit]

  • Hopefully, early next year, we'll have those to say. Sweet. I can't wait to watch it. You can find that and all of the links for the products we mentioned today in your podcast app of choice or over on relay.fm slash penaddict slash 635. Thank you so much to Squarespace and Pen Chalet for the support of this week's episode. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict, and Brad is at penaddict. I'm at imike, I-M-Y-K-E, and you can find this show on Relay, along with a lot of our other shows. Well, not, hang on. A lot of other shows that I'm on. All Relay shows are on the Relay website at relay.fm, and you can find my products over at cortexbrand.com. Until next week, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.
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