Selecting a Mechanical Pencil
Intended Use:
Mechanical Pencils generally fall into two categories: Drafting or General Writing.
Drafting pencils have long, straight, lead sleeves which helps the pencil to follow along in stencils or other straight-edges. Drafting pencils may also have lead hardness indicators which can be changed to match the type of lead in the pencil. Though drafting pencils are designed with some sort of technical drawing in mind, many people prefer to use them for other types of writing.
The term general writing pencil is meant to encompass all non-drafting pencils, and many are characterized by conic or short lead sleeves, a soft grip designed for extended writing, and some sort of eraser.
Lead Type:
There are two main aspects of pencil leads to consider in choosing a pencil: diameter and hardness.
Lead diameters range (in general) from 0.3 mm - 0.9mm but the two most common thicknesses are 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm. While the thinner 0.5 mm lead offers finer writing and darker lines, the more robust 0.7 mm lead is less prone to breakage and lasts longer. Most of the time the choice between lead diameters comes down to personal preference but it is important to see which options (if any) a particular pencil has as far as lead diameter before purchasing one.
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| An assortment of Pentel Leads |
Lead hardness refers to the make-up of the lead and how dark of lines it produces. The most common lead hardness is "HB" (which is the same as #2) but leads range from 10B to 10H with the former being the darkest and the latter the lightest. Most pencils with use any type of lead hardness, but pencils with lead indicators may not include some hardnesses of lead.
Grip:
Pencil grips vary from simple plastic ridges to adjustable rubber grips. Many drafting pencils have knurled-metal grips and some expensive pencils are made of exotic materials such as the fiberglass-reinforced poly-carbonate of the Lamy 2000 pictured in the middle below. The two main considerations for a pencil grip should be the intended use and the physical thickness of the grip. In general, thicker rubber grips are more comfortable for long term writing, but once again this comes down to individual preference.
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| From left to right: Pentel PS315, Pentel Graph Gear 1000, Lamy 2000, Faber Castell E Motion, and Pentel Flex Fit II |
Lead advance mechanism:
Apart from the traditional top push button to advance pencil lead, there are now many different lead advance mechanisms used in pencils today. Some older pencils use a twist top to advance lead fluidly rather than one click at a time. Newer Japanese pencils, such as those from Uniball, offer "shaker" mechanisms to advance lead with a flick of the wrist.
Pricing:
One of the best parts of purchasing a mechanical pencils is that there are many choices in different price ranges. The blog "Dave's Mechanical Pencils" (http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/p/my-top-5.html) uses a five tier system to organize prices for mechanical pencils with Economy ($0-3) being the cheapest and Stratospheric ($150+) the most expensive. It is probably a good idea to start in the low range ($3-15) when looking for pencils, and with the plethora of pencils available on the internet and in office supply stores it is unlikely that you would ever run out of options.
Where to buy:
If you are lucky enough to have a stationary store near where you live this should be the first place to look. These shops will often let you handle the products and talk with people who know a lot about the products. You will have to be willing to pay a little extra to buy from local shops, but they certainly offer the best buying experience.
For the largest selection of mechanical pencils, you should always look to online distributors. www.jetpens.com is one of my favorites, and it is particularly helpful in its sorting options. Still other non-pencil-specific sights such as Amazon and Ebay can be useful and economical, but shop at your own risk.
If the first two options do not work for you, you can still find decent mechanical pencils from chain office supply stores such as Office Max, Office Depot, or Staples. Though these stores rarely carry unique or hard to find pencils, they do carry well known brands (particularly Pentel) and for reasonable prices. In addition to carrying some mechanical pencils these stores will carry basic and some high quality accessories such as pencil lead and stand-alone erasers.
