Lost count of how many P20x in my drawer, but there is always space for more of these. Such timeless design.
Although the inside is not its original content (black P205), but it’s even better, a set of For Film Sharp, these were designed to use on semi-transparent film paper which was quite popular to architects and engineers for technical drawing. And some other retractable Pentel Sharp with out-of-product colors.
Taking about mechanical pencils, people often hear about big names such as Uni, Pentel, Faber Castell etc. But in fact there are lots of many small business who has unique designs. What they do is manufacturing customized barrel and classical insert (such as Schmidt or Pentel P20x), as a result, we can have some nice metal/wooden pencil instead of commercialized plastic mechanical pencils.
Here is a list of these manufacturers that I know, and this list will be updated whenever I know someone new :
QwerkTools – Heavy Brass Pencils
Toms Studio
S.T. Dupont Line D Medium Mechanical Pencil Black
Blick Studio
Nicolas Hemingway : simple cylindrical design, not really something standout but if you want to metal alternative (also fiber carbon and wood), go have a look.
Modern Fuel
Before Breakfast – Made in England
Everyman Grafton
Meister by Point
Manufactum – Made in Germany
IJ instruments – Very pricey and very solid pencils.
LRD
Parafernalia – Their Revolution Pencil is very uniquement, and this design has something to do with the Centre Pompidou architecture in Paris.
22designstudio – They have concrete body mechanical pencils. Pretty cool.
These are some metal lead holders (2mm) which was before the Criterium era.
While I was deep in the hunt for lost Criteriums, I found some even older lead holders, one of them was Baignol & Farjon. They were popular in the 1950s & 1960s, then being grouped with Blanzy-Conté-Gilbert in mars 1979,
and soon after acquired by BIC.
Like those ancient lead holders of the same era, they are metal, super sturdy, and have some special “aura”. Pretty cool to use. The grip is an interesting aspect, on the edge of the hexagonal barrel, instead of on vertex like the Criterium. They’re built like tanks, and after all those years, the paint still stay shiny, much better than any Caran D’Ache I’ve known.
These Baignol et Farjon n°234 were the long version, while there was also n°235 which is shorter. The Criteriums 2603/2613 and 2403/2413 adopted this same approach years later.
Came across this Criterium by BIC in mint condition this summer, even in its original unsealed package. Back then they made these lead holders in aluminium (Gilbert & Blanzy-Poure, Conté… and some campaigns for S.N.C.F, Baignol et Farjon etc.), adored by french artists. There were 2403 (short) and 2603 (long) ones.
Then, Conté was acquired by BIC in 1979. For a short period, BIC continued the aluminium model, among them was this Criterium 2603, till the year 2001. It was the last time this lead holder was made in metal. Since then the BIC 2mm Criterium has been made in plastic. While Conté à Paris is still there, it now belongs to the group ColArt, but the name Criterium is still in BIC possession.
Though the current plastic version is not bad, decent even, holding this aluminium Criterium in hand, I was amazed at its quality, but also a bit sad about what happened to the fate of this iconic lead holder. Nothing lasts forever, but what could have been.
(from the book Drawing Dimension – Shading Techniques: A Shading Guide for Teachers and Students (How to Draw Cool Stuff))
From light (and hard) to dark (and soft) : 9H -> 9B. Most common ones are HB and 2B.
Nay mới phát hiện ra một trang web có rất nhiều hình dạng illustration của cơ man là objects. Thỉnh thoảng rảnh không biết vẽ gì có thể vào đây pick lụi một món và ngồi sketch cho vui 😀
Welp, I grab some new pencils, again. I do draw a lot, but I have enough lead holder, I note a lot but I have enough 0.7mm, I sketch a lot, but I have enough 0.5mm… Anyway I’m happy.
Sharing a photo of some auto-advance pencils I’m lucky to have. Generally among the in-use pencils I prefer the lousy clicking noise/action ones but having some high tech mechanical pencils is nice. After a few months of using each of them, some annoyed me, some made me fascinated and completely changed my mind.
Left to right
Faber Castell alpha-matic : my favorite, ergonomic weight distribution, classic design, sadly they don’t make MPs like this anymore. The clip is unique. One of the best auto advance MPs I’ve ever tried, available in other materials such as titanium. If there is one word I could use to describe this pencil, it would be Magnificent. 0.5mm. Early 1980s, discontinued.
Rotring Altro : found the black and white versions at the same time last year and use them usually since. Mostly plastic, lightweight, sophisticated design but easy to open and see what is inside, weird clip like the Rotring 900. The auto advancing feature work smoothly. They feel much more comfortable than they look. 0.7mm. Early 1990s, discontinued.
Ticonderoga Sensematic+: Don’t remember why I have 2 of them, maybe they were sold in a pack of two. Easily affordable. The auto advance just works. Cannot click to advance so a bit frustrated to use when one wants to manipulate the lead manually (for whatever reason). Somehow I feel this pencil won’t be broken as easily as other pencils in this group (especially you guys, Orenz Nero and KT Dive). This Ticonderoga has a BIG compartment that can hold a lot of spare lead in the back when unscrewed, pretty neat. 0.7mm.
Pentel Orenz Nero and Orenz AT
De nos jours pencils, we have enough reviews here already so I don’t need to say more. Just one thing, I appreciate the Orenz Nero and AT because they have a drafting tip, my favorite type of pencil. Especially Orenz Nero, the only auto-advance pencil supports 0.2mm (I use 0.5mm though) from what I know. The AT has some color variations, which is why I have two.
Kuru Toga Dive : Well it’s the Kuru Toga Dive.
Use it often but for other reason : expensive so I have to make it worth. I had it last year with half the price as it is now, but it was still overpriced at time. Amazing engineering, futuristic nib design, the ‘click’ sound when capping is satisfying. The only auto advance mechanism who doesn’t require the sleeve to touch paper.
That’s it. Pilot Automac and Faber Castell Tk-Matic were what I’m interested in as well, but for now these pencils are more than enough, I’m loving them. There are also lots of other amazing auto advance MPs I see experts here posting before. But searching for them? Maybe another time.
Well, I was a fan of COPIC. Was.
I’m not an artist whatsoever, but I like drawing and coloring, so in my arsenal, I have a full set of COPIC SP Multiliner and many COPIC CIAO during these years, and I enjoyed them.
When I first hearing about COPIC SP Multiliner few years ago, I immediately became a fan, since I like the concept of replacable nib, and refillable ink. I like them not bacause of economic reason (well in the past yes, university students don’t have much money), but I’m also a careless dude with the constant fear of dropping, pressing to strong etc., and the feeling of having my pens fixable eases me whenever I use them.
The same reason went for COPIC CIAO, refillable ink may sometimes be a nuisance and a mess. But having the capability of playing around with the marker has a very relaxing value.
Till today, 2025.
I’ve learned that the refill-ink is reduced in volume for the increased price (for the marker). Inflation ? I understand. But COPIC reduce the volume while increase the price at the same time is a scummy move.
I also learned today that in 2021 COPIC stopped supporting the spare nib for COPIC SP Liner, but the COPIC SP Multiliner is still being sold. WTF? What the point of selling the product but you stop supporting the product left and right ? About this point, Canon is the same, they stop manufacturing the ink for the Portable Printer QX10, but they’re still selling the printer. Evil.
What to do now ?
Too bad, not many choice for replacable nib (there is but I will write anothe blog post). For Copic SP Fineliner nib repacement, now we can still find some left on Amazon. Or switch to disposable pens like Sakura Micron, Ohuhu, Graph’IT etc.. they are great. COPIC also has disposable fine liner pen, but fuck them.
For marker, recently Ohuhu is a very capable candidate, and the quality is pretty good, I have dozens of Ohuhu Markers, and they are great : saturation, blending, longitivity… and they support many colors as well. Graph’IT also jumps on the “refillable” wagon as well, which is great since in my region finding a graph’it marker is very easy (europe). Anyway, among Ohuhu, Graph’it, Promarker, Faber-Castell… I realized that COPIC is overpriced and seem to forget about what made them great : good quality and good durability, now they don’t respect consumers anymore. It’s sad but it’s a good lesson for me, there is no reason to be a fan of an only brand if they don’t care about their customer.
Recently I want to re-learn some techniques I has when I was in highschool : calculators.
I think it’s good for boosting my aging brain, and also for the nostagia. Then I went and bought the Casio Classpad 400+E and the Casio FX CG50; together with TI NSpire CAS II and HP PRime G2 I bought few years ago for my engineer jobs, now I have enough to play with.
I also discovered that reddit has a sub for that : r/calculators which is nice (people there are not so nice however, as expected for weirdos who like maths haha), I now know there is RPN calculator maker named SwissMicros, but that’s another story, they are pricey, and not right for the moment.
So, when owning these monster of calculating, finding goos resources for tutorials, tricks and techniques is th enext step. Here is what I found :
These sites have programs which users developped and shared, I found lots of real useful technical stuff there.
So, happy learning.
