Reply To: Mechanical pencils in the woodshop?
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By coincidence I have also ordered today a Pentel P200 (Pentel Sharp in the US) and a Pentel Graphgear 1000, both 0.5mm.
I am using also:
1) A cheap Rotring 0.7mm. Positives: Very light, no rubber ”ergonomic” grip that will disintegrate and become sticky, cheap. Negatives: It lacks the long metal sleeve of a proper drafting pencil so you have to be a bit carefull when you are drawing lines using a rule. The 0.7mm line is quite thick.
2) Staedtler Mars Technico 2.00mm. Positives: Heavier than the Rotring but still on the light side (you can still use your ear as a pencil stand), excellent balance, it has its own integrated lead sharpener, you may extend the lead a lot if you have to reach a tight space, it will last a lifetime, relatively cheap (about £6.00). Negatives: Needs sharpening.
3) Pentel Graphgear 1000 0.3mm. Positives: Proper drafting pencil made to work against a rule, retractable sleve (so it won’t get damaged when you throw it in the toolbox), excellent built quality, very good grip and balance, silver colour so it pops out on a messy bench, very fine line that aids accuracy, not expensive if you order from Japan and wait a month for delivery. Negatives: Heavy (even if your ears are spring loaded they can’t hold it), very fine line (yes, it might be a negative when presbyopia comes), fine lead tends to break if you are not gentle enough (hence the order of the 0.5mm).
4) Taylors pencil with white lead (wooden). Positives: You can see your line no matter how dark is the wood, cheap, lines are easy to remove, lightweight. Negatives: Soft lead needs frequent sharpening.
The big advantage of mechanical pencils is the consistent thickness of line (does not apply on lead holders like the Staedtler Mars Technico) and therefore accuracy. My main concern is that the thin metal sleeve of a proper drafting pencil can be easily damaged in a workshop environment (otherwise I would have ordered only the Pentel P200)