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Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

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Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#11

Post by sva_ »

Justsignedup wrote: post #7

Gotta admit, the spring inside the tip to prevent stress breakage sounds amazing. It was the #1 reason I stopped using mechanical pencils.

I have a Pentel Orenz Nero 0.2mm with such a feature. It is pretty nice, but you will often scratch over the paper with the metal which is definitely a counter argument. Makes 0.2mm usable though. I think for 0.5mm you don't need it, just get some decent 'lead'.

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#12

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

Alright, I went in thinking "come on, how 'overengineered' can a mechanical pencil be?", and by about halfway through I wanted to buy one, and at the end I readily admit that they've managed to find exactly the problems with these things and fix them, way beyond what I would have thought practical. Remarkable:)

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#13

Post by riversflow »

jkellermann wrote: post #2

My first try to post in HackerNews, hoping this fits the spirit. I was amazed to see the features of these pencil pens. Are these pencils common where you live? Here in Germany, they are known, but rather seldomly used...

I have a couple of Rotring 800’s that i adore because of the disappearing tip(makes them much more packable!) However I’m the only person I know who has anything not disposable.

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#15

Post by bb88 »

Justsignedup wrote: post #7

Gotta admit, the spring inside the tip to prevent stress breakage sounds amazing. It was the #1 reason I stopped using mechanical pencils.

There's a "pipe slide" model of the kuro toga that will slide the pipe with the writing so only a little bit of lead is exposed at all times.

Uniball also has custom lead with a softer outside and a harder core.

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#16

Post by arcen »

Freak_NL wrote: post #3
jkellermann wrote: post #2

My first try to post in HackerNews, hoping this fits the spirit. I was amazed to see the features of these pencil pens. Are these pencils common where you live? Here in Germany, they are known, but rather seldomly used...

Nah, mechanical pencils are a niche, and those Japanese ones are a niche within a niche here in the Netherlands too. In Japan they are common, mainly due to the writing system that is very well suited to mechanical pencils, so they are common in schools. I use the Uni Kuru Toga in its fancy aluminium variant for both Dutch (mostly random notes and DIY measurements) and Japanese (I'm Dutch, but proficient in Japanese)…

Hoi! I am in the Netherlands as well, which site did you use to purchase the Kuru Toga? I am interested in buying one too

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#17

Post by bb88 »

I highly recommend getting the kuro toga pipe slide. The pipe slides up to protect the lead as you're writing, but you still get the clutch mechanism that rotates the lead.

They're available on amazon for not a huge amount of money:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pipe+slide+kuro+toga (no affiliate link)

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#18

Post by jamal-kumar »

jkellermann wrote: post #2

My first try to post in HackerNews, hoping this fits the spirit. I was amazed to see the features of these pencil pens. Are these pencils common where you live? Here in Germany, they are known, but rather seldomly used...

All my German pens and colored pencils are for art, interestingly. Great investment it's been over the years, keep on coming back to faber-castell, but it does seem to be the focus of what is made in your country.

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#19

Post by eth0up »

sva_ wrote: post #11
Justsignedup wrote: post #7

Gotta admit, the spring inside the tip to prevent stress breakage sounds amazing. It was the #1 reason I stopped using mechanical pencils.

I have a Pentel Orenz Nero 0.2mm with such a feature. It is pretty nice, but you will often scratch over the paper with the metal which is definitely a counter argument. Makes 0.2mm usable though. I think for 0.5mm you don't need it, just get some decent 'lead'.

I have a Pentel (0.5) that I purchased 12 years ago. I treat it with equal ritual and reverence as I do, say, my Korean crossbow, or Leica optics - it has its own altar of sorts. I may have appendages of my own form that are guarded less. I modified it though, using a glue to permanently fix the pocket clip into a particular position.

I was hesitant to post a trivial comment, but I discovered an ancient container of 0.5 pencil inserts this morning, and... I worship high quality Pentels. Built to last!

Re: Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]

#20

Post by deeg »

That was fun. I don't use anything except mechanical pencils but none of those really grabbed me and I generally love gadgets. For some reason I don't like the bouncy feel of the spring-protected tips and the only time I break leads is when I drop the pencil on the floor.
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