I’m looking for a pencil – mechanical or wooden. What’s your favourite?
Mechanical. It’s high(er) tech. It’s like comparing an ipod to a phonograph. When you find one you like you never have to get rid of it, just buy lead and erasers. Even the best wooden pencil in the world is going to gradually disappear over time because of what it is.
I prefer wooden ones because I like sharpening them!
I did find some mechanical ones with thick leads that I like as well, but I always seem to wear out the erasers on those pretty quickly.
I like wooden pencils. You can’t chew on mechanical pencils, plus they don’t smell. I love the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil 
I have here a wooden pencil from 6th grade. I still use it, so it’s not like it’s some treasured artefact, it’s just wearing down veeeery slowly. The eraser has been chewed off and almost all the paint is gone. The wood is a grubby shade of grey. When I sharpen it the cone of clean, bright-coloured is almost shocking.
<3
Mirado Black Warrior Pencils, #1 or #2.
They’re more striking than the Yellows, have a good grip and nice dark tip and appeal to my africentric sensibilities.
Uh, make that bright-coloured wood. Bleh.
Okay, just to clarify, I’m asking for specific pencils – brand name and models, please. Whether you prefer mechanical or wooden, tell me which one I should be looking for on the shelves of the art store or stationery shop. For mechanical, specify width in mm. For wooden, specify hardness.
For example, I’m holding one here called the “PhD Ultra” (0.5 mm) by Paper Mate. It’s nice, because it’s got a nice thick barrel.
Wood – but it’s gotta be a #2.5, not a #2. The harder puzzle gets a sharper point and holds the point longer.
twicks, who, although a trained professional, solves puzzles in pencil
Wood – but it’s gotta be a #2.5, not a #2. The harder pencil gets a sharper point and holds the point longer.
twicks, who, although a trained professional, solves puzzles in pencil
I like American brand wooden pencils. When I started high school (1994), my mother bought me two gross of American pencils at Sam’s Club.
I still have more than half of them left. We use them for D&D.
Phooey. Didn’t hit “stop” quite as fast as I thought I did.
In that case then, I use Sanford Digit mechanical pencils in 0.5 mm. I’m a drafter and I know pencils. Right now I have 38 different pencils and lead holders on my desk. 4 of them are Sanford Digits. These are also the ones I reach for most often. Cheap, widely available and easy to find refills for. I prefer the 0.5mm to the 0.7 mm because of the finer point. I also have 29 different pens and markers, for what thats worth.
I’ve got a rather heavy hand, and I tend to break 0.7 mm leads on mechanical pencils. I’ve seen some 0.9 mm lead, but it’s too blunt. I’ve gotten hooked on 2 mm lead holders. You can find them where drafting or art supplies are sold. They hold a nice big fat 2-mm lead (hardness your choice), but you can use a lead pointer to give the lead a wicked sharp tip. (Then you have to dispose of the shavings, but it’s a small price to pay.)
The lead holder itself needn’t be fancy. I have one that cost $3.50 that works just fine. The pointer is a bit more problematic. The rotary pointers are just big and heavy enough that they’re inconveninent to carry around. They’re also a bit of a pain to use, and they only really work with their own brand of lead holder. They make mini lead pointers that are just like a teeny pencil sharpener, and work fine for my non-precision-drafting purposes, but I have a hard time finding them locally. I do have an Alvin Brand “Ben” lead holder that has as pointer in the lead-advance button. It cost around $6, I think.
People always give them a funny look, but I lurves my lead holders.
Ooohh, good question - but any answers kind of seem like MPSIMS.
For taking notes on-the-go, where I don’t have the luxury of a pencil sharpener, I use a mechanical pencil, and I most prefer a Pentel 0.7mm with HB lead - it seems to fit my hand and writing style, and there is a satisfying feel to the lead advance. They also don’t break or clog much for me.
For writing at my desk, where I have a sharpener handy (liberated from another lab 
), then I like the feel of a wooden pencil, and I’m kind of conventional in this regard so go with a Dixon Ticonderoga #2 or a Berol Mirado HB.
I also take lots of notes with a pen, and a Sanford uni-ball Micro writes well for me on engineering paper.
In college (engineering so we used pencils a lot), I liked the pencils with the side advance feature. I found that much handier.
Now that I have a job and use job supplied pencils, I use Pentel P205, Pentels 5mm version. I miss the side advance feature but they’re decent mechanical pencils and last forever.
Call me crazy, but few office supplies give me as much joy as a freshly sharpened Dixon-Ticonderoga #2 pencil. I refuse to buy any other kind. Mechanical pencils are sometimes convenient but I end up having to push the button every second line of writing, and then again whenever the lead snaps (in my case, that’s often). Give me my DT, and a good electric sharpener, and I’m a very happy camper.
OK, I revise my last statement - if I can’t for some ungodly reason find a Dixon Ticonderoga, I will settle for Askia’s Mirado Black Warrior. Those aren’t too shabby either 
Ticonderoga #3.
Love.
Where do you get Sanford Digits? They are my favorites, too, but I can never find them anywhere. The last time I saw them, I bought all the ones in the store, but I work with a bunch of pencil thieves and have no more Digits.
Staedtler Mars Draft Automatic Pencils:
http://www.artstuff.net/staedtler_mars_draft_pencils.htm
Wonderful wonderful wonderful pencils. I have the 0.3, the 0.5 and the 0.7 (I write very small so I have little/no use for the 0.9). They’re a bit pricey for one pencil but they last forever; you just need refills. The only weak spot is right at the tip; you need to avoid (literally) smashing the tip or it bends. Still, they’re far stronger than your average Bic or Icy pencil. These babies have served me through three Calc classes, Differential Equations, Discrete Math, two physics classes (with labs), etc. Love love love love love them.
I detest using wooden pencils because I’m obsessive about thickness. I write one sentence and the pencil is too dull and will drive me batty until I sharpen it again.