Aargh - help me find a good pencil

[Anaamika]

Thanks, guys! In answer to some of your questions:

1. I am very right-handed. So right-handed I can barely feed myself with my left hand.
2. It’s Discrete Math, I make so many mistakes, I must use a pencil and not a pen.
3. I’ll get some 2.5 pencils and try them out.
4. I know, “just press lighter”. But I don’t feel good until I can press firmly, and it’s really ingrained as a habit.
5. I will also try some of those fancy mechanical pencils you guys are mentioning! Especially the Kuru Toga.
6. I don’t do crossword puzzles at all.
7. And lastly, of course it’s “me”, as in my problem, but it’s 2013! There’s solutions for everything!

I will try to get some fancy pencils today and see if that helps. Thanks again!

[Kropotkin]

I just discovered Palomino pencils. They’re great. 3 hardnesses (experiment: they don’t really fall easily in the HB/No. 2 scale), strong leads, replaceable erasers (yay! And different colours to match your outfit), longer than usual pencils, really expensive, like $3 each, but lovely to use. I think. Since Kropotkinskaya found the secret hiding place, I haven’t seen them.

Spring for the special 2 stage sharpener, it gives you a nice long point.

[Thudlow_Boink]

Since this thread has been resurrected: Anaamika, did you ever find some pencils that satisfied you?

[Kropotkin]

Yes, please tell us!

[Anaamika]

I did! I used 2.5 pencils and they worked out for me and I ended up getting a B+ in Discrete Math. And since then, I also graduated! So thanks!

[puzzlegal]

I used to be a big fan of Dixon Ticonderoga 2.5 pencils, but haven’t seen them for sale lately.

[Pork_Rind]

@Skypist

You might want to check out the Kuru Toga mechanical pencil. It turns the lead inside each time you lift your pencil tip off the paper and then place it back down, so you always have a sharper lead. There are various models of different prices.

I came in just to say this. The standard grade Kuru Toga you can get in any office supply store is great. If you can get the metal bodied version that I’ve only seen online to date, even better.

Eta: only now I see I got bitten by a zombie.

[Green_Bean]

Happy to post to a zombie! I love pencils.

Plain old Dixon Ticonderoga #2s are my go-to pencils for everyday use. I also like to do my crossword puzzles with a Staedtler 4B with a cap eraser on it.

I sure do miss Mongols, though.

@zoid

If you’re really serious, what you want is not a pencil. You want a lead holder.
There are disadvantages. It’s messy because you need a lead sharpener which makes lead dust. You need separate good quality erasers (but you should be using those already). They’re far more expensive in terms of initial outlay.
The advantage is that you have a big honking piece of lead that you can get in just about any hardness you desire to sharpen to your hearts content and there is no better lead writing equipment available - this is what pros used back in the day to draft with and what us olde-timey engineering students were required to use.

Yeah, lead holders are the bomb diggity.

@Kropotkin

I just discovered Palomino pencils. They’re great. 3 hardnesses (experiment: they don’t really fall easily in the HB/No. 2 scale), strong leads, replaceable erasers (yay! And different colours to match your outfit), longer than usual pencils, really expensive, like $3 each, but lovely to use. I think. Since Kropotkinskaya found the secret hiding place, I haven’t seen them.

Holy crow! I didn’t know they revived the Blackwing. Woot!

[Pork_Rind]

@Green_Bean

Holy crow! I didn’t know they revived the Blackwing. Woot!

I have heard it’s good, but not quite the real thing. I still have one unsharpened original in my desk. I used to joke with coworkers that it represented the whole of my retirement fund.

[Bill_Door]

I myself like a Mirado Black Warrior #2.

[Kropotkin]

The Mirado Black Warrior is a fine pencil, but the 3 Palominos–Blackwing, Pearl, and 602–are nicer, IMHO. I like to swap out the different coloured erasers to coordinate with my outfit…