Lately, I’ve become interested in pencils for drawing and urban sketching.
My eyes have become open to the vast array of choices in graphite available, from the smallest-pointed mechanical drafting pencils to oversized sticks & chunks used to create art. The photorealistic drawings I’ve seen are simply incredible!
It didn’t take long before I realized pencils tend to be lumped into 2 basic categories: art or writing/everyday/specific need. By “writing”, I assumed they meant schoolkids messing around with cheap, washable graphite pencils. Just making marks and scribbling in general, you know?
But I got to wondering. Are there people over the age of, say 13, who write actual emphasized textsentencesemphasized text and emphasized textparagraphs**emphasized text* in pencil???
If so, why? Why on Earth???
Do they like sharpening so much they’re willing to do it every 20 words? Do they like that “shiny hand” look? Do they like the excitement of the risk of lead breaking?
Now look, I think pencils are wonderful things in general. But writing with them beyond simple labels on drawings is just not feasible in my mind.
That being said, does anybody buy pencils for the express purpose of writing words?
Not me. I only voluntarily use pencil for Scantron-type situations (if ink is not an option) or for kakuro puzzles, and use a mechanical pencil for that because I really hate the frequent sharpening on a conventional pencil.
Anyone involved in woodworking uses pencils. I don’t switch to a pen to write a note when taking measurements and recording them. I use use my pencil on my real-life paper notepad. And out of my woodworking, I have pencils all over the house. You know, just in case.
And I’m not particular to use carpenter’s pencils. Anytime someone is giving away a pencil, or three, I gladly accept them. Even golf pencils. Every time when I used to go to IKEA, at least once pencil never left my hand as I walked out the door …
Of course you write with pencils. B, HB, F and H are good for writing. You don’t wnat to sharpen the pencil too often? Use a mechanical pencil. Some are great! I even started a thread a long time ago on things close to perfection and a Japanese mechanical pencil was sugested (not by me, it ocurred to me too late). Some are even better that the one mentioned:
An advanced ratchet type has a mechanism that rotates the pencil lead 9 degrees counter-clockwise every time the lead is pressed on to the paper (which counts as one stroke), to distribute wear evenly. This auto-rotation mechanism keeps the lead 50% narrower than in the common propelling mechanical pencils, resulting in uniform thickness of the lines written onto the paper.
And you can have colored mines! You can collect pencils! You can have water soluble mines that turn into water colors when worked over with a brush!
And you ask why? Because it is fun. And reliable. Simple and efective. Elegant and sturdy. Good pencils are close to perfection.
If I checked my jacket pockets, my shirt and jeans pockets (inc. the “watch pocket”), and of course my art bag*, I’m probably carrying 3-4 mini mechanical pencils at any one time.
*sounds cooler than “$5 lunch bag I found at target years ago”… fits Moleskines and comic books, and plenty of pencils (yes, including Walt Disney’s favorite: a Blackwing)!
I use pencils. I guess i mostly use them more marking stuff I’m working on, and for writing the stats of my frosthaven character (which will change, so being able to erase is good), and for bridge scores, and for sketching out things i plan to do in Minecraft (i might not get it right the first time). But i have them around and use them for words, too.
I’m fact, i just recently got feed up with my ancient (and getting dull) pencil sharpener and bought a bunch of new ones to see which i liked. The winner is a two-stage manual sharpener with a container to hold the mess
(I didn’t buy from that vendor, but that’s the product I’m currently using.)
You sharpen the wood and then the graphite. Yeah, it seems fussy, and i bought some traditional single-stage sharpeners, too. But oh my God, this gives a great point on a perfectly smooth cone of wood. I love it.
If I’m writing reams and reams, i use a keyboard. But I’ll write phone messages and whatnot with the pencil that’s handy.
I like a very fine point, and the leads of very fine mechanical pencils tend to break a lot. Or maybe I’ve just never gotten good at them. But also, i like being able to transition from a fine point to a ticket point by changing the angle, and not needing to grab a different pencil. So my preference is for wooden pencils.
All my journaling is done with a very soft woodcase pencil. I’m perfectly happy with cheap spiral notebook paper, but a really good pencil is a joy to use. It responds to subtle variations in pressure and glides like butter across the fine tooth of the paper. Yes, I keep a good sharpener handy, but the “sweet spot” isn’t when the point is sharp, it’s when there’s enough of a knob to develop flats which can be turned to produce crisp inflections in letterforms, something akin to a calligraphy pen but more alive.
I’m a lefty, which means my hand was always passing over what I had already written, so I was well acquainted with ‘shiny hand’ as a student. I have not used a pencil to write for many years now. In fact, other than the occasional jotted note to myself, I hardly write at all anymore-- my writing, when I do write and not type, has become as indecipherable as a doctor’s.
Seriously, try carrying a pencil and a pocket notebook with you at all times, and see if your life changes…
I still remember standing with a large group of coworkers and one said “Hey, how about a beer at Mickey’s after work?”
I jotted it down in my “handy dandy notebook”(okay, a moleskine cahier), put it back in my pocket, and then had to chuckle to myself.
EVERYone else had barely gotten their phones displaying the home screen. I watched as they navigated (oops, wrong app, back to Home) and input the name of the bar (“Oh, wait, Google Maps wants to send me to a Mickie’s Dairy Bar downtown… wait, I have to… grrr!”). More than one got distracted by a notification of a social media post, and had to ask the name of the bar again!
Digital devices have become ubiquitous in nearly every aspect. The relentless barrage of notifications, messages, and social media updates has left us less connected, and more anxious.
We’ve lost touch with the simple pleasures of an analog experience. The smell of a freshly sharpened pencil and feel of it gliding across paper. The sensation of dropping a needle on a record, capturing time with the click of a shutter, or turning the pages of a book.
I’ve never liked writing with a pencil. It’s like nails on a chalkboard type of feeling. We have hundreds of pens at home, but I doubt I could find a single pencil.
Pencils are great. I buy boxes of the red Mitsubishi pencils as my go-to choice. And a nice pencil is very satisfying to sharpen (using a nice weighty brass sharpener).
Just like a nice fountain pen has a viscerally pleasing tactile scritchy scritch, a pencil has its own suite of pleasing sensations. The older I get, the more I notice and appreciate that kind of thing. I don’t know if it’s a progression of my ADHD or just that I’m more indulgent about buying myself things that ping those tactile cravings.
I use pencils to solve crossword puzzles on paper. I don’t mind having to make the occasional erasure, and it’s a lot more legible than scribbling over mistakes with a pen.
In fact, pencils are perfect when you expect to make a lot of edits to your handwriting.
99% of my meeting notes are written in pencil in small notebooks. I typically use a harder lead, but I also like the Kuru Toga line of mechanical pencils (the ones that automagically rotate the lead). I like the feel and the contrast, along with the ability to erase.
Also I’m one of those weirdos that has a pencil subscription. But I’m also also one of those weirdos that when I don’t use a pencil, I opt for a fountain pen. I just like the experience and feel of certain tools, I guess.
Hopefully not too far off-topic, but does anyone know if there’s an easy way to sharpen golf pencils with their traditional deep angle point (as opposed to sticking it in a regular pencil sharpener like you would a #2 at school)?
