Comments on: Designphil Glass Ruler

By: James

James — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:32:52 +0000

I must confess feeling a little foolish about my comments regarding the difficulty navigating the pencils.jp ordering function (see above). I re-visited the site and noticed that there was a link above the “quantity ordered” box labeled, of all things, “Check the Availability of Each Selection”! If you click on that label it opens another window that, of course, lists the amount available of each item. For whatever reason, it didn’t “click” with me that the label was a “link”, so I didn’t click on it. Instead I blundered ahead and frustrated myself by trying to order in quantities that were were not possible. Silly me!

Well, at least no one ELSE will have to make such a bone-head mistake. I’ve done it FOR you. No need to thank me.

By: James

James — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:32:09 +0000

Just a quick update about the pencils.jp site. My problem with ordering arose because I did not realize that the site combines the “quantity ordered” function with the “quantity available” function in the same selection box, hence the confusion. Other websites, (jetpens.com for instance) wisely seperate the two so one can tell at a glance that the item is in short supply; a superior system in my view and what I was expecting.

By: James

James — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:15:12 +0000

I just received my first order from the above site and am very pleased with the service. The items arrived in 5 days from Japan and the express shipping was very reasonable ($13 CDN). By comparison a similar order from JetPens.com took 7 days express from San Fransisco and cost $20.25 CDN. True, the Pencils.jp order took a little longer to place because they ship by weight which means a days delay before they can give you the shipping charges. Still, it seems like a minor thing in order to save about 40% on shipping.

One odd thing about the Pencils.jp site I must mention is that the shopping cart feature sometimes limits you to a max of 3 items per color. There is no apparent work-around if you want,say, 8 items in black only. I’ve written to them about this just today, so I don’t have an answer as of yet.

Will keep you posted.

By: James

James — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:40:18 +0000

Just a quick response to OfficeSupplyGeek: this site http://www.pencils.jp/product-list/14 is related to Bundoki somehow, but is in very readable english. It has the Designphil ruler on the above page. While you’re there, scroll down and check out the Raymay compact scissors. Having a degree in Industrial Design, I can see why they won a design award for that product.

I just placed my first order at this website and am awaiting shipment, so I can’t comment on their service just yet. I’ll let you know how it goes.

By: OfficeSupplyGeek

OfficeSupplyGeek — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:03:24 +0000

That is an awesome looking ruler! The Bundoki site looks great too, now if only I could actually read it. :)

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:35:32 +0000

Actually, it is fine with a 4mm fixed sleeve mechanical pencil. Just tested it out. The box also states, “Made from annealed glass, produced using a thermal tempering process in which the glass is heated at temperatures of approximately 720C and then rapidly cooled. This manufacturing technique increases the strength of the glass making it suitable for use with knives as it is not easily scratched.”

The box also refers to Gunther’s suggestion of dual sided markings, but I don’t understand this. It is not the case – both black and white scales are definitely on the bottom.

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:16:03 +0000

Thank you for the comments.

Boris, it is a new acquisition, so I don’t have any direct knowledge of how it holds up over time.

And being made of glass – there are definitely some special considerations. Tempered glass should theoretically make it as strong as a Pyrex measuring cup, but I don’t intend on testing this!

Gunther, both scales are etched on the bottom. From some angles the black scale appears to be on top, but that is an optical illusion.

It also easily gets lost on a crowded desk!

By: Gunther

Gunther — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:05:07 +0000

And if you accidentially drop it you don’t have to pick it up but just sweep it away ;-) Joking aside: The ruler looks marvellous, and it was very clever to place one scale at the bottom – with this, parallax-related problems are avoided. What kind of printing (etching?) has been employed?

By: Boris

Boris — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:05:25 +0000

That’s a sweet looking ruler! How well would it stand up to daily use in drafting (i.e. sliding across paper)?

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:25:30 +0000

It works fine with woodcase pencils!

By: Xhakhal

Xhakhal — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:35:33 +0000

Cool! I prefer metal rulers (I need them thin, just like the previous poster, but for other reasons XD) but this really looks beautiful.

By: Kiwi-d

Kiwi-d — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:24:33 +0000

Very nice, but I’m suspecting my draughting pencils lead sleeve won’t be long enough for a super-thick ruler like this one? :-)