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Pentel woodcase pencils

Though Pentel may be known for mechanical pencils and lead refills, their woodcase pencil products are equally outstanding.
In our lineup today, we have:
Pentel Mark Sheet Pencil
Pentel Tuff Pencil
Pentel Black Polymer 999 Copyist
Pentel Black Polymer 999
Pentel Black Polymer 999α (999 alpha)
The Pentel Mark Sheet pencil is Pentel’s entry in the test scoring category. In HB, [...]

July 5th, 2009 | Category: Pentel | 4 comments

The curious arithmetic of mechanical pencil refills

Hmm, has anyone noticed this aspect of mechanical pencil refills?
Pentel Ain refills (just to pick a particular brand) are all the same price.
And all are 60mm in length.
But they contain:
0.3mm – 20 pieces
0.4mm – 30 pieces
0.5mm – 40 pieces
0.7mm – 40 pieces
0.9mm – 36 pieces
What gives? Thinner lead costs more? I would think one [...]

March 3rd, 2009 | Category: Pentel, pencils | 11 comments

Very thin erasers

Here are a couple of amazingly thin erasers.
The Tombow Mono zero is a 2.3mm diameter cyclindrical eraser, dispensed by clicking the cap. It really does seem like a mechanical pencil in both form and function.
I thought this eraser was probably a borderline novelty, but it worked quite well over a period of days. You [...]

September 8th, 2008 | Category: Pentel, erasers | 6 comments

Pentel Mark Sheet Pencil

We’ve seen special pencils aimed at optical and electro-mechanical mark recognition – the vintage IBM Electrographic, and the more recent Musgrave Test Scoring Pencil.
Quite a few people seem to be interested in these pencils, so I’m pleased to be able to mention a superb modern example that I recently learned about – the Pentel Mark [...]

August 26th, 2008 | Category: Pentel, pencils | 15 comments

Pentel Black Polymer 999α (999 alpha) pencil

In our previous review of top Japanese pencils, it was lamented that the Pentel Black Polymer 999α was unavailable. We did review, and have previously looked at, the second tier 999. “Second tier”? The 999 is without doubt one of the finest pencils ever made, so we’ve been extremely curious about what Pentel considers to [...]

July 21st, 2008 | Tags: | Category: Pentel, pencils | 7 comments

Pentel Black Polymer 999

In addition to Tombow and Mitsubishi, there are other quality Japanese pencil manufacturers. One of these is Pentel. Their top of the line pencil in the Black Polymer series is the 999 alpha. I’ve heard they are great, but have been unable to acquire any. (If you have some for sale, please let me [...]

January 13th, 2007 | Category: Pentel | 18 comments