Let's talk pencils

**Darrell KSR** · 03-21-2016, 11:16 AM

Any pencil folks here?

I enjoy writing with a pencil from time to time. In fact, I love making daily "to do" lists in pencil--and scratching out accomplishments with the pencil when I do. Something that is very pleasing in doing so. I can't remember the type of pencil I like the most, but it's touted as "world's best," it's black, and it does seem to write better than the standard yellow pencils (although I use both).

I generally keep 4 or 5 sharpened pencils in my desk drawer.

In addition to wooden pencils, I often will use mechanical type pencils as well. I have a Sharp Kerry Pentel automatic pencil I like. I am thinking of getting one of the Kura Toga pencils as well. I like the softer, darker, lead, and the Kura Toga pencils may be able to handle that without breaking as much. I am anxious to try it. I've used B lead, but I really like 2B, but it tends to break too much.

I've had all kind of mechanical pencils, from the normal "Pentel" type clicks, to side clicks, to disappearing points, to the more old style traditional like a Cross mechanical pencil that you extend the lead by rotating the barrell.

I usually use the 0.5mm size pencil, but I like 0.7mm, too. I have tried the 0.9mm on occasion, but never have really found that pleasing to me.

Anybody use pencils? Wooden or mechanical? Have a favorite type? What kind of lead do you use? HB, H, B? What size pencil lead do you use?

**UKFlounder** · 03-21-2016, 03:03 PM

I judged a school-age history contest a few weeks ago and we had to use pencils on the evaluation sheets. I hated it. Even as I used the eraser to correct notes, I just did not enjoy it. Plus, needing to go sharpen it just made it more inconvenient.

**Darrell KSR** · 03-21-2016, 03:18 PM

I like the sharpening, too. I have five Ticonderoga pencils in my desk drawer now, one Ticonderoga Black. I take all of them to the electric sharpener, sharpen them all at the same time, and bring back half-a-dozen sharpened wooden pencils. Terrific stuff!

(Today I'm using fountain pens. I'm on that kick right now. But I will return to pencils.)

Come on, I can't be the only one that enjoys pencils!

**BigBluePappy** · 03-21-2016, 07:08 PM

7mm Mechanical with a full length eraser (like a pencil, but it is an eraser) for the multitude of mistakes I make and i have never, ever ran out of lead, where as I have run out of ink; especially in the newfangled gel ink pens.

**dan_bgblue** · 03-21-2016, 07:18 PM

I use #2 wooden pencils all the time. Brand does not matter, nor does shape. Round or 5 sided. My work requires documents to be completed in ink, but note taking is mostly pencil as is doodling.

**CitizenBBN** · 03-21-2016, 07:42 PM

I don't like pencils, pens or paper. Have been addicted to laptops and keyboards for a very long time.

I think that's b/c I'm so disorganized with paper. With a computer I can usually do a search and find that odd scrap or note, the paper ones have no chance.

So I think my issue is with paper, the writing instruments are just collateral damage.

**blueboss** · 03-21-2016, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by dan_bgblue

I use #2 wooden pencils all the time. Brand does not matter, nor does shape. Round or 5 sided. My work requires documents to be completed in ink, but note taking is mostly pencil as is doodling.

Ditto... Exactly.

Maybe I could get Darrell to send me one of those $80 pencils he's referencing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Darrell KSR** · 03-21-2016, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by blueboss

Ditto... Exactly.

Maybe I could get Darrell to send me one of those $80 pencils he's referencing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nah. The Kura Toga is a $5-10 pencil. The Sharp Kerry probably $20. I don't get into those $80 Rotring pencils, although I'd consider it if I was an engineer or architect or someone like that who used it as a precise tool. And the old ones I've had like Cross pencils probably aren't that much, and they're the worst pencils anyway.

The Kura Toga is intriguing. It features a gear that rotates the pencil lead slightly each time the pencil leaves the paper. It creates a situation where the pencil lead doesn't wear down on one side like other mechanical pencils, and you don't have to rotate the pencil in your hand like you do most mechanical pencils to get a more consistent line.

So with it, there are two huge advantages over normal mechanical pencils. First, that one. You get the same width line every time. It's really cool,and without having to rotate the pencil in your fingers to try. The second major advantage is that you do not get the lead breaking as much because it doesn't get thin, but stays a consistent lead width. That will let me use a softer, blacker lead.

**catmanjack** · 03-22-2016, 12:13 AM

Use a .5 pencil myself and at times a .3, not all the time mostly just when I score the games.

**PedroDaGr8** · 03-22-2016, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by CitizenBBN

I don't like pencils, pens or paper. Have been addicted to laptops and keyboards for a very long time.

I think that's b/c I'm so disorganized with paper. With a computer I can usually do a search and find that odd scrap or note, the paper ones have no chance.

So I think my issue is with paper, the writing instruments are just collateral damage.

I HAVE to do some writing in pen. Patents and all that jazz.

For everything else, I use PC or my phone. What do you use to organize your notes? My gf uses MS OneNote for pretty much everything and swears by it. I haven't tried it yet, I mainly use txt docs or email to organize everything.

**CitizenBBN** · 03-22-2016, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by PedroDaGr8

I HAVE to do some writing in pen. Patents and all that jazz.

For everything else, I use PC or my phone. What do you use to organize your notes? My gf uses MS OneNote for pretty much everything and swears by it. I haven't tried it yet, I mainly use txt docs or email to organize everything.

I'm like you, I use text files and email.

But I'm writing new software for the business and it has a tasks/notes section I'm adding to do it there. Outlook just isn't robust enough or connected enough (it might be if they weren't depricating the journal part), and CRM software is just too much and too cumbersome. Fortunately I can write what we need, I'm putting the notes/tasks in with an ASP access as well as the regular software (using Delphi, still the fastest way to bang out an app for Windows.

We'll see how it goes. I just need basic task assigment and tracking, but it does need a few things Outlook just doesn't do.

**dan_bgblue** · 03-22-2016, 02:48 PM

What do you use to organize your notes?

A legal pad or 2 per month, batteries not required

**Darrell KSR** · 03-23-2016, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by dan_bgblue

A legal pad or 2 per month, batteries not required

I'm a weird guy (no comments needed) -- I like legal pads for note-taking, but I like the hard bound, diary-type "books" for my "to do" lists, for categories of stuff, etc. Actually, it doesn't have to be hard-bound, a leather or faux-leather type will do, with a ribbon marker thing in the middle of it.

For example, I will have groups of the type of work I do and a separate page for each one - just the name, nothing more. Just kind of keeps it at a glance. Pretend one is "Corporate," another "Probate," another "Estate Planning," etc.

The "to do" lists can be daily, although I usually use the same page for multiple days. I use a stenographer's notebook kind of thing for a daily one--which I still have not mastered. I tend to over-estimate what I will get accomplished on a single day, which is not the way to do that. I use the stenographer's notebook kind of thing with the Pomodoro technique--simplistic, and not fully embraced. I use this with it:

I generally follow the 25-minute on, 5-minute off technique, although more days than not I don't use it. I need to get to using it at least 3 or 4 days a week, and it's probably closer to 1-1/2.

But that clock timer is also handy when you have some place you have to go. This year I've had golf tournaments for my daughter, and soccer for my son that have required me to leave the office before 5. It's nice to have it ring like an alarm clock; not something like I ignore on my phone, to let me know time is up. Plus if there's somebody in my office, they know immediately "something" is up--"do you have to go? Yes, my son is __________."

**Darrell KSR** · 03-23-2016, 11:14 AM

Oh--if anybody is interested in that timer--which has a very pleasant "ticking" noise (don't carry it with you to the airport) -- here is the amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...rch_detailpage

Note--it only has 3 stars out of 5 review, with 25% of the reviews giving it only 1-star. Frankly, I have the product--I had a good feeling about it. It's a good quality product. A couple of them claimed it arrived broken, one claimed it broke after a couple of uses. I have a guess on how all of them are "broken," and it has to do with user error. You don't wind these like some clock/watch where you keep winding them. You gently rotate it to somewhere short of 60 minutes. Then you rotate it back to the minutes you choose.

I usually rotate it to 30-40 minutes, and then pull it back to 25. What that does is "wind" the mechanism (but don't overwind), and it will gently tick down to the point where the alarm goes off.

Any mechanical item like this isn't going to be pure digital accuracy, so for you computer wackos and types, don't get this. I have a watch that is an automatic winding watch, given to me by my in-laws at a time when they liked me (I'm kidding, they never liked me), but one that, although it is a "chronometer, officially certified, etc.," loses or gains time over the course of a week. To me, that's part of the charm, resetting it where it has gained 3 minutes or lost 3 minutes.

Think of an analog, mechanical "kitchen timer-esque" thing the same way, and you'll love things like this. I also have one at home that is an apple where you wind the top of it. Same concept, but a little less business-like, so I don't have it at work.

**dan_bgblue** · 03-23-2016, 01:24 PM

I also have a day planner, and it contains all the phone number and email addresses, written in ink, I need, but I do not use it for note taking. Do not need the clock as my internal clock is a rare quirk of genetics that allows me to keep time all during the day. Not down to the minute, but if an appointment or call is coming up, my clock gives me early warning messages

**Darrell KSR** · 03-23-2016, 02:13 PM

I made that confusing, but the clock's primary purpose isn't time or alarm related. It's a productivity tool. When I use the Pomodoro technique, I allow no interruptions during a "Pom," which is a designated period of time. For most people, the optimal time is 25 minutes, but you can self-define your own.

You are supposed to estimate how many Poms any task will take. Your goal is to complete a certain number of Poms you designate. If you allow an interruption, there are no partial Poms, and you can't pause them, so you have to start over.

In the break - 5 minutes, but after every 3 it extends to 15 - you return quick phone calls, check email, post on KSR... oops.

Anyway, that's the sole reason I have these timer things. But I do use them as reminders as well. If I have to leave, I do not want to be a minute late, and it allows me to be fully immersed in whatever I am doing until that ding a ling alerts this ding a ling.

(FWIW, I think the Pomodoro technique is outstanding for people like me. I just don't use it as much as I should. I need to commit to it more often).

**dan_bgblue** · 03-23-2016, 03:03 PM

Sorry I read the original post wrong. Probably should have dedicated a bit more time to a thorough read than I did

**Darrell KSR** · 03-23-2016, 07:56 PM

No, I focused on the alarm/ringer. I unintentionally misdirected the focus.

**bigsky** · 03-24-2016, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by BigBluePappy

7mm Mechanical with a full length eraser (like a pencil, but it is an eraser) for the multitude of mistakes I make and i have never, ever ran out of lead, where as I have run out of ink; especially in the newfangled gel ink pens.

#5 with softer lead, and the lead advance under my thumb. But keyboards keep gaining ground

**MickintheHam** · 03-26-2016, 01:37 AM

The only time this year I have used a pencil was at the voting table. And that was hell. I am marking on the ballot 1/2 inch outside the bubble. I keep one blue pen to sign my name. Oh, I did write one check this year with my blue pen. It was a hodgepoge of cursive and printing. I couldn't even read it, but it cleared the bank.

**CGWildcat** · 03-26-2016, 04:56 PM

Milton Friedman talks about his friend and the pencil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ERbC7JyCfU

**KeithKSR** · 04-03-2016, 02:57 PM

I like wooden Ticonderoga pencils, nothing writes like a freshly sharpened Ticonderoga! Pentel is my favored mechanical pencil. I like .7mm and .9mm, although I have Pentels in .3mm and .5mm. The .3 is a remnant from a drafting class I took more than 30 years ago. In college I like the .5, but have found the lead breaks too often these days for me to use .5 without getting frustrated with the frequent breakage.

**Darrell KSR** · 04-04-2016, 11:40 AM

Keith, you may want to try that Kura Toga pencil in .5 mm. I picked up the $5 one at Walmart (I may splurge for the $9 if I like it) and I am going to put soft B or 2B lead in it when this runs out. Not having a breaking problem with it like I have with my Pentel. Worth a try.

**Darrell KSR** · 04-05-2016, 08:30 PM

So I have already misplaced my Kura Toga pencil, and bought a replacement one today. Still the $5 one. Haven't splurged yet, want to put 2B soft 0.5 lead in it and make sure it works well.

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