Fountain Pen Love

Inside My Collection – Vintage Non-Metal Pencils

In this series, I want to give you a peek inside my collection of vintage fountain-pen-related items. Today we’re going to look at some of the vintage non-metal pencils that I’ve collected. These include plastic, celluloid, and hard rubber pencils. I have never gone out of my way to collect vintage pencils, but am always happy to pick one up ...

The Pen Addict

Pentel Orenz Nero 0.3 mm Mechanical Pencil Review

If you think mechanical pencils are boring, or the designs are static, then you have been missing out of great innovations over the past decade.

The Uni Kuru Toga gets all of the press, and rightfully so. Its lead-rotating mechanism works exceptionally well, and Uni continues to design around it. They even turned it up to eleven with a product like the Kuru Toga Dive.

While the Pentel Orenz doesn’t offer rotation, it does offer something else: breakage protection. That’s important for many graphite lead sizes, especially sub-0.5 mm sizes. That why you’ll see the Orenz lineup lean into those 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm sizes.

The Pentel Orenz works by using a sliding sleeve that protects the lead from breaking. Unlike traditional mechanical pencils, you don’t want to extend the lead past the end of the pipe. The lead should go right up to the end of the pipe, and from there, you are essentially writing with the lead pipe on the page.

This works for two reasons. One, the end of the pipe that touches the page is rounded on the edges, not cut straight across-and sharp-like a traditional mechanical pencil pipe. Two, the pipe retracts ever so slightly as you write, allowing the graphite to write, and continues to to extend the lead every time you lift the pencil from the page.

It may sound like a complex idea, but in practice, it just works. You just have to wrap your head around it a little bit.

The Orenz Nero is Pentel’s upgraded barrel over their standard. The barrel is a unique one-piece design, featuring a material that is a special resin-metal blend. It feels like a plastic composite, but is slightly heavier than a traditional plastic-only barrel, but much lighter than a metal one. It does feel rock solid, and looks amazing. I especially enjoy the grip ridges, which provide just the right amount of grip and comfort.

So, why would you use the Pentel Orenz over more traditional mechanical pencils? If you need, or enjoy, 0.2 mm or 0.3 mm graphite sizes, it is almost a must-have. If you have tried leads that fine in regular mechanical pencils, you have broken more than your share of graphite when writing, to the point where you toss the pencil down in frustration, and swear off those fine lines forever.

The Orenz solves that issue, and does it well. The pipe-on-the-page style doesn’t get in the way of your controlled lines or handwriting. It feels like a normal pencil when writing. For those micro sizes, it is an easy recommendation. For 0.5 mm leads and up, I do prefer more traditional mechanical pencils. It’s a visual thing, and I don’t break those 0.5 mm leads at a rate anywhere near I do the smaller sizes.

The final consideration is the cost of the Nero. At $28.50, it is a pricey pencil. The Rotring 600, aka the best mechanical pencil ever made, is only $3 more. But, it primarily comes in 0.5 mm, and 0.7 mm sizes, with 0.35 mm tip options available, sometimes. If you don’t need protection for the finer sizes, I would choose the 600 every time.

If you do need to use 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm sizes, then the Orenz is the choice. The basic pencil starts at $7, with a mix of shapes, styles, and materials on up the bracket until the top-end Nero. The Metal Grip is an excellent sweet spot at at $15.

The Pentel Orenz is one of the more interesting mechanical pencil lineups on the market. It hasn’t fully cracked my own writing rotation, but I do find myself reaching for it more frequently. If you are a fan and user of the Orenz I would love to hear your thoughts and how you use this pencil.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Boing Boing

The Pencil Sharpener Museum

I'm constantly searching for the perfect pencil sharpener. I've been frantically searching for one that doesn't clog easily, but my search hasn't been fruitful. I've had to resort to sharpening my pencils with an x-acto knife. I wonder if the pencil sharpener of my dreams lies somewhere inside of the Paul A. — Read the rest

The Pen Addict

Pilot Dr. Grip Play Balance Shaker Mechanical Pencil Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

We all know that there's a lot of preference that goes into the perfect balance and handling of a writing instrument. The lower the center of gravity, the better the control. Too low, though, and it just feels weird. Each pen or pencil has a unique balance, and that attributes so much to the overall writing experience. But what if you could customize the balance of the pen or pencil by adding/subtracting weight to the grip section?

I'm guessing this is the question that came up in a Pilot design session at some point, because that's why we now have the Dr. Grip Play Balance Shaker Mechanical Pencil. There's a lot going on in this name, so let's break it down.

• Dr. Grip — contoured and squishy grip that you'll either love or hate
• Play Balance — you can add or remove weight from the grip section to alter the center of gravity!
• Shaker — you can press the nock at the top of the pencil to advance the lead like any other mechanical pencil, but you can also advance the lead by giving the pencil a little shake.

The Dr. Grip product line has been around quite a while now. If you've never tried one, you owe it to yourself to see if the grip fits your hand and grip style. If it happens to fit, it's really one of the most comfortable writing experiences I've had for a moderately cheap pen that I can buy at most big-box stores. It's got plenty of soft give while also having enough firmness to easily control. For me, the Uni Signo Alpha gel grip is just too soft and I have a hard time writing precisely.

With this mechanical pencil, you have the option of 0.5mm or 0.3mm lead sizes. The version I have is the 0.5mm in the clear body color. There's also black, red, green, and blue if clear isn't your thing. Regardless of the lead size or color, there's a chrome lead advancement button on the top of the pen, a chrome nose cone and lead shoulder, and a small nub at the top of the pencil to keep it from rolling away. There's also a small hole in the nub, so you could theoretically attach it to a lanyard strap or something else to secure it. Unfortunately, there's no clip on this pencil!

I have several mechanical pencils that use the shaker mechanism for advancing the lead, and I have to say that I like it a lot more than I thought I would. At first glance, this just seems like a gimmick that only exists to sell units. But, after retraining my brain that a quick shake will extend enough lead to keep writing, I was instantly sold. The quick shake is milliseconds faster than changing my grip to click the button with my thumb, and it's also just more fun. The shaker mechanism in this pencil is well done — it works easily and doesn't take much effort.

Now, let's talk about the main differentiator for the pencil — the reason is exists and has its own SKU: the Play Balance feature. While I'm not a fan of the name, I actually like the ability to change up the balance of the pencil will little effort. I've seen this type of option in gaming mice — the mouse comes with a cavity inside that you can fill up with a number of small weights until you achieve the perfect weight for your preferences. The idea here is similar, but since you hold a pencil upright instead of laying it flat on a desk and moving it around, you're actually shifting the center of gravity when you move the weight around.

So how does this work? Well, the package comes with three weights (equal sizes) and two silicone spacers. The pencil is preloaded with one weight and two silicone spacers. The weight is closest to the writing tip of the pencil. Changing out the weights and spacers is easy — just unscrew the cone, slide off the Dr. Grip squishy bit, and add/remove weights and spacers to the inner section. The grip section slides back over pretty easily, and as soon as you screw the cone back onto the pencil, you're ready to go. Since there are three available spaces to play with, your options are quite numerous. It's been a long time since I had a statistics math class, but I think this comes out to eight unique configurations (I checked the JetPens page after spending an embarrassing number of minutes trying to remember how to calculate the number of possible options, and JetPens had me covered). It's difficult to tell a difference between small changes, but it's really obvious when you from one extreme to the other. This is similar to how it feels to write with a pen that's posted versus one that isn't. For me, the perfect balance is one spacer at the top, and then two weights at the tip of the section. The beauty of this system is that you can find the perfect balance for your writing style or the task at hand!

At just under $12, this is a fun pencil that I'd happily recommend if you need a solid mechanical pencil that also allows you to play with the balance. It seems like there are so many gimmick-y stationery items in this price range, but this one actually delivers. Even if you never play with the weights, it's still a solid pencil that will serve you for decades to come.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Design Milk

The Les Mille et Une Nuits Workplace Collection Turns Matisse 3D

The task of translating a masterful painting into three-dimensional objects is no small feat, as Guillaume Delvigne can likely tell you. Created for Maison Matisse, the French designer reimagined Henri Matisse’s 1950 painting “Les Mille et Une Nuits” into a collection by the same name for today’s workspaces. These are the first office accessories being offered by the brand, and they are functional, versatile, and expressive. Les Mille et Une Nuits, the collection, made its debut in Paris at Maison & Objet, January 18-23, 2023.

“It was really important for me that the results were not rigid, because that would not have been in the spirit of Matisse, and to instead create movement and make the collection dynamic,” says Delvigne.

He borrowed the essence of Matisse’s painting, particularly the original scissor-cut shapes and bold fields of color, to design the office collection. Using blocks of sliced cork, a very sustainable material, stools, trays, shelves, and more, soon took their forms. Veritable 3D objects of the artist’s paper-cuts!

To learn more about the Les Mille et Une Nuits collection, visit maison-matisse.com.