Editing The Pen Addict 635/transcript (section)

== Introduction of top 10 mechanical pencils countdown. ==

* All right, Myke. We're going to do a countdown of my top 10 mechanical pencils. Let's go. These lists are always changing. And these lists vary from something I do on my blog, which I have not updated in a while, which are the top five lists. The lists I keep on the blog are recommendations, right?
* Recommendations and personal rankings don't always line up one to one. You know, a lot of times they're close. A lot of times they're similar. But sometimes there's particular things that I might like personally that I wouldn't recommend to other people. I think that's pretty easy to understand. But I wanted to just make sure to mention that these are not necessarily... If I say something is my absolute favorite, that doesn't mean I recommend that to everyone else as the best product on the market, right? Makes sense?
* All right. So we're going to go from 10 to 1. And I think 10 is a good number for me with mechanical pencils. I use a lot of them. It's probably easier for me to rank 10 mechanical pencils than 10 wooden pencils, honestly, because I do have opinions on mechanical pencils. And there's a lot of variety, right? There's not necessarily a ton of variety in wooden pencils, right? You get a core you like and a barrel you like, you're good to go. And it's not too hard to differentiate between a few different items. Mechanical pencils is a lot more difficult. I'm looking... I grabbed seven of the 10 that I have right in front of me.
* And they're all just like really different in their own way, even though they're all just simple mechanical pencils. Number 10, Myke. And I also, while I was writing this up yesterday, I was like, let me do something fun. And do you know what superlatives are to where you give...
* In our high schools over here in the yearbook, they would always have like most likely to succeed. Yeah, I picked it up. I wouldn't have known it from the word superlative. Like that wouldn't link to me. But sorry, it's like a little descriptor that goes underneath the photo in the yearbook, right? Exactly. Exactly. So of all these 10 pencils, I added a little superlative to each. And maybe it's about the pencil itself, or maybe it's about the user of the pencil. But I just wanted to have a little fun with this. So number 10, Pentel Graph Gear 1000.
* This pencil will be many people's number one pencil. This pencil has been around for a long time. It's the most engineering of engineering style of Pentel's designs, right? Companies who make a lot of mechanical pencils will often do a range. They'll do like the most entry-level basic, you know, plastic barrel mechanical pencils. Then they'll start adding some style. And then they'll start adding some functionality. And then they'll get into like a full engineering style pencil, which has a few different requirements. They have a longer and more open nose cone. You like, you'll see a very, you won't see as much conical. You'll see like a step style nose cone where the lead pipe comes out. And you'll see like a few hardness indicators. Because if you're a real hardcore, like Pentel Graph Gear user, and you use it for your job, you might have three Graph Gears with three different graphites in them. So you can twist the little mechanism to mark. Okay, this Graph Gear has my HB lead. This one has the 2H lead. This one has the B lead in there. So my superlative for the Graph Gear is most likely to be called a nerd. This is maybe the nerdiest pencil on here. You look at this. It looks futuristic. It looks like it should be like on a spaceship somewhere. It is a very aggressive, aggressively engineering styled pencil. I hate the way this pencil is so much. I hate it so much. There's so many distinct parts of it that I dislike. Yeah. We might get zero email on this episode, which I get. If we get any email, it's going to be saying I rank this too low. I'll just go ahead and that's the entire list right now is people will be upset. One, if I didn't include this. And two, it should be ranked higher because this is a lot of people's favorite pencil. And I get it. I like it. I don't love it. What's the difference between the 1,300 and 500? So, you want to go with... So, the 300... So, a couple of companies do this. Rotring does this as well. The lower the number, the cheaper the components are. Right. So, the 300 is, I believe, plastic grip, plastic barrel. Yep. The 500 goes to metal grip, plastic barrel. And then the graph gear goes to metal grip, metal barrel. 1,000. But the problem is, why did they do that to the grip? Why did they do that? Well, they did. Why did they cut little ovals out and stick plastic into the metal? Why would you do that? Oh, you just wait, sir. You just wait. I hate it, Brad. We're going to see something up higher on the list that's probably going to give you even more grief than that. It's rough. It's rough. It's a weird look. I mean, I can see one of the things they're doing is they eat. And I've noticed this is a few of your choices. There are different colors for the different lead sizes.
* Yes. For stock lead sizes. So, Pentel is good about doing that. And we'll talk about that with another one that's much higher up the list. So, it'll be a silver pen. Think silver pencil. They'll think silver aluminum. And then the accent highlights and the text on the barrel. So, like for the 0.5 millimeter will all be gray. For 0.3 millimeter, it'll all be burgundy. Burgundy, yeah. And then 0.7 will be blue. And 0.9 will be yellow. Stuff like that. So, that you know. And then they'll have the lead hardness indicator, which you can twist depending if you add in different leads. Yeah. Yeah. So, again, definitely most likely to be called a nerd. This pencil. It's like all. It's full nerd setup here on this pencil.
* Number nine. The Alvin Draftmatic. This is a classic OG pencil. And you're going to see a few of these throughout. Interspersed. This list is probably half like OG classic stuff that's been around for decades and half like relatively new stuff. The Alvin Draftmatic definitely falls into the classic category. It's a metal grip plastic barrel pen. And a lot of people love just the design and style of this. Again, with engineering pencils, one of the things I didn't mention is that the grips are designed to be heavier for control of the lead on the page. Right? You're making generally, the general concept of an engineering pencil is you're doing detailed work. So, you want the balance to be very front loaded.
* And that's what you get with something like the classic Draftmatic, which is a heavy metal grip and then a lightweight plastic barrel. And I have several pencils like this and I actually like the feel of that at all. The superlative for the Alvin Draftmatic is most likely to cause bleeding. Okay. There is no pencil on the market that I've ever tested in my life of doing this that has more aggressive knurling than the Alvin Draftmatic. It looks serious. Like, I mean, the spoke is the most serious that I've used, I think. But this thing. Yes, it's not even close. It looks like you have a furious session. You know, you're doing some serious work over here and your fingers may never be the same. Yes. Yeah. I wouldn't want to write a book with this pencil. Like, a lot of people will do, like, long, you know, lots of words in writing with pencils. I would not choose the Draftmatic for that ever. Your fingers will pay the price. It is as sharp as it looks on the page and will turn a lot of people off. For some reason, when I pick it up, I go, oh, yeah, this is sweet. Now, I won't use it all day, right? I'll switch it in and out. But I really do like the design. And I like the classic. Like, it's a classic as far as designs go.
* Number eight is a modern surprise. And it's the Tombow Monograph Shaker.
* I think it's only been around a few years. I forget when I first reviewed it. And actually, I may not have actually reviewed it. Tombow does a lot of wild different things. This is probably the best value pencil on the market. It has a really, really durable barrel. It's an all-plastic pen.
* Pencil. I'm going to do that the entire show, just FYI. It's an all-plastic barrel pencil, including the clip, including the grip section. And the internal has a shaker mechanism. Which, this is the only pencil on my list that has a shaker mechanism. Because, honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the shaker mechanisms. I don't really need that. But it basically has a weight internal to the barrel. And you kind of shake it up and down. And that's what extends the lead. I have never used a pencil with a shaker mechanism. You should get one. And if you do, you should get the Tombow Mono. I'm building a cart here, which includes some of the Kuretogas I was talking about last week. But I didn't check them out yet because I figured that would be not great. So, currently, I have... I will tell you by the end of the episode what my shopping cart looks like. I will recommend this pencil to anyone more than any other pencil on this list. Because it's only $6. It's a $6 mechanical pencil. It plays way above its price. You could charge me $12 for this pencil. And I would be perfectly content paying the price.
* The superlative for the Tombow Mono Graph Shaker is most likely to be at a dance party. Because let me tell you, Myke, once you get that shaker going, you do not want to stop. You get the little maracas going. You're just shooting lead everywhere. Shake it like a Mono Graph Shaker, you know? Yeah. You're just going to town. You're just going to town. It's a really... Not only fun pencil, it's legitimately great. Like, this is one of those products that I love because it confuses me at how good it is for the price. And those are some of my favorite products on the market. Fair. Number seven, the Pentel Carry. This one's a hard one to rate for me. Because I love the concept of the carry more than the using of the carry. I still love the using of it. And the reason why I say that is the carry is one of the very few in the world capped mechanical pencils. It's a short pencil that has a cap on it.
* And, you know, you uncap it. You post it. And the tech design of this, the way it functions when you do cap it, still allowing you to, you know, advance the lead. The whole mechanism, the whole idea of the carry fascinates me. And it's been around for 50 years, right? Over 50 years. And it's just one of the coolest designs ever. I always want to have a carry around.
* Hashtag Relay. And we agree. It's weird for me to hear it. I know. And it's spelled the exact same way, too.
* So, the carry is just one of those pencils I have to have. And I respect so much. But I'm going to generally pick some of these other ones. That's kind of how I do these lists. When I'm picking out a personal top 10, I'll lay out all the pencils. And I choose what do I want to use the most. And that'll be number one. And then out of everything that's left, you know, which one's next. And that's about where the carry lands. It's about number seven. I think some people who, this is a good writing pencil, right? For people who write a lot, write a lot of notes, need a lot of portability with their pencils. Like, this is the only pencil I have here. One of the only two that has, like, any kind of tip protection whatsoever, right? The tip's covered. Like, you throw this in a bag and you don't have to worry about bending the lead pipe on this. So, it's good to go.
* It's just a fascinating design. It's an awesome pencil. I tend to choose more traditional engineering style pencils for my personal usage. Like, number six on this list, which is the Uni Kuro Togo Roulette.
* I reviewed the Kuro Togo Metal a couple of weeks ago, which we discussed. And I mentioned, really, the big negative about the metal is its price.
* And related to something in the same exact lineup with the same exact Kuro Togo lead rotation mechanism features. For a half or third of the price, the roulette is the way to go. So, it's not the most exciting pencil in the Kuro Togo lineup as far as color and design-wise. There's a silver one and there's a black one. Like, that's it. But it has a knurled grip, still a plastic barrel, but a big grip section. It's just sturdy and durable. And the price at $13 makes it my preferred Kuro Togo. And it's the only Kuro Togo on my list. And we're going to talk about one that's not on my list in the aftermath after I finish this.
* But I should just do a ranking of the Kuro Togas. Like, I could do a top five Kuro Togo ranking pretty easily. Roulette would be number one. And it belongs on this list. And like I said when we were discussing the Kuro Togo metal, I choose Kuro Togas to use based on the style of the mechanical pencil, not of the feature that it offers in the lead rotation mechanism. Right?