Editing The Pen Addict 152/transcript (section)

== Mechanical Pencils ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mechanical pencils.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So it's, uh, this is, um, you know, out of, out of the norm for our show and kind of what we used to do way back in the day, about 140 episodes ago, I'd talk about these products as they came and went through my hands. And, um, I've been asked more recently to talk about what I like in a mechanical pencil. Why I like mechanical pencils. If there's any particulars that I love, if there's any particulars I hate. Um, but first I want to give a little bit of background. I actually have a huge fondness for mechanical pencils going way, way, way back till I was just a wee pen addict. And more specifically engineering pencils. And those of you who know my story know that I used to shop in the engineering section of the LSU campus bookstore, because that's the only place you could get the cool pens like in the late seventies, early eighties. Well, the pen selection was generally pretty weak, but man, could you get some serious drafting pencils at the engineering department in the bookstore? You know, and when I'm a kid and all I want to do is draw small and pens aren't cutting it, mechanical pencils did. Because even if the smallest you could get was the 0.5 millimeter lead, that was finer than any other pen you could get at the time. So I always, always had mechanical pencils. I probably use mechanical pencils more than pens at the time, just because of how small I could write with them. So that love for mechanical pencils has carried on to this day. Even though I don't use them regularly, I am fascinated by their design, especially the drafting style ones, which we'll talk about the difference here in a minute. And every time I put one in my hand, I love using it. It feels like I feel at home when I'm using a really nice mechanical pencil. They're really, really good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The one pencil I'll start off with that you and I talk about the most and everyone assumes will be my favorite. I know it's your favorite is the Uniball Kuro Toga.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's just, I mean, this is whenever we talk about mechanical pencils, I'm like, why do we even continue to carry on past this point?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But here's why, because that's not my favorite mechanical pencil.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What? When did this happen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Recently.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You keep all these secrets from me these days.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like probably in the past six months. It's not that traditional drafting engineering style that I like. I don't need this. I love everything about the Kuro Toga. That's my number one recommended mechanical pencil. But if I, Brad Dowdy, was grabbing a mechanical pencil from my collection or purchasing a mechanical pencil. I would go with at least two other pencils before that one, if not more. Just because of the style of the pencil. The Uniball Kuro Toga, it's really nice. It's really well made. I like the roulette model, personally, because it's got a nice knurled grip. But it still looks like a standard school mechanical pencil. Especially the low-end ones, the plastic barrel ones. It just looks like what you grab at the grocery store. And there's nothing wrong with that. And it's an amazing pen. And I will tell everyone to buy a Kuro Toga. For me, what I like to use, I go straight to the Rotring 600. That's the ultimate in mechanical pencils. It has a nice heft to it. It has a perfect balance. It has knurling that's not too soft and not too rough. It's very comfortable to hold. It will last you. People use these literally for decades. They actually sell tip replacements because people love the barrels so much. They don't want to get rid of their 600. It's like a pass-down-from-generation engineering mechanical pencil. And when I say engineering, the primary difference in an engineering mechanical pencil and a standard mechanical pencil is you'll see more of a needle tip design. There's lots of clearance from the edge of the grip section to the lead pipe. You're not going to see that conical shape like you'll see in a lot of pencils down to the tip. You're going to see that long pipe, and that's for clearance so you can see when you're writing, right? If you're looking down at the paper and you're drawing a very detailed item, you need to see better what you're doing. So you'll see that drafting-style mechanical pencils have a very common theme in that they have that large clearance from the edge of the grip to the paper. However, the next one that I like...

'''Myke Hurley:''' I have to say, that Rotring 600, though, it's a stunner, right? It's an absolute stunner. I wish I could get something like that, but with... Because the only thing about the Kiritoga that I like is the mechanism.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure.