#2 is classic. #5 has never let me down. But ive never understood how people use #7: shitty wobbly tip
6, cause it’s a gel pen. For a pencil, not really bothered by these options…probably 2.
6 is a mechanical pencil.
- ole reliable
My fidgeting while I was in middle school led me to break every kind of mechanical pencil I used, except for 5. I forced myself to only use those in high school and college so I would always have a reliable pencil.
Yeah, 2 if I need a traditional pencil, and 5 for everything else
I already own that exact some Kuru Toga, so this one’s a no-brainer.
Anyone who deliberately picks the Sharpwriter or the Bic needs keeping an eye on; we need to keep those kinds of people on a list.
I think people use the sharpwriter because US standardized testing requires a #2 pencil and the sharpwriters are cheap.
Same for Bic
The bics also have nice colors. And you can often find one left behind on the desk from last class.
it‘s going to be a very long list, lol
Two. My experience with mechanical pencils is that they’re often unreliable and a waste of time. I hate having to reload my pencil, I hate when it breaks if you accidentally make the tip longer than it should be, I hate when you accidentally put one more in the pencil and it gets clogged, I hate having to carry refills all the time…
Just hand over the regular pencil and a decent sharpener.
“Decent sharpener” aka box cutters.
Since I switched to using 0.9 mm, I almost never break a lead unless I drop it onto a hard floor; it even holds up to some aggressive tapping. Consequently, I hardly ever have to refill. I also never worry about the point snapping or stabbing when tossed loose into a bag, or keeping a sharpener on hand.
Unreliable? I have two Staedtler Mars Micro pens I bought a good 20 years ago and they both work perfectly.
On the topic of sharpeners, those battery powered pressure sharpeners are satisfying as fuck. They’re shit and invariably snap the nib, but they’re the sharpening equivalent of shoving a Q-tip in your ear and having a good rake about.
Or if you’re all about the procrastination, spending a few minutes every lesson at the classroom sharpener like this one brings back the nostalgia:
The pull out drawer for shavings is top tier.
Nothing beats these though:
Just gotta use them over the waste basket.
It also always ends mid-word/stroke, and you start etching the paper with the metal end. Very annoying.
Back at my school in the 90’s you just bought a 10 pack of the cheap black Bic mechanical pencils for like $3 (pic #5) and you were set for the year if you didn’t lose too many. They never really broke and you didn’t have to refill them if you didn’t want to. They also never clogged and if you weren’t an idiot you didn’t try to use too much lead length to where it would break off.
They were simple and easy and always sharp.
If you feel they are unreliable, it may just be that you aren’t using good ones. I use 3 on a regular basis (for Japanese) and never have issues with feeding or lead breaking; I also only have to refill it every few weeks.
I’ve had the same mechanical pencil for ten years. It’s comfortable, reliable, easy to reload, but if I had to choose one for the rest of my life, I’d still go with the traditional wood/graphite pencil. It’s cheap, it’s everywhere, it’s durable, and not a great loss if you lose it.
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Same, an actual good quality, properly made and assembled mechanical pencil will just keep going and going, and if you treat it well, you never need to replace it.
Kinda like a decent quality safety razor.
All you gotta do is treat it right and replace the razors/graphite, nets out to saving money after probably a month or two of decent use.
I got one because I was intrigued by its lead rotation, but I found that it really didn’t rotate the lead enough while I wrote. I kept having to rotate the barrel manually to keep a thin line like I do for every other mechanical pencil, and then would get annoyed every time the clip came around to brush my hand. I’ve been wondering if I’m doing something wrong, or if Japanese just uses more shorter strokes. Do you also like it when writing English?
Plus a good ol Dixon Ticonderoga can write on stuff other than paper. About the only time I use a pencil is when doing carpentry and mechanical ones just snap.
When I was doing roofing the pica dry mechanical pencils made things so much better. Sure a pencil works good on wood, but what about when I have to mark gray sheet metal? You need something that comes with different colors.
That’s what sharpies are for
Bonus points for #2 being #2
I would suggest that the Dixon Ticonderoga is the most reliable, most cost-efficient, and easiest-to-use writing utinsil in the history of humanity.*
Each other option has more points of potential failure and additional complexities over the Ticonderoga. While more complicated tools may net you some improvement in writing style or sharpness, they are massive trade-offs in more basic areas.
This would be much the same question if it were “what car would you drive for the rest of your life” between fancy ones like Ferraris and Lambos to cheaper, more reliable ones like Corollas and Civics. Everyone likes the look of the Ferrari – but the only car for the rest of your life? It’s got to be reliable, or you’re going nowhere. You want to be able to keep driving.
The Ticonderoga guarantees you can keep writing.
*intentionally overselling it for humor. But it is a nice, simple, good-quality pencil.
No carpenter’s pencil?
8 that style was lucky for me in my college years.
- Mechanical pencil lead scratching on paper makes my ears tingle
1, I have one of them branded from my prior work, it’s an excellent pencil.
#6 because I need all that extra eraser
- I like the Zebra.Got em a Dollar Tree or one of the Dollar stores.
Ticonderoga #2, an absolute classic.
I am a simple man. I see Ticonderoga, I choose Ticonderoga. I like ships and I cannot lie
1
I’ve also used 4 and 8 which are both decent.
