I have discovered that I really like pens (by which I also mean pencils). I guess I always knew this, but I just realized “it’s a thing” and I’m not the only one who likes pens. So I found a few blogs of people who actually review pens. And via those blogs, I found some pens I wanted to buy.
I really love my Pentel P205, so much so that I didn’t have to go find it to remember the actual pencil part number.  So when I went to Dave’s Mechanical Pencil blog and looked at his “top 5 mechanical pencils” I was aghast to find it wasn’t on his list! And it had been edged from the top five by something called a Graphgear 1000. Vat ist dot?! (Yes I got so excited I went into really bad Jägermonster accent.) I had to go buy one stat!
(And I… ok just lied about that because I see now that the pencil that actually edged out the Pentel P205 was something else, but that makes my story much less compelling.)
But no one else reads this blog so I shall blithely continue.
I also started reading The Pen Addict blog. Many of his neatest pens are from Jetpens. So I decided to make an order. Now, Jetpens had the Graphgear 1000 pencil that I wanted… but they also had many other pens that I wanted. Specifically I had it in my head that I wanted a good fountain pen. First I checked Levenger, which is a lovely site that I have long drooled over, then I realized that I was too cheap to buy a pen there.
So I started throwing pens into my cart on Jetpens instead. And when my total started approaching $75 I got scared and removed most of it. Alas, I removed my Graphgear 1000! But, you ask, why did you remove the pencil you wanted so much? Because I found it locally!
Googling, again, I discovered an art store selling them right nearby (within an hour, that is), called Utrecht.
I was going to tell you all about the new pens and pencil I bought, but this is post too long without it, so I’ll add that info next time… HEY LOOK, I’m going to post more than once in a month!
If you read this far, here is an unfinished sketch, and my Pentel P205. I was considering starting a whole bunch of blog posts just to highlight “unfinished sketches” since I never seem to finish anything…
yes! yes! I got a GraphGear 1000 in 0.7mm (my favorite size). Love it. I also got Platinum Pro-Use 0.7mm, but the GraphGear is my main pencil.
My GraphGear did instantly become my favorite pencil, too.
You guys make me want to try these.
Stop making me want new art utensils
I go through pens too haphazardly to invest much in any sort of writing instrument. XD
Well that’s what Levenger’s website says (paraphrase mine). People asked in the Faq, and Levenger replied “If you are going to buy $150 pen you’re not going to treat it like a $1 pen so you WILL be careful with it.” I didn’t quite want to test that theory.
I used to think the 205 was a lo-tech, old-school pencil. So I kept it in my drawer and forgot about it. Then one day, for some unknown reason I picked it up and started writing with it. Has been my favorite pencil ever since.
Liked your post, glad my list was of service.
I just brought one yesterday and i love it! in my college I’m taking Technical Drawing for Engineer and it was VERY useful, i also use it taking notes, it wasn’t good like i expected but for drawing and sketching is amazing!
when i talk about “i brought one yesterday” I reefer about the graphgear 1000
That’s great! I am with you – I love the heft of the Graphgear and I have a hard time going back to my old light plastic pencils now!