A couple weeks ago I shared my love for the vintage Mead Trapper Keeper folder system. Well, writing that post reminded me that I also wanted to expose my slightly geekier side by talking a little bit about my nerdy mechanical pencil memories. Though I’d hesitate to say that I enjoyed my time in elementary, middle and high school, I can say without a doubt that I loved “gearing up” for the new school year with all new supplies. Of all this stuff, folders, figural erasers, writing instruments, and lunch boxes, my all time favorite school supply had to be mechanical pencils.
I was given my first “mechanical” pencil (using air quotes because these barely qualify) by my sister as a hand-me-down. It was a strawberry-scented push pencil (I wrote about these a few years ago) that no longer had a berry scent and was missing some of the pencil tip nibs, so I had to stuff little wads of paper inside the barrel to get the pencil to work. A little later on I remember getting my hands on a new one, Transformers branded that was light purple and covered in little Megatrons and Decepticon logos. I was constantly losing the nibs though (they made great darts for my rubber-band slingshot), and had to make the leap to something a little more utilitarian for actual writing. My mom bought me a package of Papermate Sharpwriters, those ugly yellow pencils where you’d twist the point to advance the lead inside…
Though the bland “useful” design kept me from wanting to tear it apart and play with it, I never really liked these Sharpwriters because the tips aren’t tight (by design) and therefore they’re a little awkward to write with. Well, even though I didn’t want to play with it, as you can see in the picture above, I do have a predilection for taking these kinds of things apart, though as a kid it was so that I could try and figure out a way to make it feel a little more solid. I remember that I was supremely frustrated when I discovered that once you remove the tip, the pencil is basically dead. These are ultimately the most disposable mechanical pencils anyway, but after breaking it trying to fix it I knew I was going to begging my mom for something better and studier. So sometime during the 2nd grade I got my hands on my first Pentel Sharplet-2…
This is truly where my mechanical pencil fetish began. How can I adequately explain this discovery? I think what really got me hooked on these Pentel pencils was the bright colors and the fact that they were built to be somewhat dismantled. You could unscrew the tip to get to the lead-advancing mechanism inside, as well as remove the eraser cover to get at or replace both the erasers and lead. It didn’t take me very long to find a couple colors I really liked that I could swap out the tips and eraser caps to make my own designer pencil creations. In fact I seem to remember a bunch of kids in my class doing this and personalizing their pencils…
These Sharplet-2’s were a revelation and a lot of fun, but as far as I know they were only available with two lead sizes, 0.5 and 0.7. During elementary school 0.5 was what I loved because the lead was thin enough to always feel sharp and ready. But by the time I got to middle and high school, I was yearning for something a little more versatile. For one, the erasers were so thin that they’d wear out really quick and before I knew it all I had was the little aluminum eraser holder on the end. Again, I’d have to wad up a piece of paper to keep the extra lead from falling out when the cap was off. So by the time I entered the 5th grade I was upgrading yet again, this time to my favorite mechanical pencil, the Quicker Clicker!
Though I’m certain there are “better” pencils on the market, once I received my first few quicker clickers I was done searching. Design, color, customizability, multiple lead sizes, these suckers had it all. Not only that, but for the first time I had access to pencils that had super cool translucent plastic barrels, and much wider, more useful erasers. The overall design of the quicker clicker, with its lead advancing button right at your finger tip, better erasers, and availability in a 0.9 lead thickness made then super useful for drawing (which I had taken up around that time.) Also, I always thought the eraser cap looked a whole heck of a lot like Megatron’s head, which reminded me of my old push-pencil, so these sort of felt like a good replacement.
The 0.9 lead was a bit softer and would dull like a regular wooden pencil tip which made it really versatile for sketching and being able to vary the line width and contrast of the pencil work. From 1987 until today, the Quicker Clickers have been my pencil of choice, with only a few road bumps along the way…
I’m not sure when they changed, but sometime after the year 2000, Pentel decided to alter the design of the Quicker Clickers to add a rubberized grip around the front of the barrel (around the lead advance button), as well as changing out the tip a bit. It’s not a huge deal, but part of me had become so accustomed to the feel of the non-rubberized grip that this addition actually affected my drawing for awhile. Though I’m a pencil nerd, and this change did bug me, I tend to obsess a little over using the same pencil. I guess it’s sort of like ballplayers wearing the same jockstrap during a good season (or career if you’re Cal Ripken, Jr.), so when Pentel switched to the new design I never thought to stock up on some back-up pencils in the older style. Well, in the ensuing years the value of vintage Quicker Clickers (without the rubber grip) has skyrocketed. A 0.9 lead QC in the original solid red or brown can cost as much as $50 on eBay! As for the more standard translucent 0.5 lead versions in blue and smoke are almost non-existent on the secondary market. Apparently though, recently a few boxes of old overstock 0.5 translucent smoke pencils have made their way onto eBay and you can get a package for around $10 to $15. It’s still much higher than a mechanical pencil should cost, but it’s a lot better than what the standard vintage pencil scalpers are asking.
I couldn’t write about my favorite pencils without bringing up their constant companions, the Pentel Clic Erasers…
As most pencil nerds will attest, the idea of using the included eraser on the pencils is sort of frowned upon. The eraser is more of a last ditch, backup incase your eraser of choice is misplaced or used up. Besides, though you could adjust the eraser on the Quicker Clickers as it wore down (by pulling out the eraser and the little metal clasp that surrounds it and then pulling it up and snapping it back in), it made the eraser unstable and a little fugly. For me, the eraser of choice has always been the Pentel Clic because it was long and for all intents and purposes it’s the mechanical pencil of erasers. The material of the eraser is great for drawing too, soft enough to not tear up the paper, yet sturdy enough to erase most pencil lines (unless you’re a heavy-handed penciler.)
So that’s my nerdly little secret obsession, 30 year old mechanical pencils. Anyone out there also a closet pencil nerd? If so, what’s your favorite brand, color or lead thickness? Anyone ever drop some serious money to re-buy a pencil from your youth, or is that just me…?
