Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Multi-Pen

I have never been a fan of multi-pens.  Mainly because of the early ones like the Bic 4 color pens.  They were always ball points and in four colors, red, blue, green and black!  And the slimmer 2 color pens that came in either red and black or blue and red, again in all point.  Not a big fan of ball point pens either.  Refills, if the pen was refillable, were hard to find, expensive and the reservoir was small!  But over the years things have changed.  Now there are all kinds of refillable multi-pens!  Some are still ball-point pens, but even so many of these come with a built in mechanical pencil!  The best are the ones that are 3 to 4 pen/pencil multi pens that are sold empty.  The user them customizes their own multi-pen with a wide variety of refills, from ball point to gel to mechanical pencil.  Some can even be fitted with a stylus!  These multi-pens are a far cry from the earlier ones and can be custom fitted to suit the need of the user!

One of the very best of these is the very versatile Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 (now that's a mouth full)!  This pen comes as a pen body with nothing in it!  A blank slate ready to be filled with the users desired components!  The components are each sold separately.  The body comes in Black, Metallic Blue, Metallic Pink, Silver, Blue, Gray, Pink, soft Green and White as sold by JetPen.com.  Mine is in silver.  The Hi-Tec-C gel pen refills come in 0.3 mm, 0.4 mm & 0.5 mm sizes in 15 different colors!  The mechanical pencil refill comes in 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm.  There is also an eraser component and a stylus component!  WOW!  That's a lot of different refills!  Choices, choices, choices!

I ended up choosing the 0.3 mm mechanical pencil (a no-brainer) and a black gel pen in all 3 sizes!  Sweet!  I'm happy with my choices as I do use gel pens often.  And 0.3 mm is my favorite lead size.  I carry with me, in a pocket protector, a 0.5 mm drafting pencil, a uni Signo 207 Micro, a Pilot 0.38 mm G2, a stick eraser, a retractable EF Sharpie and an X-Acto style hobby knife.  In a second pocket protector I carry a small top ring note book.  My lovely wife calls them my "Geek Gear".  Cute.  But at one time or another while out and about, I've had need of every item in the pouches!  What I am considering doing is to replace the 2 gel pens and the pencil with the Coleto Lumio 4!  I like it that much!  But to be perfectly honest, if I had not been gifted the body, I probably never would have bought one and the refills to fill it.

Filling the Coleto is easy as popin' the top!

Sliding in the refill, making sure all the grooves and tabs align (they practically thread themselves and lock in with a noticeable feel)!

Then closing the top!  It closes with a snap!  The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 is now ready for use, eh almost!  Before you insert the pencil component into the pencil you should put a few pieces of lead into the reservoir.  This is easily done as the tip separates from the reservoir easily where the plastic part of the tip connects to the metal reservoir.  Add a few pieces of lead to the reservoir then reassemble the component.  NOW insert it into the body...

Using the Coleto is as simple as any other multi-pen only smoother.  The components go down with a smooth, easy motion using very little pressure because the springs in the pen are light but strong enough to do the job.  Releasing the locked down component is equally as light and easy!  As far as the feel of the pen components goes, they feel like any other Hi-Tec-C gel pen of the size chosen.  Same goes for the 0.3mm pencil.  The tips of the pencils and pens look very similar.  This means the pencil's lead sleeve is short making it definitely a mechanical pencil component, not a drafting pencil component.  So long as excess lead is not extended and excess pressure is not applied then the pencil writes fine.

Pencil tip

Pen tip

Now I guess you blog readers want me to give you some stats!  Well I'm not going to do it!  Nope, not this time!  Ain't gonna do it!  Well, OK!  You talked me into it...  Or was that just the voices in my head...?  Anyway, the Coleto Lumio 4 is a lightweight weighing only15.7 grams filled as I have it.  Different components are going to change the weight to some degree.  The over all length with the components detracted is 142 mm making it of average length.  The upper body diameter is 12.3 mm and the diameter of the grip is 11.4 mm.  The balance point is approximately 72 mm from the tip of the pen body.  This makes the pen nearly perfectly balanced at the pens center.  The pen body is plastic with a metal pocket clip.  The body separates from the grip so the components can be accessed without excessive wear and tear on the pens cap.  The texture of the finish on the plastic is excellent!  Despite there being no roughness to the surface the surface provides an excellent gripping surface!  I have no problem holding onto the pen!

Bottom line...  Like I stated earlier, I would probably never have bought a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Multi-pen if it had not been for the gift of the body.  I like the pen so much I am now considering buying another one, maybe in blue, and filling it with both pencil components, the eraser component and the stylus component!  I'll certainly review it if I do!  So, if you are in the market for a good, customizable, multi-pen then I don't think you could go wrong by purchasing a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 from JetPens.com.

The Old Geezer

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Giveaway

 October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and since my lovely wife is a survivor of breast cancer I wanted to give away these special uni Signo Pink Ribbon gel pens.  I wanted to do this earlier in the month to help promote Breast Cancer Awareness, but I could not find the pens until now.  So better late than never!

 

All you have to do to win these pens is to send me an email with Breast Cancer Awarness Month in the subject line and include your name of on-line handle.  Please, one entry per person, please!

 

The Giveaway will lastuntil midnight the 31st of October.  The winner will be chosen by the Randon Integer Generator. at the end of the blog.

 

You can also enter my other giveaway, the "October Giveaway".

Enter now before it's too, late!

 

Thanks to all who entered, but the Giveaway is now CLOSED.

 

 

October Giveaway

I know it's late in the month for a giveaway, but better late than never, right?...  Right?...  Brother, tough crowd.  Anyway this month up for grabs is a Mitsubishi uni a-gel HD 0.5mm mechanical pencil.  Get this, not only does it have a squishy gel grip that some people love, it's a shaker!  That's right, blog fans!  Just shake it to extend the lead!  Or just used the push button!  Either way, lead gets extended!  But there's more!  To prevent lead from being extended accidentally while the pencil is getting jostled, (jostled, does anyone use words like jostled anymore?) around it has a catch.  Literally, there's a catch!  By pressing the push button all the way down until an audible "click" is heard the mechanism is rendered inoperable!  This helps prevent the user from getting stuck with a length of graphite!  It also helps prevent lead loss by preventing lead from being accidentally extended then broken.

Anyway, it's a nice looking pencil with a blur gel grip, chrome tip and collar between body and grip, chrome & plastic pocket clip, blue transparent collar around the push button, chrome push button and argent (graphite gray) body with silver lettering!  It's new, never used and it's up for grabs!

All you have to do to have a chance of winning this squishy grip pencil is send me an email, theoldgeezer@live.com. telling me why you like squishy grip pencils!  Because I can't stand them and can not fathom why anybody would!  So enlighten me, please!  Oh, in the subject line of the email put October Giveaway.  That way I'll spot it and keep it!  Please only one entry per person per email addy!  That's all there is to it!  Entries will be accepted until midnight on Oct. 31.  After midnight I'll use the Random Integer Generator at the bottom of the page to select a winner.  Entries will be assigned a number from 1 to whatever in order in which they are received.

So, thanks for reading my humble blog.

Oops!  Is my face red!  I forgot to publish the Giveaway soon enough!  So I'm extending the deadline until Monday, November 5th at midnight!   Sorry, blog fans!  Even the Old Geezer makes a mistake every now and then...  Don't you say a word, Tommy Turquoise!

Pleas, no more entries as the giveaway is now closed.  Thank you for reading my blog.

The Old Geezer

uni Kuru Toga Family of Mechanical Pencils

Some years ago Mitsubishi came out with a unique pencil under the uni (uni-ball) label.  They called it the Kuru Toga, meaning auto rotation pencil.  The idea was a simple one, rotate the lead in the pencil rather than having the user rotate the pencil in order to keep the end of the lead, where it contacts the paper, from ovaling, or flattening, out.  When the lead ovals out the line it produces is wider than the actual diameter of the lead itself.  The lead also ends up with a sharp angular point that causes the lead to dig into the paper, when the pencil id rotated, and breaks the lead.  This is especially true with small diameter leads like 0.5 mm and 0.3 mm.  Draftsmen once were taught to rotate the pencil in their hand as they drew a line to give the lead a conical point and avoid lead breakage.  However with so many of us using drafting pencils and mechanical pencils designed like drafting pencils to write with the draftsman's technique does not work.  But the ratcheting mechanism of the Kuru Toga does.

Basically the mechanism works much like the mechanism that operates a  "click" style pen.  Teeth in a clutch, under spring tension, hold the tip in place until pressure is put on the tip, such as what happens when one puts pencil to paper.  The clutch releases, rotates the lead a small degree the reengages, much like when one presses the push button on a "click" style pen.  As one writes the constant pressing and releasing of the lead to the paper causes a continual flow of energy to the Kuru Toga engine, rotating the lead continually, giving it and keep a conical point.  The result is less lead breakage and a written line with a diameter less than the actual diameter of the lead.  Thus a 0.5 mm pencil delivers close to a 0.3 mm line and a 0.3 mm pencil close to a 0.2 mm line.  Brilliant!

0.5 mm version

The original Kuru Toga was an almost entirely plastic pencil with a metal tip cover and a clear grip.  The grip was clear so the user could see the auto rotating mechanism in action and be amazed at the brilliance of Japanese engineering!  Or something like that.  The tip cover has a rubber ring around it to enhance the grip of the pencil.  This pencil was first offered in 0.5 mm only, then later in 0.5 mm and 0.3 mm.

0.3 mm version

But the pencil, as awesome as the design was, is as inelegant as it is functional.  Enter the High Grade.  This was the next phase in the Kuru Toga line.  It featured a more elegant looking and smaller diameter upper body as well as a metal pocket clip and more traditional mushroom style push button.  A metal conical ring separates the upper body from the lower, which retains much the same shape as the original Kuru Toga.  Only the clear grip is now opaque, being a sliver/white silken plastic with a small "port hole" window with which to view the rotation Kuru Toga Symbol.  The tip cap was also redesigned, being slightly longer with a tighter fitting rubber grip ring.



High Grade version

This was a major improvement over the original Kuru Toga as far as athletics goes. The auto rotation engine was unchanged in the High Grade.  There was no real reason to change it.  It works so why mess with it in order to make it slightly slimmer?  Or perhaps the design had reached it'd limits miniaturization wise while being made from plastic and using other materials may have not been cost effective!  Who knows?  This design may have been the final version had it not been for, in my opinion, the grip!

The grip retained the original shape and size as the original Kuru Toga, which in itself is not a bad thing.  The bad thing is the material it is made of and it's lack of any knurled surfaces makes the High Grades grip less effective than the original!  I personally find the grip hard to hold.  The pencil has a tendency to ride up in my hand making it hard to write with.  I have little idea as to why they chose the material they did to make the grip from.  It almost feels like a hard silicon grip!  Had they made the grip from a less slick material or had they put some type of knurling on the grip then the design may have reached it's peak.

Enter the Roulette.  This is what the High Grade should have been.  The upper body of the Roulette is the same as the High Grade, but in silver, and so is the tip cover.  The big difference between the two pencils is the grip.  Here they finally got it right.  The grip of the Roulette is made from aluminum and is a straight barrel with 3 wide knurled rings at the bottom of the grip where it meets the tip cover.

Roulette version

The knurled rings add a considerable amount of gripping surface to the pencil.  I find the Roulette by far the easiest Kuru Toga to grip and write with.  I really like mine and I use it all he time.  Up until the Roulette my "go to" pencil had been a Pentel P203 0.3 mm pencil.  But like all 0.3 mm pencils, the lead still breaks too often.  I really can not recall the 0.5 mm lead breaking on me while using the Roulette with the proper amount of lead extended.  So the Kuru Toga Roulette has now become my "go to" pencil.

Other than athletics the Kuru Toga family of mechanical pencils all share the same auto rotation engine.  The also share the same low capacity, hard to feed lead into lead reservoir!  Lead has to be fed into the reservoir one-piece-at-a-time and the reservoir fills up fast (well as fast as it can being fed one lead at time).  They also share the same basic take down.

The push button comes off, the eraser pulls out, the tip cover unscrews and the lead sleeve/tip pops off.  The lead sleeve/tips and tip covers are different between the two basic pencil designs and so is the end of the pencils where the tips/lead sleeves and tip covers fit.  The erasers and push button/eraser covers also are completely different.  So of the 4 removable parts none are interchangeable between the 2 designs.

Bottom line is that while all the Kuru Togas have their fine points, my favorite by far is the Roulette, for reasons already stated.  However the roulette may not be, and I'm sure that it isn't, every ones favorite Kuru Toga.  The best way to find out which one is best suited to you, the reader, try each one out and see which one fits you best.

The Old Geezer


Retro 1951 Hex-O-Matic In White

Every now and then I come across a pencil that I'd never seen or heard of before.  That shouldn't surprise me as I am not arrogant enough to believe that "I've seen them all".  But when I do come across something strange or unusual it's generally something old or out of manufacturer or from a company that I've never heard of or has long gone out of business or has had a name change, etc.  It's rare that I come across a new, modern pencil that's still being made in one form or another that I've never heard a bout or seen.  But that's just the case with the Retro 1951 Hex-O-Matic drafting pencil.  Until I was gifted the pencil I didn't know they existed!  But then again, I've been away from blogging for a while, so anything could have slipped by me!

Apparently the company has been around since 1990!  But the reason they have slipped under my radar is because the manufacturer ball point pens!  They have a line called the Tornado, which seems to be their best seller, which also includes a few mechanical pencils.  The pens/ mechanical pencils all share the same basic shape!  They all look like a round metal spike!  The design of each is unique but the shape is always the same!  While not unattractive pens/pencils, they just aren't for me.  The Hex-O-Matic is more in line with what I look for in a drafting pencil.

The overall look is indeed retro.  As one can see the overall design on the outside looks a lot like the rotring 600 and family as well as the Koh-I-Noor Rapiodomatic series.  It has a hexagonal barrel forming the main part of the body, and a round knurled grip which is slightly smaller than the barrel itself.  Integral with and above the body is a pocket clip, which rests in a recess in the body.  Then there is the area above the pocket clip which on similar designs houses the lead grade indicator but on the Hex-O-Matic is just knurled bright metal with a satin bright metal push button with the numerals "51" painted on the end.  The pocket clip is also satin bright metal as is the tip with the lead sleeve being bright stainless steel.  There is a black band between the body and the knurled top ring where the two join.

The only wording on the pencil aside from the "51" on the push button is on the pocket clip, which has stamped into the ring, "RETRO 1951 HEX-O-MATIC".

The body is made from aluminium which on most pencils is clear anodized giving the pencil that raw metal look.  Or it is anodized black.  If the surface of the pencil is rough when anodized it has a flat, rough texture!  If smooth, then it will have a smooth texture.  But this version of the Hex-O-matic is not finished in the traditional way.  It's been painted white!  I have never seen a white drafting pencil before.  Now let's not confuse the color white with the term "white metal" or "In the white", which means in both cases, the raw color of the base metal.  This is usually a silver tone of some sort.  But this pencil has actually been painted white (backed on enamel, I hope).  While not an unpleasing color, it is unusual.  However it is not offered in white on the Retro 1951 website!

The only 2 finishes currently offered on the Hex-O-Matic pencils and companion pen, is black (anodized, I assume) and silver (clear anodized).  It appears that the white painted finish is no longer sold.  Probably because of paints lack of durability, especially on such an item as a pencil which is going to get banged a round a bit!  It's also a much heavier finish than anodize.  This means when it chips, there is a hole where the paint used to be.  Just like a chip out of a car body!  So I'm not surprised that the company dropped the painted white pencil from the lineup.

The Hex-O-Matic has one very nice feature, a sliding sleeve!  Most pencils will have a fixed lead sleeve about 4 mm long.  This can be a hazard when the pencil if placed into a shirt pocket!  Ouch!  So some pencil makers have come up with various ways of hiding the lead sleeve to protect it and the user!  One way is the hide-away or projecting sleeve.  Another is the sliding sleeve.  The difference between the two is that the former will lock in the extended position while the latter  is free floating and as the lead wears down the sleeve moves with it, protecting the lead.  The Hex-O-Matic is a true sliding sleeve pencil.

Some other features of the pencil are a smooth, but noisy, ratcheting action, smooth transition from hidden to extended lead sleeve and a hidden clean out rod under the eraser.  That's becoming a rarer and rarer find in drafting pencils now a days.  The grip is nicely knurled however I think that the fact that it's painted detracts from the bite it could have if it were anodized.  As is the grip is adequate.  The overall fit and finish is very good.  The paint job is even with no drip marks or runs.  All the joints are tight with no gaps.  Over all the appearance is very pleasing, it's a very attractive pencil, even in white.

Hum... I suppose that you, the reader,  would like some stats, huh?  Well, OK, here goes...  The pencil,with tip hidden is 134 mm long, 137 with it extended.  Across the flats the body measures 8.4 mm while the diameter of the grip is 8.2 mm.  The pencil weighs 21.8 grams and the balance point is64 mm from the tip and 72 mm from the bush button.  Technically this means the pencil is top heavy, but in reality when held in the writing position the pencil feels quite well balanced. From a "cold start" (lead sleeve hidden) one push of the lead advancement button (push button) extends the lead sleeve. a second push extends a minimal amount of lead while a third extends enough to write with. The lead reservoir is of average capacity and can hold 6 leads easily. All things considered the Hex-O-Matic delivers a pleasant writing experience.

The only time you may need to break down the Hex-O-Matic is to clear a lead jam.  but in order to do so you practically have to break it down completely!  First, hold the grip and body in opposite hands and unscrew the two apart.  Next, separate the tip from the grip in the same fashion.  Now do the same to separate the tip from the clutch assembly (hint: they separate at the point the metals change colors).  Now hold the tube so that the clutch is pointed down and remove the push button to reveal the eraser.  Remove the eraser and replace the push button to avoid spilling all the lead from the reservoir.  See All Jammed Up for further instructions.  To put the pencil back together simply reverse the breakdown procedure.

My over all impression of the Hex-O-Matic is a very good one.  I like the way it feels and writes as well as how it works internally.  The white paint issue aside there is just one thing I dislike about the Hex-O-Matic.  And that's the fact that it comes in one lead size only!  That one size is 0.7 mm!  The only thing, for me, that could make the pencil less appealing is if it came in 0.9 mm only!  Having said that, well, regular readers of my humble blog know my prejudice against any lead size above 0.4 mm!  So with that in mind I'd say Retro 1951 has a winner in the over all design and construction of the Hex-O-Matic!  Thy would reach a broader customer base, however, if they would produce the pencil in the full range of available lead sizes.  But, if you are in the market for a 0.7 mm drafting style pencil, then by no means overlook the Retro 1951 Hex-O-Matic.

For Hans and Penelope.  Thanks for reading my blog.

 

Lexmark 100 XL Ink

 

When my old printer/copier/scanner became to expensive to buy ink cartridges for I went shopping on-line for a new one.  This time I wanted one that was also a fax.  I was also looking at one that had individual ink cartridges for the colors!  I hated running out of one color in a cartridge while there was still ink of the other 2 colors in the cartridge and having to go out and buy a new cartridge!  What I found was a Lexmark Pro 200 series that fit the bill and didn't break the bank!  It has been a great machine but now it's time to think about finding some replacement cartridges!  In comes Viking Direct. 

 

They seem to carry ink and toner cartridges of all kinds!  And sure enough they sell just what I'm looking for!  Lexmark 100 XL ink cartridges!  The XL cartridge differs from the standard 100 series cartridge in that it's high capacity.  The black XL is a double capacity cartridge, which makes sense because it's the highest usage color.  Viking has them in stock and ready to ship so when the time comes for a replacement cartridge or 2, I know where I can find just what I need.

Compact Digital Camera

My lovely wife wants a digital camera, one, unlike mine with all sorts of features and SLR style and large size, is a compact.  Well I myself didn't have much use for a compact because of the macro feature I need in a digital camera!  But then I got to looking around and found Jessops.  There I found a host of compact digital cameras at varying prices!  Well, I've been rather happy with my Fujifilm FinePix SLR style camera so I looked at a Fujifilm at Jessops.  There, at a price closer to what I'm willing to pay for a compact camera, I found a Fujifilm FinePix JX510!

This little camera is a 14 mega pixel camera!  That's as much as mine!  And it can get as close as 4".  That's pretty darn close!  It has a host of other features that impressed me as well.  Jessops offers this little gem all by itself as well as a host of bundles not offered in stores!  And the bundle prices are attractive!  So it looks like there may be another camera in the Mrs. Old geezers future!  So if you want a new camera then by all means check out Jessops.

Picture used without permission.

Poster Printing And More

Hey, blog fans!  Just a note to inform you of yet another website that may be of interest to some of you.  It's a place called Photoline.  Check it out, they offer all kinds of photographic services such as Posters and display items, which include poster and display printing, display boards and printed foamboards, encapsulated posters and canvas prints!  Just imagine putting one of your own photos, drawings or digital artwork onto a piece of canvas!  That would be so cool!  I've seen this done on a TV special years ago!  An artist had his paintings digitized and put onto large canvas rolls!  He then added little flourishes to each, making each one unique!  Now I've found a place where I could do the same thing! The site also offers exhibition stands, leaflets and flyers, display accessories, signage and point of sale items and printing of plans and CAD printouts! So if you have need of any of the above mentioned services then by all means check this site out!

Pocket Photo Book

Hello blog fans!  I'll get back to blogging about pens and pencils here in a while, but right now I'd like to tell you a little about a website that I found that has me a bit excited.  It's a site called Jessops Photos!  They seem to offer a large line of photo services from gift cards to stationary to prints to calendars to wail art and more!  Lots more.  The reason that I'm all excited this site is because of a service that they offer called Photo Books!  Now these are just what I've been looking for!  Why?  Because I dabble in a little bit of unusual art!  That is I makes small sculptures and things out of found objects!  I also decorate small masks as well as plastic skulls some small figurines, working desk top wind mills I even turn broken glass objects into art pieces using copper foil and solder!  I do a few other things as well, but that's another story!  The trouble is whenever I try and tell anyone about my sculptures, they don't get the picture, literally!

Now I do have a digital camera, thanks in part to some generous relatives, which I use to take pictures of pens and pencils when I blog about them.  So I have been meaning to take some pictures of some of my art work so I can show them to people!  But carrying around a photo album is impractical!  Not to mention expensive!  So when I saw the Pocket Photo Books at Jessops Photo I got excited!  They make several sizes of Photo books but the Pocket Photo Book that peaked my interest!  These are books of up to 75 prints in a handy 15mm by 11mm size!  That's a perfect size!  The Pocket Photo Book comes with a soft cover and you can add pages in 8 page increments!  And the price is right, too!

Just download the free software that they offer on their site and follow the instructions on setting up you own Pocket Photo Book!  I'm looking forward to ordering mine!  Now, where did I put my camera...?

Picture used without permission

Am I Drooling?

While surfing the web I came across the Viking Direct website.  I looked around a bit then, I found "it".  The all stainless version of the Porsche Design Tec Flex P'3110 Fountain Pen!  I'd seen this fountain pen some years back and was struck by it's overall beauty and design. I was also struck by it's price tag!  While I'd love to be able to afford such a magnificent pen, like most very high quality fountain pens, the price is a bit out of my reach - like from here to the moon out of reach!  But that does not stop me from wanting one!

It features a rhodium coated 18K gold nib, silver plated and palladium* coated finishes, and a barrel made from the weaved stainless steel material used to make metal flex hoses for a cars electrical system!  It also accepts international sized ink cartridges or bottled ink with the use of the converted provided with the pen.  It also carries the Porsche Design name!  While it may not approach 200 mph it sure looks like it could!  It's just one of those iconic items that I just know instinctively that I'd really, really like to have.  Or at the very least have the chance to write with one for a day!

So, if any of you rich blog readers out there just happen to want to lavish a perfect stranger (OK, so I not perfect) with an expensive gift, send me an email and I'll send you my shipping addy!  In the meantime go check out the Porsche Design Tec Flex P'3110 Fountain Pen at Viking Direct!

August Giveaway

Hello blog fans and other assorted peoples!  It's time for a little giveaway!  It's not much but up for grabs are 6 Uni ball Signo 0.7 mm bits in assorted colors.   In this case the colors are green, red, pink, violet, blue & orange.  That's six, count them!  They are band new, never really used (except enough to make sure that they still work!  They work!

I'm not a fan of 0.7 mm writing instruments so I decided to give these puppies away to a good home where they will get used up!  So, that's just what I'm going to do!  Yep, I'm giving them away!  To a good home.  Yep! A good home...

"GEEZER!"

Huh?  Who said that...?  Oh, Tommy it's you!  What's up, Tommy?

"You were rambling on!"

I was?...  Oh, yeah, I guess I was!...

"Come on, Geezer!  Get it together!  You're on the Net!"

Oh, Yeah, the Met!  The Giveaway!  Thanks, Tommy!

"You're welcome, Geezer!...Some one's got to watch out for the senile old fart!"

I heard that, Tommy Turquoise!...  Now where was I...  Oh yeah!  If you'd like a chance to win this months give away then all you have to do is send me an email (theoldgeezer@live.com) telling me whether or not you think I need Tommy to watch out for me!  It's that simple.

In the subject line of your email please put... August Giveaway...  That way I'll know that you want to enter the contest!  You must send me an email in order to enter the contest.  A comment  on this or any other post on this blog asking to be included in the contest will be ignored!  The email must be one that I can reply to as this is how I will notify you that you have won!  Please, also include your name in the email so I'll know who you are. 

The contest will run from now until Sunday, August 26th, 2012.  At that Time I will let the Random Integer Generator at the bottom of this blog to pick a winner!  So send me your email telling me if  you think Tommy needs to watch over me or not!

OK blogfans!  The contesr is officially closed!  No more emails will be accepted as entries into the giveaway!  I have picked a winner in the usual fashion and the winner is... Arisu!  Congratulations, Arisu!  I'll be contacting you asking for shipping details!  I hope that you enjoy your new pens!

Thr Old Geezer.

The rotring 800 Drafting Pencil in Black

Hey, Tommy!  Long time no see!  Where you been, Tommy?

"I've been around, Geezer!  The question is, where have you been?"

Well, I've been sick, real sick!  And I'm struggling to get better. It's a hard road, buddy!  But I'm going to make it!...  Say, what have you got there, Tommy!  Is that a...

"That's right, Geezer!  It's a black rotring 800 0.5mm drafting pencil!"

Oh my word!  Where did you get that!?

"It's yours, Geezer!"

No!  I can't afford one of those!...  Tommy, if you stole that from someone...

"No, Geezer!  It was a gift, remember?  You got it from someone very special who really cares about you!  You got it from..."

YES!  I remember!  I remember, now!  I've, I've been so confused lately, Tommy!  I can't seem to remember things like I used to!  I, I think that I'm losing my mind, Tommy!...  I'm really loosing it...

"Oh, come on, Geezer!  Quit being so melodramatic, will you!  You're just getting old, that's all!"

Hey!  It's my blog!  I'll get melodramatic if I want to!

"Sure, Geezer, sure!  How about reviewing the pencil, OK?"

Oh, yeah, the pencil!  Well, since you brought it out...

When this fine example of the pencil makers art arrived in my mailbox I was flabbergasted!  I had dreamed of owning one of these superb pencils ever since I bought my silver rotring 600 0.3mm pencil.  But economic times being what they are and all, it was forever going to stay a dream!  But I guess dreams do come true, due to the generosity of a few kind souls!  So, what makes this pencil the stuff of dreams?  Craftsmanship and design!  I put craftsmanship first because the design, rather the look, is classic!  The general shape of the pencil has been around for years!  Koh-i-noor, Pentel, Ohto even Retro 1951 all have used the hexagonal shape with a round grip in some form or another, and there are others!  But the quality, the craftsmanship of these fine instruments may equal but never surpass the craftsmanship of the rotring 800!

This pencil is externally all metal, whether it be brass, stainless steel or hard anodized aluminum this is a well built pencil.  The joint between the body and the grip is seamless!  All the joints are this way from head to toe.  Inside the quality continues.  There are non-metal parts on the inside, but this by no means implies lower quality!  No, on the contrary, the use of flexible synthetic parts helps the pencil deal with internal pressures, like repeated lead advancement as well as continued use by cushioning the impact of both internal and external applied stresses!  In other words it helps keep the thing from being pounded a part and gives the pencil a softer feel when writing.

But that's not to say that the rotring 800 isn't a looker!  Because it is!  I'm a fan of silver colored pencils myself but when I saw the flat black finish of the 800 with the red and gold colored accents, I couldn't take my eyes off of it!  This pencil is a real beauty!  It looks stealthy!  Kind of reminds me of a ninja!  Lurking in the dark, ready to strike!  And like a ninja the rotring 800 has something up it's sleeve!

The lead sleeve retracts into the grip with a simple twist of the knurled top end of the red ringed pencil.  Twist the top the other way and the lead sleeve extends!  It retracts with a snap!  However if there is no lead in the clutch, the mechanism does not work smoothly!  In fact, it is rather difficult to get the sleeve to extend without some effort!  The same is true for retracting the sleeve!  With lead in the clutch the mechanism should work almost effortlessly!  This feature is an elegant way of solving the problem of having the slender lead sleeve sticking out when carrying the pencil in a breast picket, especially when it's a shirt pocket!  Ouch!  If you've never been pierced by the needle like lead sleeve of a drafting pencil then you have no puncher marks in your man boobs!


The rotring 800 breaks down into 5 components.  The grip, the main body and enclosed mechanism, the lead sleeve/tip the eraser and the push button.  Unless you happen to work for rotring in the assembly plant or as a engineer, that I suggest that you do not attempt to dismantle the pencil any further than this!  There is no clean out rod, but I don't think you're going to need one as 0.5mm lead does not break as easily as 0.3mm lead does!  Lead capacity is good, a tube of 12 leads should fit easily and still have the pencil feed.  With the lead pushed back flush with the lead sleeve 2 depressions of the push button advances enough lead to write with.  The eraser is about as useful as  drafting pencil erasers are!  Which is next to useless!  Get yourself a stick eraser ll be happier.

The 800 measures 133.04 mm with the lead sleeve retracted and 143.49 mm with it extended.  It's 8.38 mm across the flats and the grip is 8.25 mm in diameter.  It weighs 24.5 grams making it a heavyweight in the pencil world!  But I like the weight of an all metal pencil!  Normally I would measure the balance point from the tip of the pencil.  However the tip of the 800 moves so that wasn't possible.  So I measured it from the push button.  Extended the balance point is approximately 69.10 mm from the push button and retracted it's approximately 65.85 mm from the push button.

The writing experience with the 800 was a dream The weight and balance are good, for a boy like me!  The knurled grip is just the right cut neither too course nor too fine!  It affords me a good hold so I'm not having to spend so much trying to hold onto a poorly made grip!  If you write a lot with a pencil then the weight of the 800 just might be enough to fatigue your hand.  If not then I suggest that you dig deep into your pocketbook if you want a rotring 800 for they don't cone cheap!  The rotring 800 in both black and silver and in 0.5 mm and 2.0 mm (lead holder) is available from our friends at JetPens.

They're Back! June Giveaway

Two years ago I gave away, for the first time, a set of the Peachtree Plaything's Magna Tank 0.5 mm gel pens.  The gel pens are a big hit with many people all over the world.  Wal-Mart had been the best place to buy Magna Tanks until some time in 2009 the giant department store chain stopped selling them and they became almost impossible to find!  My email inbox was flooded with rumors of where they could be found, but I was never able to find them again!

Then in 2011 I was informed (by a company rep) that in the late summer of that year Wal-Mart would start selling them again!  But I never saw them back on the store shelves and soon stopped looking for them.  Then, while shopping at a Wal-Mart in another city, I accidentally stumbled across a rack of them!  I could hardly believe my eyes!  I wanted to buy several sets but budget constraints limited me to one set!  The purpose of my purchase was to announce their comeback via this giveawayhat's right, blog fans, I'm giving away the first set of Magna Tank gel pens in 0.5 mm that I've seen in over a year!

And all you have to do is to drop me, The Old Geezer, an email, at theoldgeezer@live.com, telling me just why I should let the Random Integer Generator at the bottom of this blog pick you as the first Pens And Pencils giveaway in over a year! HA! Caught ya!  I have aboslutely no control over who wins the giveaway as it's done randomly! But tell me why you should win anyway!  Please do not post a comment on this post in expectation of entering the contest!  I need an actual email from you so, in case you win, I can contact you.  And please, when you send an email make sure that it's a valid addy as I will assign each email a number in accordance to it's date of entry (early emails equate to lower numbers, not that that means a hill of beans).  Please limit the number of emails to one per entry.  In the email's title, please put June Giveaway so I will know not to just gloss over it! 

The contest will remain open until the day of my birthday (June 12).  Sometime after 12:00 PM on that day I will let the Random Integer pick a winner,  So get your entry in ASAP!

Thanks for entering my giveaway.

OOPS!  I almost forgot!  The Giveaway is officaly closed!