Welcome To My Thoughts On Pens And Pencils

I will respect your right to disagree with what I have to say about Pens and Pencils as long as you respect the fact that I am an Old Geezer.




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If you need detailed instructions on how to clear a lead jam from a mechanical pencil then click this link, "All Jammed Up?" or the link in the pages header.



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The Old Geezer
Please Excuse My Absence

I have not blogged since July of 2015 due to the fact that my Lovely Wife was diagnosed with 2 types of cancer. A new case of breast cancer which has metastasized and gone to her bones, mainly her back. She had a mastectomy of her left breast which showed the type of cancer that was in her bones. She has been taking an oral med. every day and she has a port under her skin to receive a liquid med. She has gone through one round of radiation treatments to stop some pain in her back. That gave her GERD and the med for that was nasty tasting. The bone cancer has caused the vertebra in her lower back to pinch her left sciatic nerve causing her pain, numbness and foot drag. She also has skin cancer that has only been partly addressed.

I have been busy taking care of her as the treatments have left her weak and sickly. She can not drive so I have to drive her to her appointments and treatments. I also have to do all the cooking and most of what cleaning we do. So I do not have a lot of time for blogging. However the installment of the review of the Schaeffer Ultrafine 0.3mm pencil marks what I hope will be a new review every month. However some of my future reviews may seem familiar as they may be a review of a pencil or pen that I have reviewed before just in another size due to my limited collection of writing instruments and the economic state of our nation.

I am grateful to George Fox for wanting me to do a review of another one of his pencils. I think that as a reader of my humble blog, may fine of interest as the Schaeffer Ultra Fine is a very unusual pencil.

So please excuse my absence and as a reader of my humble blog I hope that you enjoy the review of this unique pencil.

Coming Soon...

Thank you,

The Old Geezer.




Saturday, January 26, 2013

Pentel Graph PG2 0.2mm Drafting Pencil


When is small too small?  I am a big fan of 0.3 mm drafting pencils and I own a few!  I like the very thin line that the lead produces, albeit at a cost - lead breakage!  So in order to use a 03. mm pencil I have had to train myself to write with a light hand.  If, like now, I use some other lead size, like a 0.5 mm lead sized pencil, such as the Kuru Toga Rouletta, then I have to retrain my self when I go back to a 0.3 mm lead size!  I like the Kuru Toga because I can use a pencil with the stronger 0.5 mm lead size yet get a near 0.3 mm line.  Lately I have been using a 0.3 mm Kuru Toga because it produces a sum 0.3 mm line!  But lead breakage is still a problem.

Then comes the Pentel Graph PG2 0.2 mm Drafting Pencil.  No, it's not a typo!  Not 2 mm but 0.2 mm!  Now that's a thin line (for a pencil)!  The pencils has been around for a while, since the late 70's, but I didn't notice it until a few years ago.  With my propensity for thin line lead pencils had I known of it's existence back then, I would have had several by now!  Or would!?

The lead grade indicator has 2 readings, HB and B and that's all the lead grades the 0.2 mm currently comes in!  Oddly enough the lead is also made by Pentel.  The Pentel Graph PG2 may be the only 0.2mm pencil made!  A quick search of the Internet provided some proof of my claim as the only 0.2 mm pencil that came up was indeed the Pentel Garph PG2!  And there may be good reason for this!

But before I get into this  lets dive into some stats!  Now who doesn't like to read about the stats of a fine drafting pencil (not a word out of you, Tommy Turquoise)?  All the mumblers tossed out at this point have been rounded to the nearest whole digit.  The PG2 is approximately 146 mm long making it of average length.  it is approximately 8 mm in diameter making it a slim pencil.  It's balance point is approximately 68 mm from the tip making it a little top heavy but you'd hardly notice and it weighs approximately 10 grams making it a feather weight!  It almost feels like there is nothing in my hand!

The grip area of the pencil is a set of concentric close set rings approximately 14 mm long.  They are smooth to the touch, probably rounded instead of square, providing a good non-slip grip with out a sharp bite.  The chromed metal pocket grip appear to be of the same type if not the same one used on the P200 series Pentel drafting pencils.  The good grip area along with the light weight and good balance would make the PG2 easy to control and fatigue free, except for one fact.  More on that later.

The construction of the PG2 is as what would be expected from Pentel, a leader in the world of fine and affordable drafting pencils.  It's solid, well made and easily torn down.  The body is plastic, along with the lead reservoir retainer/ lead grade indicator body and clean out rod handle.  The pocket clip, tip of the pencil, entire clutch and lead reservoir assembly and the but stock are metal.

The pencil can be torn down into 7 major pieces/ submersibles.  The body and removable pocket clip, the tip, the clutch/reservoir assembly, the clutch/reservoir retainer/lead indicator body, the lead indicator window, the clean out rod and holder/push button assembly and the tail stock.


 
To disassemble the PG2 into it's major components first unscrew the tip, which screws to the clutch assembly.  Unscrew the tail stock, lead grade indicator window and the clutch/reservoir retainer then pull the clutch/reservoir free from the pencil then pull the clean-out-rod holder/push button free. Reassembly is just the opposite.  due to the potential of losing an important part of the pencil, I recommend the average user do not break down the PG2 this far.  In order to clear a led jam all you have to do is remove the tip, tail stock and clean out rod/push button assembly.



The PG2 is a sliding sleeve retracts with the lead as it is used up, but only about 1/2 the distance to the base of the tip.  In my humble opinion the pencil would have been better if the sliding sleeve would have retracted all the way to the tip!  This would have given the pencil a little more versatility.

Now at the beginning of this review I ask the question, "When is small too small?"  The answer to that question, in this bloggerss mind, is when small become impracticable.  To me a 0.2 mm lead size is impracticable, which is maybe why there is only one pencil made in that lead size.  An extremely light hand must be used in conjunction with a slow, fluid writing style in order to prevent lead breakage.  But a light hand, even with HB lead, produces a light line.  This lightness combined with sheer 0.2 mm line width makes the writing/drawing produced with such a fine width extremely hard to discern by many people.  Even with the sliding sleeve the instrument is impracticable because the tip of the lead sleeve contacting the paper scratches and drags and one day will wear out.

While I do not recommend this pencil to anyone with out who does not have the lightest of hands and the keenest eyesight, does not mean that I don't like the pencil!  I do like it.  I like it's looks, light weight, balance, etc.  I just don't like using it.  A softer lead, like grade 'B' would be more practical, offering a dark line with less lead breakage.

Bottom line, for all practical purposes the Pentel PG2 is not for every one and certainly not for every day use.  It even has limited use as a drafting pencil.   It is however an elegant and beautiful pencil and it looks good in my pencil case.

10 comments:

Jimmy Simpson said...

I assume that you have seen the Pentel 0.3mm PMG? One feature it has is a "cap" that protects the point, but otherwise is the same as the PG2 & PG5 stylistically.

2nd_astronaut said...

| The Pentel Graph PG2 may be the only 0.2mm pencil made! A quick search of the Internet provided some proof of my claim as the only 0.2 mm pencil that came up was indeed the Pentel Garph PG2!

Pentel PS-1042, Newman Super 2

Vintage Pencil Collector said...

Admiral Junior Vintage Mechanical Pencil was my last antique shop purchase. The pencil is in great condition for its age, but unfortunately one of the leads is jammed. Any help or know how will be appreciated.

The Old Geezer said...

Not without knowing more about the pencil! How is the lead advanced? Click of a push button or twist of the upper half of the pencil?

dougm said...

I love my PG2. It is perfect for doing some detailed graphite drawing. Softer leads would be nice (as you said, B would be great). The biggest downside is that Pentel has discontinued both the pencil and the refill leads. The pencils are easier to find than the leads.

I just recently found your blog and have been enjoying reading through it.

Unknown said...

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for the heads-up about the lead! All that I have is in the pencil!

Anonymous said...

If only it had a sliding sleeve. My first 0.3mm, back around 1982 had one, and it was a godsend. Haven't seen a 0.3mm with that since, let alone a 0.2mm.

There's another popular 0.2mm out there, the Pentel HM0350 "Orenz". That one comes in six colors, including pink, which, unfortunately, is the Pentel standard color for 0.2mm lead.

I'm looking at a box of 10 tubes of 0.2mm HB. More than I'd probably use in a lifetime, anyone up for a group buy. wiz@netfrog.net (I can't remember my Google password).

Anonymous said...

could you help me find "all" the sliding sleeve pencils available today? it seems to be a feature* left out of the description of many pencils.

if i could get something springloaded and sliding sleeve <3

The Old Geezer said...

nicko,

Sorry, but I don't know all the sliding sleeve mechanical pencils out there. The Pentel PG2 is one, as is the Pentel Orenza, The Pentel "Sharp" sliding sleeve, the rOtring rapid PRO is also a sliding sleeve. There are also many low cost mainline mechanical pencils that have sliding sleeves.

If you are ever able to compile a comprehensive list of sliding sleeve pencils I would be most interested in publishing it for you, giving you full credit for the work, of course.

EstelleDeRidder said...

I had 50 cases is 0.2mm H leads
. .because I loved them so much and used them exclusively for detailed botanical and entomological illustration work. Now I've opened my second to last little case, and I cannot find 0.2mm lead refills !!!! Is it true that they have been discontinued? A-a-a-rgh!! Will this force me to work with a gigantic (ha ha ha) 0.3 mm?