I recently went through a box of old stationery related items that have been accumulating for a long time. It was time to do it, since I’ve been trying to get things more organized (and downsized) post-move. I knew the general variety of things I would find – stacks of post-it notes, random bits and bobs such as clips, push-pins, and spare erasers, and a whole bunch of pens and pencils (some markers too!).
Amongst this vein of stationery goodness, I found three boxes of staples that I’ve had since the 5th or 6th grade, a small box of paper clips that I’ve had a similar amount of time, and some old mechanical pencils!
Most of these probably joined my collection between the 8th – 10th grade timeframe (except that Paper Mate, it was probably an early college acquisition), and most have seen quite a bit of use! Some of them were definitely purchased by parents, others seem like they’ve just always been there.
Those that had eraser caps are long gone, victims of a time when backpacks had one large compartment and it held everything one might need at school. These are also all 0.5mm pencils, because 0.3mm was effectively unheard of where I grew up, and 0.7mm was too wide for my liking.
Some of these pencils took me through my first days of D&D campaigning with friends, where no one really knew what they were doing but we were all having a great time!
Pentel PD345 Quicker Clicker
These used to (maybe they still do), come in packs of 3. This is the only one I still have, and I don’t have any spare erasers either. I remember that being one of the biggest drawbacks to me, was that the erasers would run down quick, and then you would have to carry one of those pink bricks that somehow always ended up with wooden pencils stabbed into them.
One of the benefits of this mechanical pencil, though, was the volume of lead it could carry. I don’t ever recall running out of lead, and I would never remember adding any more. It just seemed to have an infinite supply. Even as I found it, it held no less than 10 sticks of (presumably HB) lead ready to go.
Pentel PD255 Side FX
I recall using the Pentel Side FX pretty heavily in high school. It’s body is a lot wider than most standard wooden pencils and even the more commonly available mechanical pencils at the time. I think the more geometric barrel shape is what really drew me to it, along with the easy-to-press lead extension button on the side. Being able to extend the lead with minimal change to my grip was nice.
This was the pencil I would usually carry with me at lunch, up to the same table my friends would always claim, and we would ramble on for 45 minutes playing 3e or just some random game that someone made up. It was definitely a nostalgic find.
Pentel PG305
The PG305 is actually one I don’t think I used that much. It was too narrow for my tastes back then, and I wasn’t a fan of the eraser refill. Where did it come from and how did it get into this collection then? We’ll never know.
Pilot H-305 The Shaker
“The Shaker” sounds like a class option out of Pine Shallows or Kids On Bikes 2e. This mechanical pencil definitely shook things up back in the day, too. You can aggressively swing your hand around in class and not get in trouble? Well, probably only once…
I haven’t tried any of the newer versions of The Shaker, but what I like about this one is the heft of the weight inside the lead extension mechanism. It adds some extra weight to the pencil overall, and for some reason I’ve always liked having a heavier writing instrument in hand. I am concerned that should it break, it’s something that will never be repairable, and that heavy weight shifting around inside all the time seems like a recipe for heartbreak.
Pentel QE515 Twist-Erase
This was another mechanical pencil I recall using quite a bit. After losing all the eraser caps of my other pencils, then dealing with things like erasers getting pulled out of them or prematurely wearing down due to constant friction against books and whatever else was in my bag. Having a mechanism to hide my eraser until it was needed, and it wouldn’t simply fall off of the back (looking at you eraser caps), was a welcome change.
Paper Mate Clear Point
While I don’t believe this one is as old as the others, I’m pretty sure I picked it up because it had similar mechanical functions. Side-click lead extension? Check. Twistable eraser I can retract and not break or crush? Yep. Comfortable grip? Debatable, but yeah, it’s not bad.
This one definitely hasn’t had as many miles put on it as the others in this list, and a good deal of that is from the fact that most of my college days moved towards video games rather than TTRPG’s.
So yep, there’s a long post about a handful of pencils I found in a box. They now live in a small pencil box, in a drawer, on my newly organized table space, where I hope to start getting more time to play some solo RPG’s. Hopefully that means some of these make it into the rotation as well.
If you don’t have a favorite pencil, hopefully this can inspire you to find something you really enjoy writing with for your next Pen and Paper Quest!