Performance Zen

Leadholder Lust

Written by

spierzchala

in

Some would call it old school. I call it classic.

I love pencils. They have a depth of emotion that you can’t get with any pen. But the highest standard in industrial pencils are not the 0.5mm mechanical pencils that everyone uses. No, it’s the 2mm leadholder.

I first used these in my drafting overview in Grade 8 shop class. I sucked at drafting, but these felt good.

I just rediscovered them, and have found that there are many people who share my love of these old leadholders, including the folks at leadholder.com.

The most prevalent ones are the Staedtler 780s, and their cheap copies.

The pinnacle of leadholder lust: the Caran D’Ache Fixpencil 2.

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Comments

2 responses to “Leadholder Lust”

  1. Michael Randall Avatar
    Michael Randall

    The Mars 780 is a great pencil. I’ve tried the Fixpencil recently, and it didn’t suit me quite as well. It’s quite noticeably lighter than the 780, and I like the knurled metal grip.
    It does feel nicely made, though, and the plain surface is pleasantly grippy. The clip is a nicely designed touch, too – kind of hooks around half of the body.
    If you like light weight pencils, the Caran d’Ache may be the one, but if you prefer a bit of weight, mainly towards the tip, the 780 takes some beating.
    Though I have to admit, I’m almost exclusively using my Faber-Castell e-Motion now…

    Reply
  2. Michael Randall Avatar
    Michael Randall

    like the knurled metal grip.It does feel nicely made, though, and the plain surface is pleasantly grippy. The clip is a nicely designed touch, too – kind of hooks around half of the body.If you like light weight pencils, the Caran d’Ache may be the one, but if you prefer a bit of weight, mainly towards the tip, the 780 takes some beating.Though I have to admit, I’m almost exclusively using my Faber-Castell e-Motion now…

    Reply

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