Pentel Graph 1000

Welcome to my review of this fabulous pencil.  Again, this is listed as a drafting pencil, but I use it for non-drafting purposes.

I purchased this in a 0.3mm, and I am immensely impressed with the performance of this pencil.  I own one other 0.3mm pencil, the Pentel A3, which is easy to get your hands on, but doesn’t offer much else.

Being a “normal” person, I used 0.5 my whole life, and was a little bit nervous to switch to a 0.3, but made the move since my homework was looking like blobs of lead.  Unforunately, with the A3, I was breaking my lead very frequently.

The Graph1000 doesn’t have this problem.  I feel very comfortable writing with the Graph1000.  It’s the perfect weight: not too heavy like the Graphgear 1000, and not too light like those 10 cent BIC pencils.

The sleeve is straight, so it’s great for drawing lines against a ruler, and you get a great sight line, thanks to the perpendicular style of the barrel.  The barrel also has a semi-rubber grip, which gives you just the right combination of rubbery grip and metal smoothness.

The pencil writes very smoothly despite its thin lead, which is its main draw.  I have never torn my paper with this pencil.

The lead hardness indicator is much better designed than the Graphgear series.  You take the “lid” off and rotate the black window.  I may have read some complaints about it, but I think it’s alright.  I have pretty small hands though.

The most significant weakness of this pencil is the crappy little eraser that it comes with.  I hate how once I move the eraser up on the bracket, it shoves back down when I erase with it.  At least it has the…long skinny stem thing to clear blockages.

I have never seen this pencil for sale in Toronto.  I bought it at jetpens.com.

Those are all the technical things I have to say about this pencil.  Beyond that, I love it.  It’s my favourite pencil to use, and I feel conspicuous when I write with it.  What more can you ask of a pencil?