Marking paper & other things

7 Jul 2025 · Pencil · Sharpener · Eraser

Pencil

I'm making an assumption that you know what a pencil is. I like pencils, pens are often too permanant. Pencils mark paper, wood, metal, plastic and a dozen other materials. They're lightweight and have built in capacity displays - if it's too small to hold, you need to refil. They're made of wood which literally grows on trees so they're better for the environment than pens too.

Marking

These Tombow Mono 100s are my favourite pencils. The HB is a good all rounder, not too hard, not too soft. The leads are strong enough to mark rough cut timber without breaking. The finish on the pencil is smooth and the texture on the writing isn't distracting (sometimes if there's a pencil full of writing it feels like I can feel it in my hand).

The graphite is dark high density. They leave good dark lines with minimal dust. The artistic amongst may perfer a softer lead and the draftsmen/women may prefer a harder lead. Fear not, you're both covered, they're available in 9H to 6B. When I'm writing on paper I like a nice long point. If I'm marking wood / metal / plastic then I let the tip run down and don't often repoint it. Which leads us to the next section.

Sharpening

To point a pencil well, you need a long point sharpener. My favourite is the Kum Automatic Long Point. The name is pretty funny and it does a cracking job. As well as traditional pencils, there's also a pointer for a mechanical pencil "leads". The scrawl on the side of my sharpener tells me that I got this on in June 2016. It comes with a spare set of blades for each of the two main stages, mine is still on it's orignials (your mileage may vary).

Kum sharpener — Kum Automatic Long Point Sharpener

It's a 2 stage process to put a long point on a pencil with a Kum. Stage 1 sharpens the wood into a point and exposes the graphite. Stage 2 points the graphite. If you just want to sharpen up the tip you can go straight to stage 2, if it's a worn down pencil, you're best going 1 then 2. It only takes a couple of seconds, so unless you're as time concious as the guy in Mr. Robot, you'll be reyt.

The only thing I dislike about the Kum is the lid hinge. When you sharpen a pencil, the body fills up with wood shavings. When you've finished sharpening, you naturally open it and tip it out. Eventually the hinge snaps. There's a groove that the body of the sharpener fits in, so everything stays together in your pencil case (don't judge me) but it's a mild annoyance that it breaks. Still an epic sharpener and the best long point sharpener I've tried.

Erasing

Even the most prefessional of writers make mistakes, this is where a good eraser comes in handy. I've got a couple of favourite erasers depending on the type of erasing I need to do (now that I'm writing this down, I'm wondering how many other people have a favourite eraser!). If I'm erasing a lot then the Staedtler 526 rasoplast is a winner, if it's detailed erasing, then the Tombow mono zero ultra fine gets my vote.

The Staedtler rasoplast and mars plastic seem to work as well as each other, but the rasoplast was on my desk so that one got its picture taken! As far as I can tell the only difference is the colour of the eraser, they both work as well as each other. The mars plastic one is white and the rasoplast is black.

The Tombow is akin to a mechanical pencil. You put eraser chunks in, pump the end and the eraser grows out of the end. They're perfect for very detailed erasing, if you want to rub out a small section of a diagram or letters within a word, you're good. They're plastic though, so the green credentials of the pencil, are almost certainly undone by the eraser.

Tombow Zero — Tombow Mono Zero Ultra Fine

The control of the pen style is excellent for accurate erasing, I often use it when I'm doing a drawing of something, where a traditional eraser would be too clumsy. I like that it has a pocket clip, it means keeping it in my pencil case is neat and tidy (yes, I wrote that down).

Mechanical Pencils

I told you I liked pencils.

These are my favourite mechanical pencils. Some are propelling pencils, some are clutch pencils. Some are cheap, some are more expensive. They're all cracking pencils.

The Rotring 600 is a slim metal bodied pencil, with a reassuring weight. The grip is fine knurled. It takes 0.7mm leads. There's a dial on top of the pencil that rotates to remind you what flavour of lead is in the pencil. It has a round pencil end and hexagonal body. The pocket clip is rotatable and works well. There's a small eraser inder the push end. The end of the pencil steps down to the lead protector. This is a work staple pencil.

The Pentel P209 is a slim bodied plastic pencil that's light weight. The grip knurling is quite intense, so I wrap mine with self amalgamating tape. It takes 0.9mm leads. The pocket clip rotates and works well. There's an eraser under the cap. The writing end has a lovely smooth taper to the lead holder. Despite the angry knurling, I love these pencils. The chonky lead and taped handle make the pencil perfect for heavy marking. It's ideal for project works.

The Rotring 800+ is a pencil and a screen poker. It's another slim bodied pencil with a lightly knurled grip and hexagonal body. The lead sleeve retracts when you twist the pump end and the screen poker is ready to poke screens. It takes 0.5mm leads so is perfect for detail work. There's an eraser under the cap. It's generally in my small "meetings" pencil case, rather than my main "everyday" pencil case.

The NicPro is a new edition to the fleet! I picked it up from Amazon during the prime day sale, it came with three pencils, a bunch of "leads" and some pencil top and big erasers, it was about a tenner. For the price it's a winner. The grip is metal and quite chunky, the body is slim plastic, it's a hybrid! The pocket clip rotates and works well. This one is a clutch pencil, and it takes 1.3mm leads. There's a small eraser under the cap.

The last but by no means least is the Rotring 300. Another clutch pencil. It takes whopper 2mm leads. The body is slim plastic with a built in knurled gripping bit. It's also got a rotating cap which shows what flavour lead you have in. There is no eraser on this one, the silver pump tip is a lead pointer. It's a great sketching pencil.