Stationery Hoarder

11 notebooks that are partially used or completely unused, 6 mechanical pencils, 5 pens, 8 wooden pencils from a 12 pack, and enough mechanical pencil lead to last the next 3 lifetimes are what I have in my current stash that I’ve built for just over 10 years. The notebooks aren’t particularly cheap either so I’ve banned myself from purchasing more paper. I’ve only gotten through the smaller Mnemosyne notebooks for graduate school. For journaling I’ve been using a Grand Seiko notebook made by Kunisawa that I received at the Horological Society of New York Class in Seattle. I’ve been writing absolute nonsense but I’ve barely managed to get through 3/4ths of it. Paper matters much less for pencils than pen but curiosity got the best of me and I ended up trying out many brands such as Kyokuto, Campus, and Midori. Honestly for the price I should have bought a bunch of Rhodia notebooks but the look of the Kyokuto and Midori notebooks drew me in.

Unfortunately I lost the pencil that I used for the longest time which was a Pentel Graph 1000 for Pro 0.5mm mechanical pencil. I don’t remember if I lost it or broke the unretractable metal tip but I repurchased it in December of 2019.

At some point I got the Rotring 600 which I initially thought was a waste of money, then I thought it was just okay, and now I think it’s pretty solid. If I was an insane person I would want to compare it to the Pentel Orenz which I don’t own. Maybe in 2025. I still think the Platinum zeroshin MZ-500 might be the best for harder leads because of the way that it holds onto the refill reduces the squeakiness, especially for the Pilot Neox refill that has small amounts of lubricants added. The Pilot Dr. Grip (thick or thin) might be the easiest recommendation if you don’t know anything about the user’s preferences because of the comfort, high refill capacity, and moderate refill grip.

I use harder lead grades such as 2H or H most of the time but I relapse to 2B, B, or HB at times. I’m not quite the 4H psychopath or 4b neat feak. For harder grades, wooden pencils still feel the best and the Hi Uni 2H might be my overall favorite pick. I would pick it over the Tombow Mono 100 because I don’t like the slightly waxy feel. I’ve never bought a lead holder but that might be worth trying in the future for harder lead grades.

I’ve always favored pencils over pens because of the feel and sound of graphite and clay over ink. However, if I had to pick some I would break it down into these categories.

1. Ballpoint - Acroball and Jetstream
2. Gel - Pilot Juice, Zebra Blen, Zebra Sarasa Quick Dry
3. Rollerball - Retro Tornado Pen that I accidentally left at a restaurant

I’ve been swapping around what I use now pretty frequently but historically I’ve used only 1 thing until I temporarily lose it and then move onto the pile. At some point I want to make a post about sharpeners and maybe comparing lead holders to wooden pencils as a writing normie and not an artist.