Yay. Shiny new distraction replacing old crummy distraction.

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
07/19/2017 at 12:28 • Filed to: drafting lol, Planelopnik, drawing, Design

Now my purty designs can be all purty with the retractable tip GraphGear 1000's. Amazon Prime had all four for $27. Wowwie WowWow. They replace my thirty-year old rubber and metal barrelled Alvin Draftmatic set with rust and dog chewed caps and barrels. Here’s the first sketch with the .3, just to lay out thoughts I have on a vintage themed outrigger geared ultralight:

There’s an extremely good chance I’m building it in the near future after the OG mini restoration.

The pencils feel very very solid as all get out, the mechanisms are smooth and without play, however, when writing words and not drawing lines, the eraser cap makes some little ticking noises as it moves about due to the tip extended and a bit of slack up there; slack only with the cap. But really, using these things for writing words is like using a hammer to screw things. (Like my father-in-law did when setting up the Christmas tree stand) Not the intended purpose. We draw and sketch and think about creations with these, we write thoughts with quality pencils (Mitsubishi 9850 and Blackwing 602's) and pens ( energels are my go to now). Eh, too much criticism; These are one of the most usable and solid pieces I’ve ever used. A Rotring may feel ultimately more perfect in the hand but it’s also 3x more expensive for one than all four of these. So get some!

DISCUSSION (13)

Chariotoflove > Grindintosecond
07/19/2017 at 12:38

In this day when everyone is talking about how wonderful tablets are, and the big discussions seem to be about which stylus is best, it’s nice to remember that precision writing instruments matter.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond
07/19/2017 at 12:39

I think you and I would get along.

Love a good .3 mm pencil. Energels are great, but I can’t give up my uni-ball Vision micros for daily use... Been loyal for close to 20 years.

Slant6 > Grindintosecond
07/19/2017 at 12:44

I get by with regular bics for sketching. Once you know them you can get some ok work out of them. I also have a Muji Pen for fancier sketches. Very nice and smooth but at $8 a pen I can only use it for presentation grade sketches.

Been thinking about leaving ball points though. There are much better things out there from what I understand.

Grindintosecond > Slant6
07/19/2017 at 13:10

I don’t do pen&ink sketching much unless I’m in the office (cockpit) with a stack of useless one-side printed weather paperwork. But, I really like the EnerGel’s 05 fine tip for that when I do. I can’t get any light lines or fade like a nice grease-inked ball point but I’m doing engineering sketching so that sort of drawing I left behind long ago. I LOVE the Muji products, particularly their lined notebooks. The paper is supurb for pencil writing and even good for fountain pens.

Grindintosecond > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/19/2017 at 13:20

Then you have to get these Graphgears. That retractable tip is awesome, you’ll never bend the feed tube again. I also tried a Koru Toga .5 for a bit and it’s a pretty nice writer because it actually rotates the tip every time you lift off the page. So it never gets flat-sided but writes printed words sharper like a .3, of course, you may already rotate the pencil in your hand subconsciously.

Have you tried both tips of the EnerGel’s? M and F? On a quality legal pad (college ruled of course!) the F tip’s 05 is heaven.

Side note of pencils, here’s something to try: Order up a pack of Mitsubishi 9850 HB pencils ($10) and just use them for a while. The wood sharpens like butter and the tip is incredible for the money. Folks may vomit at the notion of wood pencils but these put the yellow no.2 to shame and just feel so good across the page. Plus, sharpening once in a while gives a break and a moment of reflection over what the heck is going on, then back to work. Something unexpectedly nice.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Grindintosecond
07/19/2017 at 15:52

My people! I tried the graghgears and found I prefer the knurled barrel of the Alvin pencils better, but after ruining 2-3 from drops, the graphgear win the longevity battle. I ended up removing the silicone insert on my graphgear pencil and that helped a bit. The toga is my go to for now though. The .5 lead with the pencil rotating makes for a nice thin line still, but not as brittle as the .3 lead.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond
07/19/2017 at 17:25

Added to my Amazon wish list, just have to pull the trigger... I’ve got an old pencil I bought in college with a tip like that; can’t even remember the brand now, but I can imagine they’re sweeter than my recently acquired Alvin .3mm. That Koru Toga sounds pretty sweet. Lover your sketch; I use pencils primarily for brainstorming sketches for logo design.

I think I’ve tried an EnerGel, but the ones here in my desk at work (in my drawer not getting used) are Pilot G2s (noisy) and uni-ball Signo 207s.

I’m just not a big wooden pencil guy - I’ve got a nice Blackwing 602 here on my desk that someone gave me that I’ve hardly ever used. If I did more “final” work with a pencil, I’d probably use a regular pencil more, but I usually just do a little hatching to suggest shading on stuff I’m doing.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond
07/19/2017 at 17:30

I do just love that I could own a car and a pencil built by the same people that put together my old (huge) rear projection TV.

Grindintosecond > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/20/2017 at 11:48

I use the 602's and the mitsus for writing short stories

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond
07/20/2017 at 12:22

Care to share any more of your sketches or writing?

Grindintosecond > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/20/2017 at 12:32

https://roughdrift.wordpress.com/

It’s mostly all in rough form, for later editing when I finally get more time to really clean things up. For sketches, I really don’t do a lot of it, only when I get an idea for something to build later. I’ve had a distraction over the last year.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond
07/20/2017 at 14:03

Really great stuff, Rob... love writing so evocative that it gets you “there” in such a short time - thanks for the lunchtime reading material. Very sorry to hear about your distraction - I hope your wife and family are doing well.

The sketch for Flame Job and a Burrito is great. Keep on whittling on.

Have you read Seat Safety Switch’s stuff? http://seatsafetyswitch.com/

Here’s a sampling of my design work: http://davidlange.co/

Grindintosecond > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/20/2017 at 16:38

good work, always liked logo design as well. Safetyswitch’s stuff has been posted a time or two on oppo, but now i know where to find the source. There’s not enough auto themed writing.