Blackwing Pencils
If I had to buy one: Blackwing 602
Reasonable cost, American-made, high quality product with a cult following
Where to buy:
Differences between the main 3 Blackwings
Black (standard): softest and fastest to dull: ~4B
White (aka: “Pearl”): next softest: ~3B
Grey (aka: “602”): hardest tip, but still soft: ~2B
Mechanical Pencils
If you had to buy one: Pentel GraphGear .5mm
Extremely durable, high build quality, reasonable cost, and looks pretty good – not as good as Alvin or rOtring though 😄
Two others to buy:
Alvin Draftmatic – the best pencil in my opinion (if you ignore durability); tips will bend if they got tossed around, or fall on the floor
rOtring - amazing beautiful pencil, really stunning. I was turned on to this pencil by a Swedish friend. Mine is not pictured because it broke a few months after I bought it 😢
Other thoughts:
Never pay less than $10 for a mechanical pencil, and always get one with a knurled tip
The biggest consideration is the diameter of the lead (see below)
Always buy HB lead unless you know what you’re doing
Small neat lettering: (.3mm - .5mm)
Normal lettering: .7mm
Large lettering: .9mm
Pens
If I had to choose 2 pens:
OHTO “The Dude” ($15)
WRITES LIKE A DREAM
High quality, made in Japan
Technically, a ballpoint pen, but this was sold to me as a rollerball. It certainly writes like one. I love this pen!
Le Pen ($2)
AWESOME – Felt tip, various widths available
Excellent for illustration, jotting down notes, or diagramming
Pretty easy to find, and not too expensive – available in lots of colors and different tip sizes