Zebra and Ohto Mechanical Pencils

I love writing with pencils and slowly weaned Meera away from markers and crayons – I just threw them all away ;-). Now she exclusively uses color pencils for her drawings and I see her focus and attention to detail has increased tremendously. That is also translating into her writing skills. As I walked her to school this morning she blurted, “Papa, I can write “e” and “r” correctly,” and motions the letters in the air.

On my desk at work, I’ll have a stack of 5-7 short pencils ready. I find full length pencils awkward and alter my pencil balance, so I prefer pencils after they have been used by Meera or M; 5-7 inches is the ideal length. Here are a couple (well) used ones, including a new zebra mechanical pencil a co-worker gifted. I generally don’t bite on my pencils, but the evidence says otherwise. I also (almost) never use the eraser at the end of the pencil, and reach for the Staedtler eraser blob, but the big eraser on the Zebra is worth a try. Methinks the chomped blue Faber-Castell was borrowed.

I love this Ohto mechanical pencil gifted by my brother. Its a full length and the hexagonal grip is nice; it even has a realistic wood pattern collaring the lead. The metal channel for the lead is very short, like if the pencil was sharpened with a knife; unlike the longer taper of the Zebra. What’s not to love? To prevent it from wandering, it stays on my home desk.

I have other very nice mechanical pencils, which I may share over the holidays, if I am not too busy playing with Meera. Do you use a pencil? Share your pencil stories.