Awesome Pencils

The special-edition mechanical pencil from Maratac features a titanium body with a colorful and eye-catching design. Its layered mix of criss-cross and multi-scale camouflage patterns is created using a unique 12-step process. Its mechanism accepts standard 2mm pencil leads, and includes a dozen to get you started. Limited to 1000 pieces.

Do you like to draw? Lihit Lab’s easy-to-carry, slimline case holds up to 22 pens or pencils. It also has mesh pockets for small accessories like erasers or earbuds and opens up flat for quick access. It measures just 5.5″ × 8.5″ x 0.7″ when closed and comes in orange, indigo, and black. It’s also available in a skinny 14-pen size.

This playful desktop pencil caddy looks like a giant version of its intended contents. The 11″ tall plastic pencil hides a storage bin inside. Simply pull on its point to access your pens, pencils, and other skinny office supplies. It’s available in yellow or white and made from ABS plastic and ABS wood composite.

Artists, get your color on with this wonderfully vibrant selection of woodless coloring pencils. Why woodless? Simple. They last much longer than wooden pencils, putting more rich pigment onto the page instead of wasting wood in a sharpener. The Jumbo set includes 24 graphite pencils, 72 watercolor pencils, and a carrying case.

We’re not proud of it, but well-meaning inspirational affirmations only inspire eye-rolls with us. The satirical Disappointing Affirmations book (and graphite Disappointing Affirmations Pencils) gets us, inspiring laughs and “true dat” responses to backhanded pep talks like “You matter. Just not that much.” A great gift for the glass-half-empty realists in your life.

Israel Conder makes a number of pointy tools that can be used as marlinspikes, awls, or for self-defense. Our favorite is this one that looks like a No. 2 pencil. Each handmade pencil features a brass body, a titanium tip, an aluminum ferrule, and an eraser made from pink anodized titanium or red G-10. It’s available in three lengths and includes a Kydex sheath.

This mechanical pencil forgoes the normal plastic body for one made from maple hardwood. That means each pencil has a unique wood grain and is one-of-a-kind. It accepts any 0.5 mm pencil lead and has a simple click-to-dispense mechanism. It also comes in a dark-stained version.

Are skins or DIY paint jobs not good enough for your already pricey Apple Pencil? Well, the madmen at ColorWare would be all too happy to take your money. Their take on the obvious color scheme for the second-generation iPad stylus is, as expected, completely overkill in terms of both quality and price.

Engineers have come up with all kinds of pencil sharpeners. Shane from Stuff Made Here used his engineering expertise to see if he could come up with some new ways to achieve the sharpest point for his pencils. His six ridiculous pencil sharpeners include a 5-axis waterjet, a robot with a spinning X-acto blade, and a tiny chainsaw.

We’re going to need a bigger eraser. This shark-shaped sharpener (sharkener?) is ready to chomp down on your pencils and give them a nice point that’s as sharp as a great white’s tooth. We don’t recommend attempting this with an actual shark even if you have a giant pencil.

This unique piece from Japan’s Traveler’s Company provides a cozy home for a pencil in your pocket. Inside its brass outer sleeve and underneath its cap, you’ll find a stubby wooden pencil. Both the pencil and eraser are replaceable with refill packs, and the unplated brass will develop a delightful patina over time.

We’d probably slice a finger whittling a pencil with an X-Acto knife. Artist Bobby Duke gave that a try before moving on to a rotary tool. He then proceeded to carve a snake wrapped around the pencil’s lead. After a bit of precision painting and some silly sound effects, the tiny artwork was complete.

This zippered carrying case from Japan’s Raymay Fujii provides plenty of space for pens, pencils, and erasers. What makes it special is that it doubles as a desktop pen caddy when opened up. Its internal container tilts diagonally for easy access, and its lid stays open thanks to a magnetic catch.

Uni’s multipurpose writing instrument combines four different ballpoint inks with a mechanical pencil. It has smooth-flowing 0.7 mm red, green, blue, and black pens on board, as well as a 0.5mm pencil lead for those times you need erasable writing. There’s also an eraser hiding under its back cap. Refills here.

This chunky, yet versatile writing instrument combines four pen colors and a pencil. It has retractable 0.7mm black, blue, red, and green ink cartridges, a 0.5mm mechanical pencil, and an eraser hidden under its cap. The pen comes in black and white as well as a variety of other colors. Ink refills sold separately.

Pencils and pasta have more in common than you might think. Process X takes us inside a factory in Japan that makes pencil leads using a similar process to making spaghetti. After mixing raw ingredients, they extrude them into soft noodles, then cut them. Though instead of boiling them, they bake then soak them in hot oil.