Every pencil, whether it’s a mechanical pencil or wooden pencil, has a lead and every lead has a grade. But which lead grade should you use? Which is best for a test? Which is best for art? How about note taking?
Continue reading “The Right Pencil Lead Grade and Hardness For Every Scenario”
Fountain pens tend to seem relatively simple, but that doesn’t mean the correct process for filling every pen is obvious. This article will explain how to fill any common fountain pen.
Is your pen not writing? Has it run out of ink? Here is our guide to changing your pen’s refill.
Many people come to this website with a simple query: how long is a pen? Here is our best take on an answer to this deceptively simple question.
Pens are sold in many different colors, but most of the time we are choosing between blue and black ink. You can’t really say one is better than the other, but they might be preferable for different application. So let’s dig into the topic a bit…
Continue reading “Blue Ink Or Black Ink: Which One Is Best?”
Paper and notebook sizes are an unfortunately confusing thing. You just want some printer paper or a new notebook, and instead you are choosing between “A4” and “B5” and a slew of other sizes that mean nothing to you. Maybe you are better off switching to numbers, like “8.5 by 11” but we’ve all made the mistake of ordering legal paper when we meant to get normal copy paper!
This guide should help you sort out all your loose leaf paper and notebook size problems.
One of the most common question that gets sent into Unsharpen.com is: What is on your desk?
Specialty pencils aren’t nearly as common as they were before the computer and smartphone took over our daily tasks. One such writing instrument is the carpenter pencil or carpenter’s pencil, depending who you ask.
But what is a carpenter’s pencil?
One of the coolest undiscovered families of writing instruments is the Platinum Bee Line. Here is some information to get you start on your Bee Line journey.
If you are shopping for a very affordable — as in sub-$30, sub-$20, or even sub-$5 — fountain pen and you want high-end features like screw-on cap, included converter, or piston-filling mechanism then you will almost certainly want a Chinese fountain pen.
These pens have made incredible advances in the last decade and now offer a set of features and a price range that makes them distinct and interesting type of fountain pen unto themselves.
Prior to the proliferation of computers, making super uniform letters was a challenge. Companies like Leroy and later Rotring developed “lettering systems” so letters could be drafted in a controlled, computer-like manner.
Continue reading “Rotring 461-900 Controlled Lettering System Explainer”
A surprisingly popular set of questions in the writing and pen world have to do with ink poisoning. What is it? Can you get it from a normal pen, and so on. While not being poison control experts, we’ve done our research and will answer these questions.
Continue reading “Is Ink Toxic? What Is Ink Poisoning? Can You Get It From A Pen?”
Pentel is famous for its Energy pens and mechanical pencils, but actually has made some wooden pencils in the past. These are famous with collectors but aren’t well known on the whole.
When discussing vintage pens and pencils, the Rotring Newton is often confused with the older — the original — Rotring 600. Both are great pens and mechanical but they are quite alike. Even so, they are distinctly different models and while the Newton echoes the design of the 600 it is not a Rotring 600.
Sorry to say it, but there is no “Rotring Newton 600,” that’s just something people write on Ebay auctions.
Does any of this matter though? Are we just splitting hairs? Or is there a real difference between the Rotring 600 and the Newton models. Let’s find out.
If you are looking for a pen to carry with you, you want something tough, stylish, versatile, and affordable. You want a pen that’s a tough as your worst day. That’s an “EDC” or everyday carry pen.