Mechanical pencils (propelling pencils) for chartwork

anoccasionalyachtsman

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To those who still have the kit that they used back in the day - be warned - it may be valuable. I bought two 'brushed stainless' Faber-Castell TKmatic 0.5mm pencils 40 years ago, they sell for £2-300 last time I looked. One got stolen, so the survivor doesn't leave the house.
 

dansaskip

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Been using them since I first started 20 years ago 2B 0.5mm I must be a fan as I have about 3 0r 4 different makes. Always worth having to anyway for that inconvenient moment when the lead runs out of one!
 

Rappey

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Do you think I should upgrade my old pencil ?
 

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Rappey

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Maybe I should update my maps too ?
 

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Dab

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I recommend the humble Bic MATIC. They are 0.7mm and although HB if you press lightly they are easy to rub out. Technically they are disposable but from memory they come with 3 leads per pencil and you can can refill them if you want to. I have normally lost or broken mine by the time they get to that stage. Good value in packs of 4 or 10 , especially in French hypermarkets. I use them for all my note taking, including all my project management stuff at work.
 

KDee

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Good old fashioned 2B woodcased pencil, still made in UK by Derwent (Cumberland Pencil Company). Any softer is harder to erase, any harder leaves indentations in the paper.
 

thinwater

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A real classic, simple, drafting pencil that has been around for 40 years, is the the Pentel Sharp.
Pentel Sharp

Any lead size, very simple, bomb-proof durable, easy to take apart and clean. I had one last through 4 years of daily use in college, and I've been using them ever since. Still do, same model. There are reasons it has not changed in 40 years.
 

Wansworth

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In my time on a dirty British coaster we always used those yachtsmans charts,they were blue if I recall with the courses already marked in red,other than that a biro for filling in the log
 
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