I’ve been bingeing on Eagle / Berol for a while and bit the bullet to seek out the color ‘button’ variations for the ‘Twenty’ Holder… their first foray into 0.5mm territory.
The beautiful chromed design is reminiscent of the Pentel PS1042/5 and also the matching 20μ silver plated ballpoint. Mechanically it is similar to the fabled Uchida Drawing Sharp series.
However, twist mechanisms that fed super fine leads from the front were soon overtaken by more effective ‘automatic’ click-advance designs. I’m just glad these got made.
I have the red one, really love it, it looks great, the glare it has, they should have called it Excalibur, this pencil looks like an intergalactic ship from the future. I left it outside the case and I left the case itself outside the plastic wrap, because it shrinks and breaks the case. What do the colors of the twist button indicate?
I think these colors are to help the user easily differentiate between different leads in use. However, I don’t think the colors are tied to any particular lead hardness (I could be wrong).
Eagle’s 3375 and 3377 lead holders also came with variations in the colored ends.
I had more or less given up on the Twelve and some other holders but reached out to Dan with one last ditch effort. He came through brilliantly on a few items, including the Twelve. Huzzah! The one he supplied is silver (the one in the pic he posted above). With renewed hope, some day I’d also like to find this one:
The instructions on the back of the box says there is “lead storage behind the plug”.
Have you been able to remove the plug you a 20? I have 2 (green cap) and mine are too snug for removal by hand. Thought I’d check here before I broke out the pliers
Mine doesn’t have a compartment to store leads. That stick you can see sticking out is the rod that pushes the lead. You say you can’t separate the grip? Don’t try with pliers, use your hands instead. Maybe yours is a slightly different model? Can you share a photo? (You’ve probably already posted it, I’ll try to find it).
= HB
= 2H
= F
= B
