Kinda curious what everyones mechanical pencil count is at and if there really is a number that might be considered too much?
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Too many is not a thing. I have over 2000 and still looking every day.
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Hard to put a number on the collection at this point, but I’d guess my “museum piece” count is around 1300 pencils.
But I have hundreds of others that aren’t fit for display or will be sold later.
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I don’t have a number on my collection but I would imagine it’s close to 2000.
This biggest issue with a large collection is storage and display. I have way too many cool pieces that are important to me to not display. I have way too many cool pieces that are important to me to display. It’s a conundrum.
A couple of months ago I started putting all of my important (to me) pieces in individual display tubes to create a rather large wall display. I’m currently at around 600 that have been tubed up and I’m overwhelmed.
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I guess I am in a (high) 3-digit-number. I agree that storage and accessability is the main problem (except you have large drawing cabinets or sth. like that). It takes me ages to find a certain pencil, and often I don’t know what I have (what sizes I am missing in a pencil series etc).
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Same same same! It’s a tough life.
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Yeah, I wish there was a nice sleek desktop drawer that can hold a large collection. This company here makes some great stuff, but they only use wood. I’d love to have a nice black steel pencil box with drawers for my favorite pieces.
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You have an amazing collection. I love your custom display that you made!
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Also in the 2000s, organised in various ways… Clear box files by brand or region, pen rolls for less precious specimens… and lots of spares just slumming in paper bags. Definitely slowed down as grails are attained. Not sure if I’ll ever lay my hands on a 5050. Kinda got over double knocks as well once I got paranoid about the springs busting out.
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Thanks. I designed my display box and had it built by a laser plastics company and a woodworker. My mass storage is an old medical slide file cabinet. One of which came from a local hospital and the others from eBay.
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Dude your collection of 925 limited’s got me started on mine. Don’t think I’ve seen this custom display you’re talking about - I’m assuming you’ve posted something about it?
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My mass storage is first with the custom display towards the end. This is from 5-7 years ago.
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Don’t say this about double knocks 
I do worry about the springs; I hope I don’t need to store them with threads undone to keep them in working order.
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I am enjoying The Toolbox™, but I still think large format file drawers are the ultimate answer—just the right depth for pencils, and a storage capacity of something like 200–300 pencils per drawer.
A big cabinet with 8–10 of these drawers would be ideal.
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Crickey, you guys have got some massive numbers. I topped out in the mid 700’s many years ago and am slowly working my way down to one pencil for each day of the year. It’s hard, slow going, but I’m not too far off.
I definitely enjoy my collection more now that it is “small” enough to fit in some storage drawers that I can easily access. Taking everything out of their original packaging and cases was one of the best things I ever did.
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Yes I know that feeling of being overwhelmed… hence my downsizing. Best of luck with your wall display.
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Love this, @Riley181! Question—did you buy the entire set of Pilot H-109X in a Mercari lot last year?
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No, I didn’t. I have had them for close to ten years. Bought them all on eBay for about $40 each.
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Incredible stuff! I balked on a $200 set of all 5 last year, and then it was gone the next morning (of course, while laying in bed, I had decided to purchase the next day).
Anyway, it’s exceedingly rare to see anything from the H-109X lineup, let alone an entire set of them! Yours look exceptional, too.
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Also, I should mention—I came across your pictures in 2021 (without knowing who you were), and your drawer setup was my primary inspiration in putting together The Toolbox™.
Also, your display cases are just next-level!
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