Do you remember the first time you found out that Pilot had higher (and lower) grade versions of their H-108x series drafting pencils?
The lower H-58x had a plastic upper but basically the same features.
And the higher H-208x came with real wooden grain grips. No question, I wanted these right away but the sky high prices made me reconsider other priorities instead. After a while, I circled back and eventually got hold of the 0.3 and 0.5 in separate auctions / Mercari listings.
The pair are pictured here with their Pilot progeny, the resin embedded wood designs of the s20 series, amongst which I included a brown 0.5 refitted with a set of ‘normal use’ cone and knock that was produced between 2007 - 2009.
The colors in the first picture are just beautiful
Sadly, the H-208X series is a glaring hole in my collection. Some dude on YAJ is liquidating his specimens right now, and both the 2083 and 2085 look pristine. Sadly, he’s chosen not to let proxy bidders participate in his auctions, so it looks like this hole in my collection will remain.
With that said, I’m curious what you think of the “regular use” cone on the brown S20. I’ve seen that cone on some older Legnos, and I think I would probably like it.
The old Pilot Legno, I think, was released as the ‘executive’ version of the S20 series. I was curious but never intrigue by the Legno. Something about the design silhouette felt clumsy to me. The S20 just looked more elegant.
The ‘normal use’ tip is fine for 0.5mm. With modern polymer leads, it’s unlikely to break unless you extended too much lead. But… 0.3? Naaahhh…
Pilot actually made a couple of S3 pencils in 0.3 with the normal tip, but the finish is glossy chrome. Again, in my mind, “normal use = 0.5”, and “0.3 = drafting”. If you want to get a sense of how 0.3 or 0.5 feels in a similar tip, try a current gen Pilot Dr Grip.
