Hello friends two question please
1.- Regarding the noise produced by lead on paper, what are the quietest mechanical pencils you know?
2.- What mechanical pencils do you know that do not have anything printed on the body? (may have engraved or embossed text, for example PD335 QC)
Most of the Pentel S15/19 don’t have anything on the body. The clip does have some thing impressed/engraved on them. Early S5/7/9s, ML5, P505s also. So actually many Pentel pencils are like that. There are too many to list.
The early P325/7/9 do not have anything on the barrels except molded into the cutout.
I think your first question mostly doesn’t have much to do with the pencil - it’s the lead that counts. In general softer and smaller diameter (smaller contact area) lead will be less noisy. It also shouldn’t be too sharp - sharp edges make more noise. The pencil does matter a little in that it should be able to handle smaller softer lead.
I would try the Orenz Nero in 0.2 or 0.3 with HB/2B leads. For lead brands, I would recommend the Pilot Neox. I find them to be the smoothest in comparison to other major brands.
Try this, put the same lead in a small variety of randomly chosen pencils, write with each one, and you’ll notice that the volume of sound is different.
I don’t think I can answer about noise, since I don’t mind it at all. I do prefer “muted” noises to “metallic” noises if that makes sense. Parts rattling around are quite annoying. I always liked how the Pentel Kerry sounds with a soft lead.
You can modify pencils to make them less noisy. If the clicker is rattling around, you can wrap one or two layers of cello tape to improve the fit. If I had to take a wild guess, I’d say that thinner materials would lead to higher pitch noises, while thicker ones lead to lower pitch ones. If you write on a notebook instead of a single sheet of paper, the noise should be reduced considerably since most comes from the lead hitting a hard surface.
About text on the pens, I’m not sure if you want to modify them but you can easily erase printed text on any plastic. Acetone/nail polish will wipe any print almost instantly. Beware, some plastics get damaged by doing this. A less intrusive method, but more time consuming, is rubbing it off with an eraser. It takes more time and if the print is hard to remove it may not come off at all, but that’s another option.
Yes, the Kerry is in the group of quiet pencils (note that we are referring to the noise that is produced when the lead rubs against the paper, always using the same lead in each pencil, in our case we have Pentel Hi Polymer 100 2B 0.5 in every tested pencils). If you put in a Techniclick (PD105) the same lead that you used in the Kerry, for example, the volume of noise increases remarkably. To illustrate with three similar pencils, the PD335 is quieter than the Berol SK-5, which in turn is quieter than the PD105 (all of them are side button plastic pencils).
A well balanced, good grip and quiet pencil is a rare and lucky find (in a zombie apocalypse you don’t want to get caught for making noise while writing).
@First_Sail, I can’t answer your question, but I can see that you’re already knowledgeable about quiet pencils and am hoping you’d be willing to share some of it with me.
In addition to/besides the Pentel Kerry, what other pencils would be considered “quiet” pencils? The sound of pencil on paper is bothersome for my kid. I’ve gotten different paper (Rhodia paper) which helps with the sound, but we can’t always pick the paper that’s going to be written on. Any recommendations about pencils and/or lead that we should check out (mechanical or otherwise) would be greatly appreciated.
ETA: It would be great if the recommendations are still being manufactured today or are otherwise easily accessible (and affordable).
@First_Sail - Hi. From my experience producing art, both on canvas and paper, I’d say there are two factors responsible for noise. One is the paper’s weight, the thickness of the paper—it has a significant impact. And the second, and no less important, is the type of graphite used. F-scale graphites tend to be hard by default, which causes a lot of friction on the paper. On the other hand, H-scale graphites are softer. Therefore, there’s less friction on the paper, which causes much less noise when the pencil tip slides across it.
The first one I remember that fits that description is the Pentel Graph 1000 x pro, which is quiet with any lead hardness. Incidentally, the click of this pencil is also quite quiet and has a neutral tone. The Kerry is highly recommended for writing at night without being heard. If you have the opportunity, get a Pentel ML5. Discontinued but easily available.
edit: Well, I just saw the prices for an ML5 on eBay and they’re sky-high, people are crazy.
Yes, that’s right. Paper and lead are the elements that produce sound when they rub together. What I’ve noticed is that when I did a test, using the same type of paper and the same lead in each pencil (of the same brand and the same hardness, for example, all the pencils with Pentel HI-POLYMER 100 2b), the sound changes with each pencil (each model, of course). Some produce a louder sound than others, in addition to their own timbre. I’ve thought about the bodies of some pencils acting as a resonating box that couples with the vibration of the lead. Of course, we want to choose the ones that make the least noise, as inaudible as possible. It’s no coincidence that the quietest pencils have a more fluid and solid stroke; you can feel the pencil glide more easily over the paper in your hand, like a fountain pen.
Thank you so much for your helpful reply. I really appreciate it!
ETA: Is a wider/thicker lead ( like 7mm or 9mm) better than a thinner lead (like 5mm), or is it more about the hardness of the lead and the lead holder, @First_Sail ?
The link directs to .7mm but on the same page several lead thicknesses are available, including 0.5mm and the famous 0.4mm.
I would say that the pencil has more influence than the lead.
Another two quiet pencils: Parker Jotter, Tombow Mono graph zero.
Thank you so much for your willingness to share your knowledge. I really appreciate it!
I am by no means an expert, but wanted to follow up to let folks know what my kid ended up preferring (we’ve tested various mechanical pencils and leads).
Of the standard/nonmechanical pencils, we tried:
All of those were a bust, but if need be, the Ticonderoga was the best tolerated.
In terms of mechanical pencils, we tried:
The first three were tried before I came to the forum. If he had to use a pencil, he preferred the regular Papermate 0.7 to the others. But any pen was always hugely preferred over any pencil.
I underestimated how much the hand-feel mattered to my kid before we even got to the noise level of the lead. After holding the two Pentels and the TWSBI, they were all nixed, without a word being written.
The Tombow Mono Work was his clear favorite in hand, followed by the Uni-Ball 207. I think that he preferred the larger diameter of these.
Then we came to the leads. We tried:
He liked the leads that came with the Tombow and Uni-ball as well as the Pentel Super Hi-Polymer. Yay! He did not like the Uni Smudge-Proof (which I guess is not what’s in the Uni-ball 207, or the difference between B and HB makes a difference to him in the opposite way that I thought it would have). Nor did he like either Pentel Ain Lead, though I think it ranked higher than the Uni Smudge-Proof. I then took out some old 1.3mm leads I had purchased from Amazon as spares for the Papermate Handwriting pencils (Bild and June Gold). To my happy surprise, he liked those, too!
So the only thing I figured out with my kid was that a larger diameter utensil was preferred, that the extra smoothness of a B over an HB was either nonexistent or that my son prefers the ever so slight difference in feedback of an HB, and that the larger lead sizes generally met with his approval (whether it’s the size that was preferred or that once leads get to that diameter they have much more similar characteristics than smaller size leads).
Thank you very much, @First_Sail, for setting us in the direction of the Tombow Mono and the Pentel Super Hi-Polymer lead. Your help has very much been appreciated!