I would like to add that in some cases it is not wood in the traditional sense (i.e. “pure wood”) but a wood-based material. For example, the material used for the Pilot S20 consists of very thin layers of wood glued together with resin, and due to the special process the grain is preserved. The advantages of this material are higher strength and greater resistance to moisture and hand perspiration.
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Thank you for that confirmation, Gunther. Had you seen a video or some documentation regarding PILOT’s process for molding and shaping the wood used on the S20?
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Unfortunately I don’t have any illustrations or anything like that anymore, but Pilot used to have a few illustrations on their website but I can’t find them anymore.
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uni pencil holder UPH-8000 with uni F, Pentel GraphGear 500/0.4 with Japanese cedar barrel from Alina Pen Maker, uniball Zento Signature, LAMY safari vista ballpoint pen with uniball M17EF refill and STAEDTLER 925 25 03 with custom walnut barrel.
Of course I only want to show off my two new acquisitions, namely the Zento Signature and the uniball M17EF refill 
By the way, the barrel of the LAMY safari vista is terrible – there are two mold lines along the entire transparent barrel, and they feel very uncomfortable. I will return the pen.
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Lovely custom wood barrels! The Zento Signature is currently sold out in Singapore after the second restock. Had to put my name down on the waiting list for another silver that a friend wanted.
It’s a shame that Lamy has tolerated such obvious molding seams for so many years. I wonder if Mitsubishi will review their production QC? At least they have better ink inside now.
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The newman has some weight to it, I quite like it but the clip and the clicker both have lost gold the coating. I swapped the cap with pilot.
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I think you got the bad Safari. I have three Safari pencils and the seam is not noticeable on any of them. On a couple of Vista models (the model you show above), the seam line exists and can be noticed, but it is absolutely imperceptible to the touch, and on the Umbra model, it is not noticeable at all.
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Nice. Is that the Newman that recently sold on Mercari? (LINK) It was up for a few months until price dropped enough to sell. Looked very used from the original photos provided by the seller, which were later swapped out for different photos in the final listing.
There were 2 variations (at least, I have not seen sign of a 3rd or more). There’s the gold version that you got, and then a silver version. And yes, these were priced the same as that famous sought-after drafter model.
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I was happy to find also a white one on Mercari (although for around twice the usual price). – I don’t know what’s happening at LAMY. And the M16 refill is so poor …
Thank you for these details! That gives me hope – I will order another one.
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Yep, you got the right link, its that one. I could not tell from the photos that it was quite worn out. My luck with high end newmans has been bad so far. There was a printed black on chrome pattern model which looks like a capped mp(but is fixed) which I tried buying several times without success.
Next for me is to attempt the wooden barrel .5mm.
I want to get one with a nice price sticker still attached. Lets see how that pans out.
If the photos attached is from your collection, that is quite a good catch, with the perfect price tag! I think this monochrome version looks very nice.
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Yeah, in a way, that seller was disingenuous. In an earlier listing of that pencil, they had other photos in a different lighting that really showed off the wear. The later listing did not have that photo and the newer ones made it look better. Anyway, sorry that it turned out that way, but, given how prices have gone crazy… at least you have a user grade one for not much money compared to pristine listings, and you can put to use without worries. For comparison:
This is the one that I got a year ago:
That was a painful price, because… I had bought the gold furnished one back in 2019, for ¥6000! Even with the very poor exchange rate then, that came out to $63 USD plus shipping. The recent silver one I bought ended up being $156 USD, plus shipping. Ouch! My procrastination in not hunting down that one was met with that massive Newman spike. Back when I got the gold etched version, I knew right away this was a quality pencil. With my winning ¥6000 price, which wasn’t the lowest then either, further auctions went higher… some to ¥10k before the big spike. So that relative thinking had me holding out for a lower price… which never came.
Btw, the absolute lowest for those? Some went as low as ¥3000, way back in 2014. You can’t find those auctions any longer–they’ve rolled off the database. But I did grab a snapshot of this one:
I have too much curiosity of the past… and while it’s fascinating for noting price trends, it’s also really painful seeing how those prices compare to today. There’s some extreme examples, too… like on a ¥500 Newman color drafter that used to sell for around its sticker price, that then spiked up to insane values like ¥40k! It’s just so crazy how market valuations have changed.
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I have both the pen and the pencil safari and the seam is noticeable.
To be honest, these are my first two Lamy and I very much dislike both of them.
The weight, the click, the way it feels in my hand. I bought both with high hopes. I am very disappointed.
I’ll probably put them on eBay $30 for the pair and see what happens.
The Zebra Delguard though? (As if you were asking, I’m going to tell you anyway)
The Delguard is awesome. The base standard Delguard is the best, the LX is ok.
The technology is very smart. I LOVE the 0.3 that I have. It’s a green LX so I will shortly buy the base model to replace it if I can pick a color I like, but I can actually use the 0.3 very easily and I enjoy the experience of the pencil.
I think Zebra is the cats pajamas more recently, they’re definitely on to something.
The Lift is nice—never seen one before!
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Me too. Reminds me of Rhodia.
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is this the same pencil? Worth the $$?
“…It is recommended not only for professional designers and engineers, but also for high school and junior high school students who love stationery.…” 
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Same pencil. Worth the ¥2500 imho. Fully metallic (didn’t check inside yet). Even does that cushioned lead trick like the PU171. It is very similar to the Platinum in fact but it’s not the same pencil. The Kitera is slightly shorter and has a ø 8mm body whereas the body of the PU is around ø 10mm.
Maybe Kitera is a sub-brand of Platinum, idk. The type used in the packaging is similar.
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Okay, maybe the eraser cap is in plastic. I don’t have it here with me right now.
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Hi I’m new here (although I’ve been lurking for a while). I don’t use mechanical pencils that often (I’m mostly a multipen user, first attracted here by a long Zebra Sharbo thread) but I’ve always liked them. Today I’m using this pairing:
I really like the fact that they are so different despite using an identical colour scheme.
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