Pens and Pencils

[mikeylikey]

What are your favorite types of Pencils/Pens??

I like the black warrior variety of pencil, and will always be a fan of the standard rollerball blue Bic, but use a Cross pen on occasion! 

You??

[mynetdude]

I use whatever I can pick up, pens only though no markers and no snot on them either. 

I used to have a pen that my mom bought me from the smithsonian that had the pressurized ink cartridge so you could write upside down or in low gravity situations.  At least here on Earth it was for writing upside down or on the walls because normal pens don't always work well sideways on the wall

Now I use my fingers to write (typing) more than I use a pen, but I have my own set of colored pens or if I don't have anything on hand like I said above anything I an pick up and trail around with me throughout the hangar.

[baronet68]

Pen: Parker Jotter

Pencil: Almost any mechanical 0.9mm

[♠SARKID♠]

Pen: Zebra F301 ballpoing
http://www.staples.com/sbd/img/cat/enl/s0134444_enl.jpg
Write very well and are about 3/4 the length of a regular pen so they fit in shallow pockets very well.

Pencil
Flexible Pencils
I have a tendency to snap my pencils when I fidget with them/get mad, so the flexies are nice

[Eeyore]

Fisher space pen or BIC Atlantis.

Don't really use pencils.

[Tubacap]

Turkal, I'm with you. I love my F-301.  In fact I have one for every uniform and every desk that I have.  I was recently accused (jokingly) of stealing the NG recruiters pen at a meeting.  I bought him a set because he saved my butt by giving my cadets a tour of the facility when the Army recruiter backed out!

[jimmydeanno]

I'm a Pilot G-2, blue, .5mm kind of guy.

For pencils, I prefer the standard bic mechanical .5 mm.

[Al Sayre]

Pens: Anything that writes and is free, lately been using Pilot G-2 0.5mm.

Pencils: I hate wooden pencils, I prefer any mechanical, 0.5 mm HB/#2 lead.

[Pylon]

My Everyday Pen:  Mont Blanc "Noblesse Oblige" rollerball.

Mont Blanc's are the best investment in a pen you can make.

[Eclipse]

Fisher space pen or BIC Atlantis.
Don't really use pencils.

Ditto - with the stylus tip for the PDA...

[jeders]

Pencil: Zebra M301 .5mm. Don't like anything bigger than .5mm because it feels like i'm using a crayon.

Pen: Usually whatever I can get my hands on but I have a Zebra F301 in my flight suit.

[CadetProgramGuy]

You know a while ago I read an article that NASA spent 5 million dollars to get a writing stick that astronauts could use in space.  They came up with a pen that is pressurized and can write at any angle.

The Russian space agency solved it by spending only $.39.  They bought a pencil.....

[Pylon]

You know a while ago I read an article that NASA spent 5 million dollars to get a writing stick that astronauts could use in space.  They came up with a pen that is pressurized and can write at any angle.

The Russian space agency solved it by spending only $.39.  They bought a pencil.....

Not true on the money NASA spent for the space pen.  It was developed by a private company, not at government expense.

[James Shaw]

I only use fountain pens. Do not like rollerball pens. Have about a 12 different kinds of fountain pens. I like Cross and Penatia (off brand of Cross), and prefer fine tip to wide. Prefilled cartridges and no mess.

I do alot of design work and use Pentel mechanical pencil. Different points for different jobs.

[Psicorp]

I've been using the Staples brand gel pens.  I love gel ink.

Never really used pencils other then for college classes.  I've been keeping a stock pile of 0.5mm lead since I started back in Jan.

[ricecakecm]

Whatever I stole from the Hotel or FBO.

[Walkman]

I'm picky about my pencils since I draw and sketch a lot for work. I'm either drawing an illustration for a client or roughing out a design layout. What drives me nuts about most pencils is that most of them erase like crap, which for my line of work is a big deal.

I use ONLY Dixon Ticonderoga 1388-S/HB pencils at my office. Clean line, stays sharp and erases completely.

[Eclipse]

You know a while ago I read an article that NASA spent 5 million dollars to get a writing stick that astronauts could use in space.  They came up with a pen that is pressurized and can write at any angle.

The Russian space agency solved it by spending only $.39.  They bought a pencil.....

Not true on the money NASA spent for the space pen.  It was developed by a private company, not at government expense.

Correct, another wives tale shot down:

Fisher spent over one million dollars in trying to perfect the ball point pen before he made his first successful pressurized pens in 1965. Samples were immediately sent to Dr. Robert Gilruth, Manager of the Houston Space Center, where they were thoroughly tested and approved for use in Space in September 1965. In December 1967 he sold 400 Fisher Space Pens to NASA for $2.95 each.

Lead pencils were used on all Mercury and Gemini space flights and all Russian space flights prior to 1968. Fisher Space Pens are more dependable than lead pencils and cannot create the hazard of a broken piece of lead floating through the gravity-less atmosphere.

Wikipedia article on the Space Pen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen

As someone who is a long-time "pen snob", and went through lots and lots of options, , including many multi-pens and stylus combos, (Palm user since '93), the above bullet is the only thin that has "stuck", and
that includes reglaurly being wash in my uniforms.  :-)

[flynd94]

Whatever I stole from the Hotel or FBO.

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner.   I have a nice collection of hotel pens going.  How else can I afford them on 1st yr First Officer pay.

[notaNCO forever]

Whatever I stole from the Hotel or FBO.

The only way to do it.

[ammotrucker]

I like the Zebra F402 soft pen

[dwb]

I write in pencil, because things always change. 

I have a Fisher bullet space pen for when I'm in uniform (nice and small, so it fits in my hip pocket).

I do most of my writing in pencil, though.  Years and years of math and science courses (not to mention my current line of work) have done two things to my writing: 1. I don't remember how to write cursive, and 2. I almost always write in pencil.

I use pen when I write on my hand, though, which is an unfortunate habit I've picked up from co-workers ("I never lost my hand").

[jimmydeanno]

A few months ago work gave THESE PENS out to all 900 of our employees.

They really have good weight to them and write really smooth.  I like it.  I've been using it to sign certificates and such at CAP.  Of course the rest of the time, it just sits in it's box because I don't want to lose it, or have it walk away...

I suppose it's like owning a Ferrari and not driving it because you don't want to get it scratched...

[BigMojo]

I use ONLY Dixon Ticonderoga 1388-S/HB pencils at my office. Clean line, stays sharp and erases completely.

And this my friends is a true designer! (By the way, my desk drawer is full of that exact same model...right next to my stock of white gum erasers.)

[Michael]

I tried a Parker Jotter with some Christmas cash.  They write nice, but, I didn't like the amount of value put into a writing instrument.  I like the idea of pens and pencils being easily replaced, borrowed, given, dropped, lost, etc.

I like the regular Papermate classic pencils.  More bio-degradeable if you drop it in the field, can be sharpened with simply a knife, and doesn't bleed!  They are also acceptable for writing on sheet music. (I play trombone)

As for pens, anything that is relatively smooth and doesn't bleed or show through on the other side of loose leaf.  Bic ClicStic is the ideal one for me.

[tjaxe]

Pen AND pencil: The Cross Tech3 which can flip from a black ink to a red ink pen and also to a pencil.  I thought it was going to be like one of those old-fashioned "click the color you want" fat pens but I like the look, practicality, and weight of it.  And as a sometimes editor I LOVE the red ink! 

[mikeylikey]

^ I got that for Christmas, and love it!  I have never been more impressed with a Cross Pen than I was with that!

[♠SARKID♠]

I used to have this really great pen.  It had black ink, red ink, orange gel ink, and a mechanical pencil, and was no wider than that Cross Tech3.  Near the plunger was writing showing the different writing tips.  The tips were gravity selected, so whichever word was facing upwards when you hit the plunger was the one that got selected.  I lost that pen about a week after I got it (never buy an expensive pen for a 5th grader...)

I also forgot to mention my other favorite pen.  The Cross Classic Century 10K Gold Pen - I found one of these things at work one day and fell in love with it...then lost it...found it when i realized my DCoC picked it up...and have since lost it again...

[tjaxe]

^ Sounds like you need to stick to a Bic for a while SARKID!   

[mynetdude]

I'm kinda like sarkid, I lose everything... between $20-$50 bills (it has happened on a number of occassions, not often).  I'm notorious for losing pens left and right, I have lost other things and today I just lost someone else's valuable so now I gotta look at replacing it (or hope wherever I dropped it is still there if I think its still there when I get there tomorrow).

[Michael]

Like anything, I like pencils and pens that are made domestically, or at least not in a sweatshop.  Papermate usually comes through for me.