I've never been one to write things down by hand, generally preferring to use a word processor instead. But recently I've been wanting to improve my handwriting, and I've been reading that there appears to be some merit to the idea that taking physical notes improves retention of whatever you're trying to learn or remember.

All my life, I've used cheap pencils and pens, and never really gave it a second thought. A pencil is a pencil, a pen is a pen, it either works or it doesn't. But out of curiosity, I decided to get a 'nice' pencil. After a little research, I found constant references to one pencil in particular, one that is widely applicable, durable, simple in design, while also being affordable (I ain't about to drop big money on a pencil).

That pencil was The Pentel Sharp Kerry.

It's an elegant little sucker, with no wearing parts like a rubber grip that'll wear down or become sticky. It feels well engineered, and precisely made.

The lead sleeve (barrel?) is tight, allowing no wiggle room for the lead, preventing the snaps you'll find in a disposable Bic pencil.

It's not a big pencil, nor is it heavy. It'll fit in a shirt pocket (if you don't mind the stigma), or pack away easily in bag or folder.

But the star of the show;

Is the way it writes. It glides across the paper smoothly, consistently. Not as smoothly as a fountain pen (saving that for a future post... Yeah, I got a fountain pen too...🥺) but certainly the smoothest pencil I've ever used. EDIT: As @tal@lemmy.today mentioned in the comments, the smoothness is not unique to the pencil, it probably just came with a softer lead than I'm used to.

There's a little eraser under the clicker cap, which is also replaceable! It's not very broad, which actually makes it very useful for drawing, but if you make a lot of mistakes while writing (like I do!), than it may wear out faster than a broad one. But you can pull out the erasor from it's little cartridge to extend the life of it, and a box of replacements that'll last you years is pretty darn affordable.

A nice feature is the pen-like cap, which protects the pencil lead and barrel/sleeve thing when not in use. One review on amazon had a funny quip about it:

The cap prevents the biggest injury intellectuals face. That of self inflicted lead stabbings.

It clicks very satisfyingly onto the metal portion of the pencil on both ends to hold it in place.

So yeah, nice little pencil, and from what I've read there's not really any point in buying anything more expensive, this just does the job, and does it well.

But if you have your own preference of pencil that's BIFL material, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it, either in the comments of this post, or in a post of your own! ^^