Tombow Mono KM-KKS 4B Pencil

First things first, I have no idea what KM-KKS stands for, but I certainly know what a Tombow Mono pencil is...

I first heard about these hard to find, mainly Japanese market versions of the Mono on The Erasable Podcast when they had the amazing Caroline Weaver of CW Pencil Enterprise on (also where I bought these so please go look at her store).  She had found these pencils in her recent travels to Japan and kindly brought some home to sell in her shop.  I quickly scooped up a half dozen of them as they looked good and sounded awesome.

The more common Tombow Mono 100 is sort of the "tuxedo" of pencils with black and white paint and a gold ring around the end cap.  Super sharp and one of my favorite pencils.

The KM-KKS 4B isn't quite as formal looking, but is a stunner too.  The overall scheme is of a nice deep blue, white band with "MONO" in big black letters, silver stamping (all in Japanese mostly), and finished off with a bright yellow end plug.  

Sharpening has been good with the core nicely centered and the point hasn't broken on me yet. The first thing I noticed was that it was extremely soft to write with.  Being a 4B I didn't expect anything less, but after only about 25 or 30 words I was already itching to sharpen again.  

Probably not the best for writing a novel with, but it is such a pleasant experience.

I mentioned the yellow end plug which polishes off he pencil nicely.  Personally, I've mentioned it before, but I appreciate a pencil without an eraser more.  It is cleaner looking.  From what Caroline mentioned on the podcast, erasers on pencils do seem to be more of something done for the American market.  Interesting....

As far as erasing goes, I tried to go your standard rubber eraser on the end of another pencil and it left a pretty strong amount of graphite in the page.  I've been using Doane Paper large writing pads which have a pretty porous paper (but are awesome for pencils), so the 4B in addition to that could be part of it.

As I mentioned, Caroline has these in stock so definitely check her site out if you were wanting to give them a go.  If they had a 2B (or B) readily available I'd be scooping some of those up too...

One 2 Ten TiScribe Titanium Pen - Pocket Sized

A newcomer to the machined pen world and currently on Kickstarter, the TiScribe pen by Kelvin Verrett of One 2 Ten CNC.  Kelvin was kind enough to send me one of the pocket sized versions (now called the pocket size as a "full sized" model was also unlocked) in titanium to try out.

One of the major design ideas in the TiScribe is the attempt to make the pen seamless in the barrel.  And a job well done!  The pen has a series of machined lines in the grip section that work to hide both the cap break point as well as the barrel break point.  

A little outside of the box thinking, but I think the seamless design could've gone a slight step further by making the cap and barrel the same diameter and chamfering the end of the cap into one of the grooves.  Then BOTH of the break points would be truly seamless.  Not a criticism at all, but just a thought.

The pen is machined beautifully and there aren't any finish issues that I found.  It feels good and it looks good.  

Capped the total pen clocks in at around 4.5" in length.  Uncapped, just around 4" in length and the cap of the pen does not post to add length.

4" is an ok length.  Does it feel maybe a smidge short in my hand?  Maybe a little.  I did a little bit of comparing to other pocket pens people use for length:

Fisher Space Pen Bullet - 5.25" posted
Kaweco AL Sport Rollerball - 5" posted
Schon DSGN Pen - 5 5/8" posted
TiScribe - 4"

Again, deal breaker?  Not really, but something to be mindful of.  I find the end of the pen to rest right into the fleshy part of my hand.  The pen is small so there isn't a balance issue, but just not having that added inch or so does make for a different feel.

The pocket pen also comes standard with the Pilot G2 mini but is also compatible with any Parker style refill.  There is included a small machined spacer that works with the Fisher Space Pen refill as long as you also use the three included rubber spacers (what I did).

The clip is machined from grade 5 titanium and is fastened in place with a single screw and a hidden pin that is meant to hold it steady.  My clip doesn't spin around, but there is some slight side to side movement of maybe 1 or 1.5mm.  The clip is held down with a small Phillips head screw, but I wonder if going hex may have allowed for a more snug clip?

Overall, there are a few little things that I might enjoy adjusted on the pen, but I really do think it is a solid addition to the machined pen lineup.  Very precise and well made and I know Kelvin put a lot of thought and attention into its creation.

The Kickstarter has just under two weeks left so definitely take a look if you're interested in pledging for his project.  Special thanks again to Kelvin for sending this sample my way!

Retro 1951 "Lift Off" Rollerball - WINNER!

Retro just keeps coming out with great stuff.  Another of their Popper line, the Flying Tiger arrived in my mailbox yesterday too...

Thanks to everyone for entering!  We had a good turn out of 185 entries.

And the "Lift Off" winner is J Bettis!

Congrats!  Connect with me via the Contact page with your details and I'll get your prize shipped out.  Thanks again everyone.