Uni-ball Kuru Toga
The Kuru Toga is a self-sharpening mechanical pencil that solves a problem that's inherent with normal mechanical pencils. After just a couple of lines of writing with a typical mechanical pencil, the lead becomes a blunt irregular chisel shape, leading to clumsier and more smeary writing. Experienced pencil users try to counteract this by rotating their pencil every few words, a tactic that works very imperfectly.
The Kuru Toga, however, writes as precisely and evenly as a high quality gel pen by automatically counteracting this problem. An internal ratchet mechanism rotates the lead minutely with every stroke you make, constantly sharpening and rounding the lead against the paper. The resulting writing is noticeably more legible and can be much finer than with a standard pencil - ideal for tasks like coding, diagramming, annotating and general note taking.
The Kuro Toga is not retractable, but it is highly ergonomic, and my 0.5mm specimen (the Kuru Toga also comes in 0.3mm) seems never to suffer from broken leads (I've used both HB and 2B leads). Looking at my notebooks, I've written about 150 A4 pages with about 30,000 words and diagrams. No sign of wear. It's surprisingly cheap for being the best pencil I've ever found.
-- Jonathan Coupe
Uni-ball Kuru Toga
$7
(black - 0.5mm)
Previously available from JetPens.com and Jstationary.com*
Other colors and 0.3mm also previously from JetPens.com
Manufactured by Mitsubishi Pencil Co., Ltd.
*this item is and out of stock, frequently
Favorite (15)
Michael Gardner
I'm always looking for a good/better pencil and so went to check on availability and shipping costs. Looks like the pencil is sold out for now in all colors and sizes. Too bad. Would have made a nice stocking stuffer!
dowdyism
This is a great pencil - I have the 0.3mm black barrel version. I still need to review it though.
www.penaddict.com
Bryan
I grabbed one on eBay after reading this... 0.3mm black. This thing stays consistantly sharp and is amazing. The only draw back is that there is a slight drag on the strokes, but this is okay with me because I don't have to constantly rotate the pencil when writing. Thanks Cool Tools!
Amanda
Thanks for the eBay tip, just purchased a .5 green barrel for less than JetPens would have charged. The seller's name is "winningpen."
Davo
I got tired of waiting for JetPens to restock the "kuru toga" pencil. It seems they are not sold anywhere else in the US. I finally found them on ebay for $7 plus $2 shipping charges. After spending hours over a drafting table and paying up to $40 for pencils to make the task more comfortable, the "kuru toga" is the finest writing instrument I have ever used.
Claire
Jstatiionery.com also has the Kuru Toga pencils.
I've been pretty pleased with mine. I mostly use pencils for doing puzzles these days, and Bryan's comment about the drag made me wonder whether there would be an issue with the newsprint, but it actually seems to be as smooth as most other pencils and does, indeed, stay more readable over time.
I'm not completely thrilled with the form factor of the pencil -- in particular, it's hard plastic all the way, and a bit wider than a standard pencil. It would probably be nicer if it had some grippy gel where your fingers touch it, but it's still quite usable.
Steven Leckart
@Claire, thanks for letting us know. I've added the link. FYI, Jstationary.com says "in stock soon." Sounds like supplies are limited...
Tokyo Pen Shop
We carry these over at www.tokyopenshop.com and we love them. There are still some in stock!
fred
.18 signo pens are also interesting:)
too bad this stuff is all import
fred
add the .18 uniball signo type pen as well:) japan has all the neat pens/pencils. we have to import:(
Simon
This website also carry these pencils too:
http://www.stationeryart.com
John Miller
Tried to get these last year as stocking stuffers but were sold out so put our name on their waiting list, which is a waste of time, as they came in sometime this year and no notice was sent. Ordered an extra one to "test drive" and have found it to be just as they say. Read where the erasers do not last very long so ordered extras unless, of course, you don't have the need for them.