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Japanese Overdesign FTW: This Dual-Spring Mechanical Pencil Tip Prevents You From Accidentally Breaking Leads

The Zebra DelGuard has a heavily-engineered and brilliant design

By Rain Noe - January 5, 2018

in Object Culture

I'm in the process of making another dovetailed box, this one to hold some diamond sharpening plates. I do all of my marking with a knife, but I still need to drag a pencil line along the cut to see it. I got tired of sharpening pencils so I picked up a mechanical one some months ago. These are the tools I use to mark, listed from left to right:

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Veritas shop knife - This was an impulse purchase. I just got it and have barely used it, so I'm not sure if it was a good buy or not. I ordered it because the blade can be sharpened, unlike my main marking knife, the DeWalt below.

DeWalt fixed blade utility knife - Not intended for woodworking but works well enough. I don't like that the blades are disposable, but this thing allows you to really bear down on the cut, like when you're trying to clean out the corners of a chiseled joint.

SumoGrip 0.7mm mechanical pencil - I grabbed this because it was what my local art supply store had on hand.

Pentel 0.7mm lead refills (HB) - I go through more of these than I'd like, which leads me to the point of this entry:

On "clumsy days" I seem to break pencil leads more than I mark with them. This is irritating and wasteful, and breaks my momentum when I have to stop, disassemble the pencil, fish out a new lead from the container, load it and re-assemble the pencil.

That's why I'm going to pick up one of these:

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Zebra Del Guard Mechanical Pencil, 0.7mm

This brilliant Japanese design has a clever system of springs and a floating tip that prevents you from accidentally snapping the lead. Check out how it works:

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All of that engineering, and it's cheaper than the SumoGrip! Wish I'd known about this one first.

o

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Juan Cano

6 years ago

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Got it!!! You really can't break the lead! It's not the nicest looking or most ergonomic, but I'll be darned, you can't break the lead!!

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Trev Findley

6 years ago

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For me the Pentel GraphGear 1000 is still the high water mark of mechanical pencil design. I do keep an eye out for alternatives (many of which far exceed the Pentel's modest price), but I've yet to see anything that (for me) comes close. Admittedly it doesn't have spring protection, but you can retract the end into the body for transport, which is a genuinely useful feature.

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Juan Cano

6 years ago

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Just ordered one, and also ordered one of the ones that the lead rotates to keep the tip pointy. I use the Alvin Draftmatic 0.5mm and don't have many issues with the tip breaking.

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