Are you a pencil user?

I rarely use pencils, but I do have some in my desk. My sharpener is an old one, like the ones used for eyeliner, a little box looking thing with a place to insert the pencil; no crank, never had an electric one.

I use pencils when I want to be able to erase.

My grandma used to use pencils for everything. All the notes she jotted down. Things she would never have to worry about erasing, but still opted for pencil. I wonder why she chose pencil? She did teach and later was a counselor in the public school system. I think of school as using pencil. Also, my grandfather was an artist, and pen just was not a normal thing to see in their apartment. Paint, pencil, pastels, charcoal, not pen. I never had really thought about it until this question.

Yes, I’m a pencil user. I actually have both a pen and pencil fetish. I prefer mechanical pencils but I like plain old wooden pencils too, particularly a nice new one with a functioning eraser. I also have a hand crank pencil sharpener mounted to the wall across from my washer and dryer. It’s the kind with a dial that allows you to adjust it for different pencil diameters. It’s pretty much been there forever.

I love pencils. In fact, I love very specific pencils. They’re triangular, are “soft” to the touch, and very, very black. I keep several in my pencil cup on my desk, along with my favorite pens. My pencil sharpener is just a mini-plastic one, like you used to carry around in school.

I don’t use my pencils every day, because I prefer writing with my fine point pens. I use the pencils to sketch and doodle. I’d be really sad if I didn’t have a good supply of both.

Just for sketching, not the broken ones though, that would be pointless!

I love pencils. I do a lot of drawing, though, so I always have a ton of pencils nearby.

Pens are my most often used writing utensil, even in my dreams books where, now that I think of it, being able to erase would be extremely handy.
Pencils however, when sharpened to a medium to extra sharp point, have a sound when touched to paper that makes my metaphorical tail waggle to the point of falling off.
It works best when I’m not the one using it though, which is why I enjoy watching other people draw, and just do art in general. Creativity in motion is a fascinating thing to watch.

I love pencils! I love the feel of writing with pencils, I like being able to edit with pencils hooray for erasers! and I do crosswords so pencils are a must in my house. They are everywhere in my house.

I do have a drawer in my desk reserved only for pencils, pencil sharpeners and erasers

I use mechanical pencils. No sharpening ever.

I like sharpening. I find it oddly soothing. Electric sometimes, rotary sometimes.

I like sharpening pencils, also. I do not own an electric sharpener, but they are fun.

Sharpening weenies. :)

Mech pencil weenie! :-)

I don’t like the pencils you don’t need to sharpen, because the point is always too fine for me. Unless they have fat ones I don’t know about.

I don’t like mechanical pencils because they squeak.

No no, @ANef_is_Enuf , you’re thinking of mechanical mice. It’s OK, I often confuse the two myself. ;-D

@Unsophisticated mech pencil weenie. They have different sized leads if size matters that much to you. :)

@Adirondackwannabe : Oh, you didn’t just go there! XD

@JLeslie Jill called me on that. That was in jest. I’m in a real dangerous mood this AM.

I love pencils. I’d rather use a pencil in my exams than a freakin’ pen! But that’s just me..

I keep two mechanical pencils on my bed for solving Sudoku puzzles in the daily newspaper. (Crosswords I do in ink, but not Sudoku.)

I keep a wooden pencil on my desk at work because I actually use it from time to time, and because I like to make noise with the automatic sharpener sometimes.

Yeah, I’m a singer! Don’t you dare let a pen get near a score!

Oh hell yes. I make too many mistakes to use pens. Plus, drawing. Plus a general love for pencils. I have an electrical sharpener in my bedroom.

Sudoko, I agree must be done on pencil. Now I have it on my iPad.

We rescued the manual pencil sharpener we grew up with when we recently dismantled my mother’s apartment. One of my baby brother’s few weekly chores was to sharpen all the pencils in the house, which he did in a very slap-dash manner.

I have the same old-fashioned crank model in my garage, installed in 1986. Occasionally I sharpen an eyebrow pencil.

I use #2 pencils all the time (particularly for xword puzzles). I also like the mechanical pencils with the very thin lead. Similar to a fine-line sharpie, they seem to make it easier to write neatly.

And the shavings are good compost. Ten years of shavings will really put some zip into a tomato plant.

(I forgot the little hand sharpened that goes into a kid’s book bag. I have one at each desk, to use when I am too lazy to walk to the garage and crank.)

Oh, I love writing utensils of all kinds (with the exception of the highlighters which I theoretically love but have never moved one into my pencil bag.) I use the Dixon 2/HB Soft pencils to take notes in textbooks that aren’t quite as important. I prefer using a pencil to draft papers over pens (because pens are editing tools.) And since I used to fancy myself a doodler, I owned quite a few pencils and coloured pencils for sketching. When I am not using a mechanical pencil, I sharpen my utensils with an automatic pencil sharpener that sits on my desk.

Aesthetically speaking, I find that I am able to find more cutesy pencils and mechanical pencils than pens. The cutesy pens don’t write any where near as well as regular ones.

At work, I exclusively use pens. Usually green ones.

@Jeruba: In fact, I just sharpened two pencils in your honor. Luckily, I say. There, on the garage floor was a teeny dead baby mouse (with a small piece missing).

@Jeruba : Sometimes the simplest things are the best. Thanks for this Q.

I use pencil when I must be able to erase: marking music, drawing, making lines for text alignment on a flyer or poster. I have a tiny sharpener I carry around. I like to sharpen drawing pencils with a knife.
Otherwise, I use ink because it is easier to see. I use ink on crosswords and sudokus. I like using ink better. I like the feel of using it. Pencil feels more hesitant, to me.

I use pencils for drawing, but not for writing.

And how can we forget the wonderful feeling of teeth sinking into that soft wood; chewing on a pencil is almost as satisfying as worrying beads.

@gailcalled I never gnawed on pencils or pens. Instead, my poor fingers would get bitten!

I never gnawed on anything. Well, never is too absolute, but I did not have the oral fixation so many others seem too.

I gnawed on pencils.

I use my fountain pen to write and pull out my pencils only when I sketch.
In general I don’t like the impermanence of pencils.

it’s a bit of a squash, but i can even sudoku with my pen

All my used pencils have teeth marks. I don’t gnaw them. I just hold them gently but firmly while my hands are busy with something else for the moment.

I was guilty of pencil abuse, though, during the first couple of months after I quit smoking..

I use pencils quite often.
I use pencils for jotting notes on recipes or in cookbooks.
I use a pencil when doing carpentry work, sometime a big flat carpenters pencil, sometimes a regular one.
I like a #2 Ticonderoga, but some others are nice too.
I like pencils with advertising on them and I have a shoebox full of those.
New pencils remind me of back to school times, September and going to the small local Rexall drug store for new school supplies.
I might get a new pencil box, or one of these. I have two of them in the desk drawer right beside me now. They have a little sharpener on them, I also use an old crank sharpener that is mounted on my laundry room wall.
I love pencils.

I don’t use a pencil all the time but I do enjoy it when I do use them…
And it really scares me that soon a real wooden pencil that you
sharpen will be extinct and all of them will be mechanical.
I want my grand kids and great grand kids to know what a
REAL pencil is. P.S. I love trees.