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Your advice needed.

stiofanpadraigcrafts

stiofanpadraigcrafts

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Sep 13, 2015
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donegal
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stephen
Hi everyone, I've been asked to make a pen and pencil kit for my nephew. I don't make many pencils so am looking for your advice on which kit to go for. The only one i make regularly is the sketch pencil but this is too large for the purpose. I find the slimline pencils not great and unreliable. Let me know what you think.
 
M

Midnight_Turner

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Jun 10, 2016
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Sutton in Ashfield nr Mansfield
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Miles
stiofanpadraigcrafts said:
Hi everyone, I've been asked to make a pen and pencil kit for my nephew. I don't make many pencils so am looking for your advice on which kit to go for. The only one i make regularly is the sketch pencil but this is too large for the purpose. I find the slimline pencils not great and unreliable. Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

Dave G does a Sierra Pencil kit which is really nice Sierra Pencil Kits - Penkitzandbitz



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Bucks

Bucks

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Our very own Phil@Beaufort Ink sells mechanical pencil refills that would replace the refills in a lot of the pen kits that take Parker style Refills, so you could possibly convert a pen kit to mechanical pencil, I'm sure Phil will be along sometime to shed a bit more light on this:thinks:
 
Phil Dart

Phil Dart

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It depends how much you want to spend on your nephew Stephen - you tend to get what you pay for in a pencil kit in terms of quality.

There are a few matching pen/pencil sets out there, a couple of which have been mentioned. The Beaufort pencil insert that Paul is referring to is the same insert that comes with the Mistral pencil, and it will serve in a lot of parker refill type ballpoint kits as a conversion. You need to make sure that the tip of it doesn't protrude too much through the nib section of the kit, (generally speaking, the only way you will find that out is by trying it) and if it's OK, careful trimming of the black stalk at the end of the insert will allow it to convert a pen kit to a pencil. There is a choice of either 0.7mm or 0.5mm leads.

Pen kit spares

Another alternative would be a Mistral pen and a Mistral pencil, but you might not want to pay that much.

Beaufort Mistral high end pen kits.
 
stiofanpadraigcrafts

stiofanpadraigcrafts

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Posts
408
Location
donegal
First Name
stephen
Phil Dart said:
It depends how much you want to spend on your nephew Stephen - you tend to get what you pay for in a pencil kit in terms of quality.

There are a few matching pen/pencil sets out there, a couple of which have been mentioned. The Beaufort pencil insert that Paul is referring to is the same insert that comes with the Mistral pencil, and it will serve in a lot of parker refill type ballpoint kits as a conversion. You need to make sure that the tip of it doesn't protrude too much through the nib section of the kit, (generally speaking, the only way you will find that out is by trying it) and if it's OK, careful trimming of the black stalk at the end of the insert will allow it to convert a pen kit to a pencil. There is a choice of either 0.7mm or 0.5mm leads.

Pen kit spares

Another alternative would be a Mistral pen and a Mistral pencil, but you might not want to pay that much.

Beaufort Mistral high end pen kits.
Click to expand...

Hi Phil, if it was me paying for it i would be using the mistral set but it's my sister buying it because he graduated. she liked the look of the epsilon kit but i knew there wasn't a matching pencil for it. I think the irish finial swung it for her. Would your conversion for the pencil work in that or is it only push button models?
 
Bucks

Bucks

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stiofanpadraigcrafts said:
Hi Phil, Would your conversion for the pencil work in that or is it only push button models?
Click to expand...

It works on the twist pens!
I just turned a pair of psi executives yesterday & converted one to a mechanical pencil using Beauforts converter, you just turn the twist mechanism to extend the lead, then turn it back to lock it. So pretty much one turn clockwise & then turn anti-clockwise pushes the mechanism one click! Hope I've explained this well enough (I'm not very good at explaining things lol)

Edit: I'm just about to post a photo of the set on the forum
 
Graham_C

Graham_C

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Tywyn
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The Beaufort pencil mechanism is excellent :thumbs: The inly other mechanism I have tried was a slimline and it was very poor indeed. So bad that I have only made one of the 5 I bought :sob:
 
G

Gregory Hardy

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Jul 7, 2017
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Upper New York State
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Greg
The converter seems to be the way to go. I have not had good luck with Slimlines over the long haul - mechanisms seem to wear out. I am going to try a converter and then a better pen set to convert. Good luck on your quest.
 
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