I do a reasonable amount of sketching and writing with pencils, and over the past six months or so I have become a fan of a very ingenious pencil from Uni. It is the Kuru Toga. Using a clever ratcheting clutch mechanism, the lead is rotated a few degrees every time the pencil contacts the paper. This means that writing edge of the lead is always sharp, removing the need to rotate the whole pencil in one’s hand.

In the past I have used the basic Uni Kuru Toga, which is plastic-bodied and (in my opinion) has an ineffective grip. I have circumvented the grip issue by adding an extra rubber grip around the pencil, but when I saw the metal ‘Roulette’ model (complete with knurled grip) I just had to buy one…

Here is the new ‘Roulette’ pencil next to my original Kuru Toga:

The construction is very solid and the weight in the hand feels about right. The knurled grip is great too – a big improvement over the slippery rubber of the last one.

As you might expect, there’s also a metal pocket clip and a tiny (black!) eraser at the other end:

A very nice pencil indeed, especially since they can be bought on eBay (from Japan) for only a little over £10.