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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Fürst 5.6mm Leadholder

OK folks, here’s the second of Vikram’s guest articles.

Fürst 5.6mm Leadholder

The first thing I thought when I saw this leadholder for sale was, “That’s a huge lead!” and at 5.6mm, I have never seen one like it before. I bought it in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Germany, and like it very much.
furst 5.6mm lead versus 0.5mm lead
5.6mm lead versus 0.5mm

furst 5.6mm leadholder and pentel mp
The Fürst 5.6 is just what it says it is, a leadholder with 5.6mm lead. It has an all metal body which is pretty heavy but very suited to sketching, the only thing I would do with this leadholder. The octagonal body is good because it doesn’t roll off the table, but it also does not force any particular hand position. It kind of reminds me of those large diameter children’s’ pencils, like “My First Ticonderoga.”
furst 5.6mm leadholder
Furst 5.6mm Leadholder
Disassembly reveals an all-metal inner mechanism - quality at its finest! Country of origin is not stated, but I am assuming it is Germany.
furst 5.6mm leadholder clutch pencil disassembled

The supplied lead is fantastic - a very soft lead (2B according to the manufacturer’s website) that does not smear very easily. Up top, the pushbutton twists off to reveal a sharpener - convenient!

Overall, I would highly recommend this leadholder to anyone who sketches or draws - it is a great tool to have!

Pros: All metal body, solid feel, great soft lead, octagonal body, built in sharpener

Cons: None

Price: about USD $11.60, € 8,90

Thanks again Vikram. Hope you are happy with your week.
Dave.
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20 comments:

  1. HenrikThursday, 21 October, 2010

    Thanks - very good photos. When you sketch, you can always use another leadholder :-).

    And thanks for the link - the page also states that you can buy it in "magic" colour - I wonder what that is?
    BTW doesn't "Fürst" mean nobleman? It looks very "noble" ;-)
    regards Henrik

    ReplyDelete
  2. NikiraThursday, 21 October, 2010

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. NikiraThursday, 21 October, 2010

    I got Rosetta Da Vinci pencil recently on Ebay, $14, shorter than this one, compact, cool. Check it out here
    http://nikiraart.blogspot.com/

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  4. VikramThursday, 21 October, 2010

    I do believe that "Fuerst" means nobleman, and I do think that it looks noble. After all, it had a noble price as well...

    ReplyDelete
  5. razideThursday, 21 October, 2010

    Vikram,
    The Furst 5.6mm is a mightily impressive pencil.
    How hard is is to obtain replacement leads ?
    And what sort of grades are available apart from 2B.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousThursday, 21 October, 2010

    I have a couple of Koh-i-Noor Versatil 5347 5.6mm pencils but without a sharpener on the button. 5.6mm sharpeners are not easy to get hold of and they also go blunt very quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. B2-kunThursday, 21 October, 2010

    Pretty nice looking leadholder specially at that price point. Got a few 5.6 mm leadholders that certainly make for fine sketching tools when working in larger formats, so I tend to pick them up up whenever I come across them since they are pretty rare these days. Cretacolor 5.6 graphite drawing leads are available in 2B, 4B, and 6B plus charcoal, sepia, sanguine, and chalk options.

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  8. NikiraThursday, 21 October, 2010

    Also Blacksun leads in different grade. I have some, smooth.
    http://www.carreroart.com.au/shop/pdf/p&p_graphite.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousFriday, 22 October, 2010

    nearly identical to the koh-i-noor hardtmuth 'automatic' [5640]... automatic refers to the single click pencil advance (4mm a click) ...sharpeners there. But the actual clutch is hidden away more like a traditional mechanical pencil. The 2B lead is good, but the pencil is an odd size and apparently won't take either 4B or 6B as slightly too thin lacking the flexibility of the traditional clutch jaws.
    Mine is blue, silver available also, but afraid there is no 'magic' here, just a rather nice and slightly different leadholder (although not very different from this one obviously).
    [got mine from cult pens website. Please note that other stationary suppliers are available] RRP must be somewhere between £10-£12.

    as always cheers Dave and this time thank you Vikram too.
    Kieran

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  10. Time WasterFriday, 22 October, 2010

    I use carpenter pencils if I need a thick lead you get more resistance on the paper I tried some woodless pencils in HB and 2B and didn't care for em.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Michael J CorrySaturday, 23 October, 2010

    Woodless pencils are useful on big drawings.
    The kind that have paper wrappings are best - just break off a chunk and use it sideways like a pastel.

    ReplyDelete
  12. 2nd_astronautSaturday, 23 October, 2010

    "I do believe that "Fuerst" means nobleman" Yes, that's true. BTW, for all Nongermans: If you don't have äöüß on the keyboard, you should replace it with ae, oe, ue and ss (as Vikram did), then the pronunciation is correct...

    http://www.woerther.de/falluebersicht.html
    are other German 5.6mm pencils.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 2nd_astronautSaturday, 23 October, 2010

    link was wrong :-/
    only the models "Compact" and "Profil" are 5.6mm

    ReplyDelete
  14. PenmaniacsSaturday, 23 October, 2010

    this commentis is totally irrelevt to this post, yet i feel that this is major news in the mechanical pencil world


    http://www.cross.com/switch-it/switchithome.aspx?cat_name=Switch_It_Home

    the cross switch-it will allow users to turn there old cross ballpoint pens into pencils simply by switcing the refill

    ReplyDelete
  15. Michael J CorrySunday, 24 October, 2010

    I've commented on this elsewhere.
    It does work with a couple of niggles. It's only in 0.7mm. It will only hold 3 spare leads. The eraser is so small it's almost invisible to the naked eye.
    But if you want a sterling silver Cross pencil or a pencil to match a Townsend pen - get a ballpoint and convert it.
    I'm only concerned this will mean the end for the dedicated Cross pencils.

    ReplyDelete
  16. PointFourMonday, 25 October, 2010

    razide, Cult Pens have assorted grades of 5.6mm leads here: http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/PenFinder.php#lead,ls=5.6

    ReplyDelete
  17. mikeFriday, 29 October, 2010

    If you are using this for sketching then the leads are available from koh-i-noor. You can also get hard chalk sticks in white, black, sepia and russet.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousMonday, 15 November, 2010

    Any idea where one can buy Fürst products?

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  19. AnonymousSunday, 10 April, 2011

    In the U.S., the easiest place as of now to get the Fürst 5.6mm pencil is probably through Herb Lester & Associates.

    http://herblester.bigcartel.com/

    They are selling green ones!

    ReplyDelete
  20. J FergusonSunday, 10 March, 2013

    I just bought my first 5.6 mm lead holder, also a German model, but by the company E + M. Like you, I'll only use it for sketching. Thanks for your excellent blog.
    Jesse,
    Canada

    ReplyDelete