A Wooden P205

I recently received an email from Adam, a MP user from Ohio. He was letting me know about the "wooden Pentel P205" pencil he had bought. Interesting idea. Anyway, thanks Adam, and here’s a copy of the email he sent me:-

This summer at a local craft show I discovered what has now become my pencil of choice. William Schmidt of Mansfield, Ohio, makes new bodies for Pentel Sharp P205/P207 pencils out of exotic hardwoods. Below is the description and photo from his www.turn-of-the-century.com website:

Turn of the Century Mechanical Pencils are one of our most uncharacteristic
items. In reality, they are the durable Pentel P-205 and P-207 "clicker" style
drafting pencils with the plastic barrel replaced by one of exotic wood.

The mechanics are taken from a genuine Pentel P205 pencil, including the eraser, cap, clip, and metal tip. As shown in the picture, they are either tapered or flared a bit at the tip, and come in several different woods. Mine is a tapered model made out of African blackwood. It is a very dark brown, with little visible grain, and is slightly thicker than the standard P205 pencil at the grip. The wood is polished to a very smooth satin finish. I do not believe that it has varnish or any other coating, but is perhaps polished with oil like furniture polish or something. I replaced the fixed sleeve tip with the tip from my Sliding Sleeve Sharp PS535, and it works great.

At the arts and crafts fair I was at, the artist had a couple dozen pencils on display, and no two were the same. Several different woods were represented, ranging in color from yellow, red, and various shades of brown, to nearly black, and each had a slightly different shape, since they are turned by hand, without the use of any templates or guides. I chose mine based primarily on the feel, though I liked the darker color better than some of the other woods. $13 seems very reasonable for a handmade quality pencil.

Thought you might enjoy a different take on the wooden pencil.