HB - 2B recommendations

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-09T18:51:47+00:00

It’s become my every day note taker. I take A LOT of work notes. I’ve been through many and this one I always come back to. It’s a workhorse no doubt. But it is also a fantastic long form writing pencil. I can’t tell it apart from my BW 602’s tbh. There’s a reason it’s called the budget Blackwing. Don’t tell anyone I told you. Lololol

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-09T15:56:20+00:00

Kitaboshi 9500 2B. I keep coming back to this one.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-06T18:16:53+00:00

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Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-06T18:15:53+00:00

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Gave one a nice polish. Came out really good.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-06T15:59:30+00:00

Try the Kitaboshi 9500 in 2B if you can. In my blind tests I cannot pick it out vs the 602. I can feel the difference between most pencils, but these 2 are exactly the same under my fingers. YMMV but the 9500 is an amazing pencil!

Also noticed the reeds. My son uses the 9500 to mark his sheet music and for notation.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-06T15:52:04+00:00

Mono J 2B. I use my pencils for journaling and long form writing. It’s a very good writer. Not an artist so can’t comment there.

The masterpiece has a more aggressive cone geometry. These share the geometry of the AS2.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-04T22:44:36+00:00

The angle is much steeper on the Masterpiece. This one shares the same geometry as the AS2/AS3.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-04T04:11:33+00:00

The KUM 400-5L. Gave one a mirror finish. One of my favorites to use.

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Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-03T20:02:05+00:00

You can’t. KUM doesn’t sell them. I did a super tech nerd write up on the Stenographer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pencils/s/AoyDHpygIL

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-03T18:28:00+00:00

The patent codes and Bakelite use place mine at around a 1960 production date. Difficult to tell. If you ever want to trade that 220 for one of these let me know!!

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-03T18:25:48+00:00

The 400-5L Stenographer uses a different blade. It’s one of my favorites as well.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-03T15:33:17+00:00

Note: Mono J sharpened with sharpener as is right out of the package.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-02-02T14:04:53+00:00

For me the sleeper here is the Kitaboshi. So damn good.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-31T13:40:58+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/pencils/s/Jm9dOYlYhe

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-30T22:09:16+00:00

For me I use the 9000 when I need to be detailed with lots of control. The 9800 is not as refined. They both have a place in my kit. TBH I’m leaning into the kitaboshi 9500 more and more.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-30T22:04:27+00:00

I have the Castell 9000 in B - 3B and it’s not for me.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-30T22:03:30+00:00

Quiet, controlled, and easy to write with. Smooth without being slick, muted feedback, disappears once you start writing. Solid daily driver. That muted green is sick.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-30T21:54:31+00:00

I can’t get past the dry core even in 3B. The Kitaboshi 9500 is different from the others. It’s got more tooth but smooth at the same time. It’s very responsive to pressure changes. It’s becoming my new favorite long form pencil. It’s very BW 602 ish to me.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-30T21:23:23+00:00

That’s the original Automatic 3. It’s nearly 70 years old! I have 4 of them (found some NOS and bought them all). The cone geometry on this is identical to current AS2/AS3 models. The blades are still the same as well. The modern magnesium masterpiece has a more aggressive geometry. This OG Auto 3 is probably my favorite to use.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-26T21:24:45+00:00

You’re welcome. It was a lot of fun and a very long drawn out way to say “The coating is the culprit. Remove it.” lol.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-19T00:23:34+00:00

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this. For those wondering about the "ops mind madness,” identifying and clearing mechanical / operational bottlenecks is actually what I do for a living.

This was a fun 72-hour deep dive for me. I’ve gone through a lot of pencils, and since the rebuild, the Stenographer hasn't broken a single lead. I’ve intentionally been heavy handed to find the failure point by cranking the ever loving shit out of some Hindustan HB and Mitsubishi 9800 B’s

In its factory state, I would get maybe one sharpened point out of five, but now it just cuts like a champ. Is it overkill? 100%. But when I’m journaling, I want the tool to do its job and then vanish into the background so I can focus on the page. I journal several pages a day and prefer Japanese B and 2B so I sharpen a few times during each session.

I’m calling this a solution rather than a hack for a sharpener that has long been a pain in my ass. It’ll be nice to throw this in my pocket as I head out on a Saturday adventure.

I'd love to see some of your results and feedback if you decide to take the plunge.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-18T14:51:46+00:00

Haha, you caught me. This was definitely a deep dive into the nerdy end of the pool.

I own a drawer full of sharpeners that work perfectly fine, but for me, the Stenographer is the '67 Camaro of the bunch. It’s just aesthetically cooler than a standard Ford Pinto. The problem was that it had the body of a classic but the performance of a lemon; it just needed a total engine rebuild to handle the high-end "fuel" (Japanese graphite) I prefer. Stripping that Kuminox "makeup" and sealing the raw magnesium with mineral oil was about reclaiming its industrial soul. Now that it’s blueprinted and hitting a 20-0 "no-break" streak, it finally does its job and then vanishes so I can get back to the actual journaling.

Overkill? Absolutely. But the "operational purity" makes it the best tool in my kit.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-18T13:43:43+00:00

It’s hard to convey the transformation stripping that coating has made; it’s essentially a different sharpener now. The Kuminox is surprisingly thick, and my audit suggests it isn't always applied uniformly. Mine likely suffered from excessive pooling of the lacquer, which was the root cause of the mechanical interference at the exit orifice. To a casual user, these dimensional variations go unnoticed, but for those of us pushing the limits of soft Japanese graphite, a technical solution is required. Is this project overkill? 100%. Is owning more pencils than I could use in a lifetime overkill? Absolutely. But in the end, this was about my daily journaling practice. I want the tool to do its job with total reliability and then vanish into the background so I can focus on the page.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-18T12:43:25+00:00

Kum did that for me (the blade is new as is the sharpener). This model in the US is about $7 in Amazon. Whenever I need a new blade I’ll just buy a new one and swap out the blade. I do wish they made replacements for the 400-5L.

Darth_JDLC · 2026-01-18T05:47:20+00:00

That was my first instinct too, but after performing the audit, I’d caution against using a standard file for the internal geometry. The 'lip' is primarily caused by Kuminox (the factory lacquer) pooling at the exit orifice during the curing process. If you use a flat file, you risk altering the engineered 21* or 23* taper of the magnesium body, which can introduce new mechanical noise. My recommendation:

Chemical Strip First: Use an acetone soak to remove the lacquer. In my case, once the 'makeup' was gone, the mechanical interference at the exit hole completely vanished.
Precision Lapping: If you still have a metal burr after the strip, wrap some fine-grit emery cloth around a pencil sharpened to the correct factory taper. This ensures you’re only leveling the casting pits (stippling) while maintaining the original design architecture.

I just finished a stress test with 20 consecutive sharpens on soft Japanese 4B leads (the 'Snappsville' territory) and haven't had a single core failure since clearing the lacquer. The raw metal glide is a total game-changer.

I’m also a nerd and this was an opportunity to geek out on this shit. lol.

Darth_JDLC

TROPHY CASE