My Kuru Toga 0.3mm pencil arrived today! I was so hoping that it would. I couldn't wait to try it out.

First, it's in black with a black pocket clip and a smoky transparent section. The tip is chrome and black. It's a very good looking pencil.

Second it makes a sub 0.3mm line, as I thought it would. It appears to be about 1/2 the width of a conventional 0.3mm pencil. It compares favorably to my Signo bit 0.18mm pen. Without a optical comparator it's hard to judge the actual width of the lines made by each instrument. But if I had to guess I'd say it's making about a 0.2mm line. Not bad for a pencil. It feels every bit as smooth my Kuru Toga 0.5mm pencil.

Yea, it's a keeper! :wink:

Really? I'd expect it to poke holes in your paper or something. What kind of lead are you using? I have a .5 but haven't gotten around to experimenting with different leads yet.

And just wondering, but what is your general preference for pencil barrel diameter? I like slimmer pencils and have found the kuru toga uncomfortably thick. Other than that, I agree that it's awesome! You can't feel the slight rotation at all!

mikki,

I use grade HB lead exclusively. I think that harder leads in the 0.3m Kuru Toga would tend to make deep impressions in the paper if you tried to write darker. I find anything above HB to be to hard for my taste and anything below it to soft. I try and use a light touch when writing so any harder of a lead won't show up as easily. Softer leads tend to smudge to easily.

The Kuru Toga is about as large a diameter a pencil as I feel comfortable with. The Pentel PG303 0.3mm pencil is about as small a diameter as I am comfortable with. The uni0.3 0.3mm and the Staedtler 925 03 0.3mm are about the right diameter for me. My favorite is still the Pentel P203 0.3mm pencil, as far as pencil diameters go. 8)

I recently received the 0.3 and 0.5 Kuru Toga pencils (finally!) and ripped open their packages to try them. So far I am a bit disappointed as I cannot notice the lead rotation. Is there a certain way to write or hold the pencil to get it to work. I looked at the back, but it's all in Japanese, which I don't read.

ummm does 0.3 lead break? is it too thin?

No, it doesn't break at all. It forms a flat, chisel tip, which the Kuru Toga is supposed to prevent. The 0.5 mm works great. I'm using Uni-Ball Shu H grade 0.3 mm lead in it.

can you send it back if it's defected?

I had a problem seeing the lead rotate in my Kuru Toga 0.3 mm but after careful watching I did see the engine working. That plus the fact that the line was much thinner than a standard 0.3mm line and the pencil seemed not as smooth as the 0.5 mm, probably due to the very sharp yip on the lead! :roll:

Thank onelonegunman. I have been using it fairly frequently and I have been paying attention to the engine. I believe it's working. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed in the pencil though. I guess I let all the hype around it get my hope too high.

Why are you disappointed? What about the pencil don't you like? The only thing I find possibly disagreeable about mine is that perhaps the point is too fine! It certainly drags more than the 0.5 mm version. If you want a smooth writing pencil that writes a consistent 0.3 mm line then get a Kuru Toga in 0.5 mm! In my opinion it's a better pencil all around. Despite my initial enthusiasm and earlier remarks. I did find that over time the 0.3 mm was a bit scratcher than the 0.5 mm. While the jury is still out on the 0.3 mm Kuru Toga, the 0.5 mm version is a keeper. 8)

lead rotation? what's lead rotation?

The Kuru Toga was designed and built to rotate the lead in the pencil 9 degrees every time the lead is pressed to the paper. This rotation keeps a flat spot from forming on the tip of the pencil lead. Because a flat spot never forms, the width of the line never widens out, instead a line width narrower than the actual lead diameter is maintained. With any other pencil, as the user writes, the end of the lead forms an oval due to the fact that the lead never rotates and the pencil is held at an angle to the writing surface. The edges of the oval are sharp so if the pencil is turned after the oval forms the sharp edge or the tip of the oval can catch on the paper and cause the lead to break. If it doesn't break then a thinner line is made, so the written line widths are different, making the writing look sloppy. The Kuru Toga prevents both of these scenarios by rotating the lead, keeping the tip of the lead pointed as only the angled side of the lead is used to actually write with. :wink:

wow...amazing how high-tech writing utensils are.... O_O