Pilot S20, 0.3mm, dark brown

 

s20-bodyHow could I resist… I never had much of a chance, did I?

…not with Gunther touting his readers with his beautiful S20, again and again and again.

I gave in…

s20-aluminium
If you click to enlarge you will notice tiny dents that must have occurred during manufacturing

…and bought the S20 in dark brown and in 0.3mm from WAKU1(Japan Store) for £13.52 (~$20.80; €18.20), including postage. I got it twelve days later. A great price, especially when keeping in mind that it costs more than twice as much in the UK (because it is imported) and you will have problems finding the 0.3mm version. I bought from WAKU1 in the past, but more about that in a future blog post.

The wood of the pen is beautiful and reminds me of the ONLINE All Wood Marone.

s20-f

Pilot is a bit optimistic though, offering an F in their lead grade indicator. Is there an 0.3mm lead in F? When I see F it’s usually for 0.5mm.

Please let me know if you know of a 0.3mm lead in F – I do prefer harder leads, so F would be great, even though I have to say the 0.3mm leads you get with many Faber-Castell pencils are a bit too hard and too light for my taste.

s20-staedtler


Price and exchange rates: February 2015

9 thoughts on “Pilot S20, 0.3mm, dark brown”

  1. Congratulation on that buy! The S20 with its wooden barrel is both unique and beautiful. – I am happy to hear that my touting was successful 🙂

  2. I am entirely feeble when it comes to mechanic pencil with wooden casing, but has been holding myself back because of all the actual wooden pencils I have. What a beauty!
    Regarding the .3mm F lead, I have not seen any F lead in that size, but since Japanese lead has tendency to run darker and softer, perhaps H could be comparable to F? I adore the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 in F (or HB as it was labeled). The writing actually withstand scanning and how up quite well.

  3. Matthias, if I remember correctly you also use fountain pens. Pilot offers a model that uses a very similar wood (I’m tempted to say “identical”, but I haven’t compared them side by side), the Legno 89s. Nice soft writer. Also the Capless now comes in the same shade of wood – I must say, I like Pilot wooden fountain pens myself 🙂

    http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/legno89s/
    http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/capless_wood/

  4. Thank you for your comments.

    Gunther, it really is a beautiful pencil!

    Shangching, great minds think alike, I thought of the same thing, but according to my very limited experience with Japanese H pencils they are not as much softer compared to European H as Japanese HB is to European HB. I haven’t tried the Grip 2001 in F. I guess I should try it if I see it. Thanks for the tip.

    Sola, nice. The red wood looks more like Gunther’s S20. The feel of the wood is really nice – not covered by lots of paint. I wonder how it will stand the test of time, but Gunther’s S20 still looks great – but I guess he is very careful with his pens anyway.

    John, do it ;^P It’s beautiful. Writing experience wise I like another recent purchase more though, the Orenz, reviewed by Lexikaliker (link).

  5. I would have sent you a few of Grip 2001 in F, have I known you have not tried it before. I can save them for the next care package to you 🙂

  6. Thank you for the offer. I should probably try to get my hands on some in Germany, they will probably be cheapest there – otherwise you’d have to sent something back to Europe that is being sold in America at a premium because someone brought it from Europe in the first place.

    (Then on the other hand I don’t understand how these things work anyway, because a pack of Staedtler Wopex can be ten times more expensive in the UK compared to the USA.)

  7. Hello Michael,

    well, you are responsible for my new addiction to mechanical pencils 😉 I like them and they were a good addition to fountain pens. As you, I avoid to use ball pens.

    Best regards and happy easter.
    Michael

    P.S. Nex week I stay in London, is there a must have place for FP an pencil addicts?

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