Wer kennt das nicht: Man greift für die Notizen in einer Besprechung zu einem ansprechenden Fallminenstift, um die Zeit etwas angenehmer zu gestalten, muss dann aber feststellen, dass man den Minenspitzer vergessen hat oder ihn nicht benutzen kann, weil es keine Entsorgungsmöglichkeit für den Spitzstaub gibt1.
Ein STAEDTLER MARS 780 aus den 1980er Jahren, einer der Vorgänger des STAEDTLER Mars technico 780
Doch man kann vermeiden, in diese missliche Lage zu geraten. Anstatt mit einer langen, nur an einem Ende angespitzten Mine befüllt man den Fallminenstift mit einigen kurzen, beidendig spitzen Minenstücken und hat so nicht nur eine, sondern je nach Länge des Stifts und der Stücke zehn oder gar mehr (!) Spitzen parat, womit man auch bei langen Besprechungen und umfangreichen Notizen problemlos ohne Minenspitzer über die Runden kommt. – Hinweis: Der Innendurchmesser der Zwingen mancher Fallminenstifte ist leider so knapp bemessen, dass die Minenstücke aufgrund ihres geringen Eigengewichts nicht durchrutschen. Mit diesen Stiften funktioniert der Tipp leider nicht.
Die anderen Besprechungsteilnehmer werden neidisch sein oder ihren Eindruck, dass der bleischreibende Kollege ein komischer Kauz ist, erneut bestätigt sehen.
- Einwände wie „Es gibt Behälter-Minenspitzer“ oder „Nimm einen Druckbleistift“ kann ich jetzt nicht gelten lassen.↩
Großartiger Tipp! :)
Das freut mich zu hören! :-)
Ja, toller Tipp! Das werde ich ausprobieren.
Übrigens, wie immer tolle Fotos. Und schön, dass die Wahl auf ein frühes 780er Modell fiel. Vielen Dank für deine Bemühungen mit all den guten Inhalten hier auf der Website.
Viel Spaß damit!
Ja, dieser frühe 780 gefällt mir besonders gut. Danke für deine lieben Worte!
Great tip. Got the perfect lead holder to put it into action. Thanks Gunther!
I’m glad to hear that you like this little bit of silliness! However, it really does have a certain practical value.
Mir ist aufgefallen, dass es zwei neue Farbvarianten für 780 C auf der Staedtler-Website gibt, 780 C-70BK „Trendfarbe sand“ und 780 C-78BK „Trendfarbe rosewood“. Ich kann sie noch nicht im Handel finden. Sie sind doch neu, oder?
Ja, ich denke auch, dass diese beiden Varianten neu sind. – Der erste nicht-blaue Mars technico 780 war meines Wissens der schwarze, der 2016 auf der Insights-X vorgestellt wurde. Mit diesem kamen der Härtegrad-Indikator auf dem Clip nebst dazugehörigem Pfeil und leider auch der aufgedruckte Barcode (letzteren kann man übrigens mit Spritus entfernen). Interessant zu wissen wäre, ob noch weitere Produkte in diesen „Trendfarben“ folgen!
It does have a practical use, specially when you have a lot of small pieces of lead to dispose of. Also, whenever I take my lead holders on my suitcase, I hate to carry a lead pointer with me.
Great! – May I ask which lead pointer do you prefer?
On a daily basis I use KUM’s EasyPoint dual size lead pointer. It’s gives a nice sharp point, it’s quite pocketable and it keeps the lead residue inside it. But if I really want extreme tips, I rely on my collection of old lead pointers. Got a couple desk-mounted Koh-I-Noors (model 999 and 992) that are not only a feast for the eyes, but also generate tips that will make KUM’s Masterpiece green with envy.
Also love Alvin’s 5555 pocket lead pointer. What do you use?
Thank you for these details! Is the KUM EasyPoint really completely closed? If I remember correctly there are two holes in the bottom (for design reasons to hold the inserted pointer?) through which graphite dust can leak.
These Koh-I-Noor lead pointers look gorgeous! Unfortunately I know them only from pictures and haven’t used them. – I haven’t heard of the Alvin 5555 but according to some photos it is made Germany. I wonder by whom!
I like the M+R 960 very much but because the pencil rotates in the adapter there’s always the risk of traces on the grip resp. the barrel. It creates an amazing and clean point!
The uni DPS-600 is very good too but for some unknown reason my first suddenly stopped working; I have never found out why.
I recently bought an A.W. Faber 5070 Precision Point which is basically an Emca Precision Point but it came with one taper only. I like its shape (“space age”!) and construction – instead of a blade or a milling unit it has four tiny rods with four sharp edges each. However, inserting them in such a way that the unit sharpens properly is quite difficult but maybe I still haven’t found out how to do it best (or there’s something wrong with my pointer).
The Faber-Castell Minfix 50/65 is amazing too, and with its brass body it’s understandable to that it’s getting more and more expensive.
A while ago I’ve looked again at these minimalistic pointers which consist of a small piece of extruded plastic, a blade and a screw (resp. a plastic rivet in one case). I have a few from the last decades and they work remarkably well, much better that most of the ones available today (the worst is the one from Faber-Castell, part no. 184100, which has an opening which is too large, resulting in a huge radial play). The KUM-onit 233 works good but two of the three I have ordered don’t work at all (I assume that something went wrong during injection moulding). The best of the current pointers of that type is the M+R MICRO; this and a Faber-Castell 50/41 from the 1970s I’m currently using the most.
There is indeed a hole on the EasyPoint, but the import sticker sits underneath, so until I need/ want to remove it, it remains sealed LOL! But yeah, it is a design flaw IMHO.
Don’t know if I own an M+R 960, but I own several barrel pointers like it from Alvin, Faber, Staedtler, a Rotring one and a Chinese-knockoff of Staedtler’s venerable Mars 502. Can’t remember how good those are. All I know is that Staedtler’s 502 doesn’t fit the majority of my lead holders. Prefer the desk-mounted turret ones like the FC No.60. Also, those come with adapters for lead holders of different sizes.
I also own the DPS-600, which I initially loved, until, just as yours, it stopped working altogether. So much for disposable plastic!
Minfix is one lead holder I’ve been looking to buy for quite some time. Specially the version that has it integrated into a container with a cleaning foam. Got the modern M+R Minofix, but just don’t like the fact that the 3.2mm size is optimized for color leads, meaning the tip is quite short and dull. What blades do you use with the Minfix?
Also own several of those minimalistic lead pointers, both old and current but don’t use them. There’s a tiny one with a integrated container made by DUX model 3250 that is also great. Gotta buy a couple more cause I can’t seem to find DUX website anymore. Have they gone bust? Don’t have the M+R Micro, unfortunately.
So the sticker has a double use ;-)
I had the current STAEDTLER tub pointer but have retourned it – I don’t remember any details but was lucky to get rid of it. The M+R 960 has three adapters, and so far I haven’t found a lead holder that didn’t fit.
It’s strange that your uni lead pointer stopped working too. Have you found out why?
There was a Minfix with a container? I have never seen it. Do you know the model number? – I still have spare blades for the Minfix left which will last a while.
The DUX 3250 is still available; see page 10 in the Geotex/DUX catalogue. However, I don’t know a retailer. – You would think that the German-made M+R Micro would be easy to get in the stores here but unfortunately that’s not the case; I bought it on eBay.
No, never found out why the uni DPS600 stopped working. I put it out of the container to spot the blade, but found nothing off. Weird that this item failed within a year, but the rest of my lead pointers which are at least 30 years old, are still working without any problems!
The Faber model is 50/75. A friend of mine has one he got NOS from Germany many years ago. That’s how I got to know about the Minfix.
Weird that you cannot find German DUX products in Germany. Would have imagined it would be the other way around. BTW looking at the catalog, reminded me that I want a Gedess! Do you happen to own one?
That’s odd! I have looked at the blade and its surroundings with a magnifier and couldn’t find anything. At first I thought the screw became loose and the blade has moved away from the lead but this wasn’t the case. I have now thrown it away and hope that my second one won’t have the same problem.
Ah, the 50/75! I have that one too. From your description I thought it was a container with a Minfix. The sharpener in the 50/75 is very different and, by the way, very elaborately manufactured – I wonder why they have decided to attach a thread to the brass pointer and have not attached it in any other way.
The problems with finding DUX and M+R sharpeners is the distribution and the fact that there are fewer and fewer shops with high-quality stationery, at least in my neighbourhood. But luckily there are online shops!
Yeah, that 50/75 is quite a cool lead pointer. Never been a fan of green, but FC somehow has made me change perspective! Love most of their products, specially vintage ones.
Fortunately for us in MX, KUM and DUX products are easy to find. M+R not so much. Which is really a shame, as I find their sharpeners quite good and with replacement blades, quite useful for the long-haul.
A belated answer to an older question from you: Yes, I have a Gedess and have presented it here. I don’t use it any longer, though.
The 50/75 is indeed cool! And fortunately it is in the older green which is much brighter than the current one (which is not even recognisable as green under certain lighting conditions).
Good to hear that you can easily get KUM and DUX products in your country. If you are looking for a certain M+R product but can’t find it just let me know – I am happy to contribute to globalisation ;-)
Just read the review of the Gedess. That’s too bad. That lead sharpener is incredibly hard to find vintage over here (Mex or US). The new version pops from time to time, but now that I know how bad it is, I’d rather dream with having a Swiss made copy sometime in the future.
Yes, that old Faber green is far more lively that what they use today. I’ll let you know if I need some Gunther Schmidt’s Parcel Service soon! ;o)
Look here for the Hi-Uni: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325693996654
Actually the Gedess is cleverly made and very appealing, but the workmanship of the grinding surface, especially in the new version, is not very pleasing and devalues the device.
I wonder if it is possible to determine the age of a Faber-Castell product based on the green hue alone ;-)
Ah, the Hi-uni Holder from the 1970s! An amazing item. If you’re lucky you can find one at Mercari for 40 to 80 Euro (plus the fees for the proxy service) . – I’ve shortened your link.
Sorry for not shortening the link in my comment, but couldn’t find a way to do it. Does these textboxes accept HTML?
Will look for it. I definitely love Hi-Uni products. BTW Hi-Uni leads are to be discontinued soon. Do you happen to have any?
Got a pack of B or 2B in 0.5mm size and their excellent, but not as good as our beloved Neox!
No problem with the link. – The comment boxes accept a few HTML tags.
It looks as if something went wrong here. I couldn’t find the comment with your link I have shortened, searched for it and found it at „Kurz notiert“ but my reply (and yours) is here. I don’t know what happened; I have moved it here. But who knows – maybe I answered in the wrong place and got everything mixed up ;-) But nothing has been lost.
I’ve heard about the discontinuation of the Hi-uni GRCT leads. I think I have tried them long ago and must still have one or the other box somewhere.
The Pilot Neox Graphite are unrivalled :-)