Thank you for that, but I figured I’d ask – have you tried the “Ben” B/3 by Alvin? Takes the same length leads as the Staedtlers and has a similar form factor to the 780, albeit in black, but it advances the lead one click at a time, like a more standard mechanical pencil. The built in sharpener also sharpens as a slightly longer angle than the 780, which I admit is as feature I like. Anyway, I stumbled on one of these in an art supply store, and they’ve definitely become my pencil of choice, so I figured I’d throw up a flare in case you hadn’t tried it, and if you had, I’d be curious why you prefer the 780.

I’ve never actually heard of the ‘Ben’, but I’ll keep an eye open for it. At the moment, I’m actually pretty hooked on the Pentel GraphGear 1000, a .5mm automatic pencil – a terrible thing to admit, and the guy who runs leadholder.com would be horrified. Very nice and solid, though, and I find the thin lead good for writing.

…just found the Ben on leadholder.com – looks nice, especially the knurled grip. Looks like it might be old new stock, though, as it says they’re not made any more. There’s not all that many leadholders around these days – it’s all clicky pencils, and not many decent ones of those, either.

(I’m Michael – Dave is a different site.)

I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen an exploded diagram of a mechanical pencil, and I don’t think I’ve ever come across one that clicks forward with a twist – usually either twist to push in older pencils, or a button to click in most modern ones.

Sorry, but I probably can’t be of much help with it.

Do you click a button on the top, or twist part of the pencil to advance the lead in yours?

The thinnest I know of is the Birdie, which would probably work, but it would certainly leave its mark, especially if the book had any weight on it with the pencil in there. If you don’t mind your books getting the ‘used’ look, that might do the job for you.

If you wanted to keep the books looking a bit better, you might be able to rig something up that would loop around either the whole book, or part of it to act as a bookmark, but with a slot or slots in the bit at the front or back for a pencil to go in. Some of the tricks under ‘pen holders’ on our Mokeskine Hacks page might give you some ideas, too.