Two years of notes, meetings and grocery lists in one pencil. Here's what aged and what didn't.
The clip loosened first — that's true of every pencil I've owned, so no complaint. The knurling polished bright on the grip band. The plastic near the clip hinge developed a hairline that has not grown in eight months. The mechanism has never once hesitated.
New, the Knock click is crisp. Two years in it is quieter and slightly mushier — and still the best pencil to use because "good click" turns out to mean consistency, not loudness. A mechanism that degrades evenly, every day exactly as much as yesterday, feels better than a new one that changes feel after a month. The Pentel P207 below is smoother today than any new pencil; the trade is that its feed sleeve wobbles, which is a different conversation.
Yes, immediately, again. It's not the most luxurious pencil, it's the one that never becomes a project. For most people that's the entire job.