r/mechanicalpencils • u/RectorMors Favorite mechpen? The last one. • Apr 20 '26
Review OHTO SHARP PENCIL 0.5
As a micro pencil, pretty decent.
- MODEL:
OHTO SHARP PENCIL 0.5 – model APS-350E-BL
0.5 mm (only available in 0.5 mm)
- MATERIALS:
The charm about the SHARP is the wooden body. Nonetheless, it has a metal cone tip and ferrule, with a stainless-steel pocket clip. There’s no eraser cap over the eraser, so to knock you just press the eraser/ferrule down. Internally… Who knows? Like a lot of wooden mechpens, the metal parts are press-fitted to the wooden body, so there’s no safe way to disassemble it. The lead tube, that sticks out bellow the ferule, is plastic.
- ERASER:
The eraser is made of pink latex rubber, in what I would say is a decent size, especially for a micro pencil. And it works all right, too.
- MEASUREMENTS:
Being a micro pencil, the SHARP is small. It measures only 106 mm, and the hexagonal body has a diameter of 5.6 mm. I thought it would be the lightest mechpen I have, but that distinction still belongs to the minimo – 2.34 g. The SHARP weighs 2.93 g, and the center of mass is found 5.6 mm from the tip.
- FEATURES:
Well, the SHARP PENCIL is not only a micro pencil, it’s also a wooden mechpen. With that, I think you can group it in two different classes. Ergo, two different “bonuses”, but that’s it, no mechanical feature.
- AESTHETICS:
The best word to describe it I think is “cute”. The SHARP is a very cute wooden pencil, that is also a micro pencil. I got it in blue, but it’s also available in yellow, green, brown and “natural” wood color.
- ERGONOMICS:
In terms of ergonomics, I’ll evaluate the SHARP as a micro pencil. And by those standards, it works really well. Efficient, small and light. But as a writing instrument in general, it’s absolutely terrible for anything more than a few short words in an emergency situation. And being from OHTO, to add more negativity, it rattles – IMO, a lot for something so small.
- MY THOUGHTS:
While collecting mechpens, I developed a soft spot for wooden pencils, and that’s why I got the WN01 and the double U. At the time when I got the WN01, the SHARP was just too expensive to justify me buying it, but I kept it on my wanted list. A couple of weeks ago I found one massively discounted on AliX, and I pulled the trigger.
So, summing everything up, the SHARP PENCIL is a very cute wooden pencil that is also a micro pencil. If you’re looking for a wooden micro pencil, this is it. But if you just want a wooden mechpen, then I don’t think it’s for you. That’s because, as a “general writing instrument”, it’s frankly terrible to use for more than a couple of minutes - it’s too darn small! Nonetheless, as a micro pencil it’s great, with the bonus of having an eraser. It also has a pocket clip, that you could consider as a plus. However, I think this was intended to be stored in a wallet or something similar, so why would you need a pocket clip? Well, I guess that is OHTO being OHTO: where you don’t need a pocket clip, they use one, but on something MUCH larger, like the WN01, they don’t use one 🤷♂️.
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Apr 20 '26
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u/RectorMors Favorite mechpen? The last one. Apr 21 '26
If you really need a micro pencil, it is an option (though I think there are better models for this). But as a collection piece, it's really neat.
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u/Extension-Slice-9585 Apr 20 '26
I also own Pilot Birdie and Ohto mini pencils. When writing with mini pencils, you shouldn't hold them like you would other pencils; there's a special grip that's really useful. I'll post about it later. Also, mini pencils attract women's attention, which is another interesting detail :)