Success! A way to use my broken colored pencil leads instead of having to throw them out! Now I can just pop the lead into the clutch pencil and keep on coloring :) I do adult coloring and also use colored pencils for art, and we all know how frustrating it is to have to throw away the tips of your colored pencils when they break! Especially if they were expensive ones. A local store that sells game board figures and train model kits gave me the idea to use a clutch pencil to grip the leads. I had been looking for a tiny hand drill, which also uses a clutch mechanism, but they're designed to hold drill bits that are way too tiny, at less than 1mm. Most colored pencils are between 3mm and 4mm. After a lot of research and a lengthy search, I managed to find a clutch pencil that would hold the most common sizes of colored pencil leads. The Faber-Castell TK4600 3.15mm. (It also comes in 2mm, but same model number, TK4600, which is a bit confusing.) There is some leeway as to the thicknesses it will hold. In the pictures I've uploaded, the lavender lead is about 3.8mm (Prismacolor) and the magenta is 3mm (Brutfuner square). I tried a few other clutch pencils, but most would not fit my broken leads, or were all-metal bodies and waaaaay too heavy. I have arm/wrist tendonitis and frozen shoulder, so I needed something as light as possible. It's well-weighted, too. Most clutch pencils are too top-heavy, unless they have a gnurled metal grip. I don't like those; they get grungy-looking as they oxidize. Also, they really irritate my skin. The Faber-Castell has plastic ribbing at the end that is a little bit irritating, but not too much. And since I'm only using it to use up the tip of a pencil, I won't be using it too long anyway. It does also hold 3.15mm graphite leads, of course. Apparently with clutch pencils, you can only get softer graphite (4B and softer) in thicker sizes, because they break more easily than harder leads. (FC only makes their 3.15mm in 4B, 5B and 6B, but some manufacturers go to about 8B). FC also makes this clutch pencil in 2mm. I bought one. It can hold 3mm leads, barely. The 2mm is sold in a LOT more places than the 3.15mm; even in some retail stores like Blick's. I had to order the FC TK4600 3.15mm from ZeeBooth World Market. It arrived with a broken lead inside, but I didn't mind since the clutch still holds it fine, and anyway, I'm mostly going to use it for colored pencils anyway. Otherwise, I've only seen this pencil listed from European sellers like Jackson's Art Supplies and Cult Pens. Jackson's has a yearly sale on Faber-Castell products, where I saw this clutch pencil at nine dollars, plus shipping. I hope this is helpful to save you from the long, involved process it was for me :)
