Comment on Pens in Space

mojofrododojo@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• Madison420@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Grease pencil, you pull a tab and the things unrolls.

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  • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    nice alternative, and that’d make great sense except… now you have a bunch of long strings of grease covered paper floating about the cabin.

    so no. no thanks.

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    • Madison420@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      No I mean that’s literally what they were using not graphite.

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      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        having used grease pencils before, no thanks, due to the remainder of greasy paper you unwind as you use it.

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    • SparroHawc@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I’m pretty sure astronauts are trained on the usage of garbage receptacles.

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  • yuri@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    side note, mechanical grease pencils are literally some of the best goddamn marking tools ever invented by humans, and the fact that we’ve moved away from them as a standard in favor of sharpie-style disposible markers is APPALLING.

    there’s myriad “industrial” markers you can buy, which are generally especially well suited to one specific inclement situation. low temp markers won’t freeze, but will often bleed and feather. oil-proof markers will write on a slippery surface, but will smear and take ages to dry proper (RIP lefties). paint markers can write on anything, but only as long as the surface doesn’t immediately destroy your nib and prevent future wicking.

    grease pencils (quality ones at least) go down like a crayon, stick to ANYTHING, and generally won’t smear at all. obviously no one should be writing their thesis with one, but they can do pretty much everything we use permanent markers for. they’re also cheaper and produce far less waste.

    as far as i can tell the biggest downside is there’s a smaller profit margin for the manufacturers.

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    • janus2@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I love my grease pencils and use them for writing kitchen leftover contents on glass and ceramic dishes. This works like a dream when the dish is warm and just fine when the dish is room temperature.

      However, it’s nearly impossible to write on cold or frozen dishes. In my old lab when was young and stupid, I’d hold the spot I wanted to write on over a flame for a few seconds (lucky I never exploded a liter of expensive research water and glass on myself, or worse). Now I do my best with vigorously rubbing the spot with a kitchen towel for a few seconds, but still usually get a barely readable mark.

      Aside from figuring out how to etch those little white squares that lab glassware has onto my kitchen dishes, anyone have any ideas around this?

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      • yuri@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        also you can etch those lil white squares surprisingly easily with commercially available glass etching creams, my mom used to fuck around with em a lot in like the 90’s i think.

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      • yuri@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        maybe a difference in the actual composition of the grease? i was writing on polished stainless pots at below freezing temps, but i was ALSO using new-old-stock refills bc the current standard size is it’s own proprietary can of worms lol

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    • Madison420@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Im a fan of grease pencils yeah, especially for marking on windows. I’m a mechanic and sometimes I just do the diag notes on the cars Windows or if laziness.

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