Pencil holders/lengtheners hacked out of pen bodies

Thanks Jim for these "very effective inexpensive artist supplies". Good tip for recycling pen bodies or useful feature to consider when choosing pens for a sketching kit.
If a pen barrel unscrews near the middle and has the right taper, it might also function as a fairly effective pencil holder in a pinch. Should you ever find yourself sketching in the middle of nowhere with just a pencil stub and a pen, the right choice of pen might allow you to get some extra life out of that stubby pencil. Many Derwent pencils are too thick for this trick to work, but these pen barrels worked quite well as extenders and point protectors with Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, Unistar,Tombow Mono, and California Republic Palomino pencils.
While the main objective of this entry was not to review these particular pens generously supplied by Jim (Barrel of a Pencil), I can't help but notice that the Uni-ball pens live up to their reputation of writing very smoothly. All three pens proved to be fairly water resistant after drying overnight, so either could be used for journaling in combination with watercolor washes. The most feathering was observed with the Uni-ball Vision Elite. Given their water-based translucent inks, light colored Faber Castell Pitt Artist brush pens were used to test the water resistance of these 3 pens.
The Uni-ball Signo bit 0.7 writes and draws very smoothly on Moleskine planner paper and sketchbook paper. Once dried, the lines are very water-resistant. The Faber Castell Pitt brush pens hardly smudged this outline drawn the night before.

TIP: If you would like to try this fine writing and drawing tool, be advised that the Uni-ball Signo bit 0.7 Needle Point Gel Pen appears to be sold only through web retailers like the Staples online store. I was told by a helpful clerk at a local Staples store that they can order them and receive them at the store for pick-up to save the shipping charges if you are not ordering over $50 online to qualify for the free shipping. For additional vendors try searching for "Sanford Uni-Ball Needle Point Rollerball Bit Pen" or "Sanford, L.P. Bit Needle Point Rollerball Bit Pen" since it seems that many online office supply vendors list it under the American distributor "Sanford" as opposed to its Japanese manufacturer "Uni-ball".
The Zebra Jimnie Medium roller ball pen barrel can function as a point protector
and as a pencil extender for really short stubs. As for this pen's performance, it took a couple of passes on scrap paper to get the ink flowing. Once it was started the ink flowed smoothly leaving a nice continuous dark blue line on the paper. The dried ink outlines were completely waterproof. The Zebra Jimnie pen was made in Indonesia and is reportedly sold at Dollar stores.
The slender barrel of the Sanford Uni-Ball Signo Needle Point Rollerball Bit 0.7 Pen works nicely both as a pencil point protector and as a pencil extender. Don't forget that the cap can be attached to the end of the barrel for some extra length and to keep the functional pocket clip.
The barrel of the Uni-ball Vision Elite micro roller pen can add another inch to short pencil stubs like this Mitsubishi Unistar pencil.
These tests reminded me of a Pilot G-2 hack from the now-defunct Ninth Wave Designs blog, so I tested its push-button barrel with a Palomino pencil. It works well as a point protector with a functional pocket clip, but it doesn't add much length as an extender. The bottom line would be that if your pens' bodies can be taken apart and have the right tapering shape, they might have a second life as pencil accessories. Practical tip in these tough times when many of us can't afford to get a fancy pencil holder like the Uni-ball 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Pencil Holder.

p.s. I am not that big of a fan of Bakugan's Gorem, but such a large rotocast posable figure with a 70% discount was a pretty good deal for a reference art manikin for drawing Manga mechas.