Pencil Revolution

Several folks have asked us to post something about pencil degrees, especially since those of us in the United States have pencils which have plain numbers to write with, while we have confusing degrees on our art pencils and drafting pencils. We have some terrific articles to link to which explain the various hardnesses and softnesses of pencils extremely well, so we will not try to out-do them, which would probably be impossible.

Here is a great piece from the Pig Pog Creativity Wiki on pencil hardness:

“In the UK, and (I think) most of Europe, pencils are always labelled with one scale - H for Hard, or B for soft, with a number to say how hard or soft. HB is the middle of the range, and by far the most common type. For sketching, though, a softer lead is usually preferred, often 2B or even 4B. For more technical drawing or very light lines, a harder lead works better, like a 2H. The scale goes up to 9 at each end - 9B to 9H, with the extreme ends of the scale being a bit too extreme for most uses.Sometimes, you’ll also find an F pencil - Firm - between the HB and the H (the 1 is missed off).

The US usually follows the UK system for drawing pencils, but for office use commonly refers to HB as #2. “

And Doug Martin has a great article about pencil grades as well, which explains the American system and the strange fractions and decimals we find on this side of the Atlantic:

“At the same time, a number-only system was in use, particulary in the U.S., which is still in use. The table below indicates approximate equivalents between the two systems:#1 — B
#2 — HB
#2½ — F
#3 — H
#4 — 2H

The common #2, or HB grade pencil in the middle of the range, is considered to be the preferred grade for general purpose writing. Harder pencils are most often used for drafting purposes, while softer grades are usually preferred by artists.

American-made pencils can often be found with numerically equivalent designations of 2-1/2, 2-4/8, 2-5/10, and 2.5, representing the same grade, but introduced by different manufacturers to distinguish their products and to avoid patent lawsuits.

It should be noted that no ‘official’ standard for pencil grades has ever been adopted, and the designations are still somewhat arbitrary and not always consistent from one manufacturer to the next.”

While it can be confusing — and even frustrating — when pencil manufacturers cannot find some single standard, even within their own product lines, it does allow for wonderous variety. I personally have an army of HB pencils that vary from ink-dark for creative writing to relatively light-marking pencils for writing in books. With nineteen (or more) grades to choose from, dozens of manufacturers producings multiple models, it is certainly possible to find a pencil for every use.

Or, at least, we can get pretty close. And looking for the perfect pencil for writing our grocery lists or dissertations on world peace is really part of the fun, anyway, no?

4 Comments so far

I’ve wondered why the leads for those mechanical (drafting-style) lead holders don’t seem to come in the softer weights. The darkest I’ve seen is 4B.

Is it because the darker leads break more easily? Or is it just that people don’t generally use those lead-holders for drawing and sketching?

(I’ve found that even 4B is far too smudge-prone for drafting)

The softer the lead, the thicker it has to be. While lead-holders are great, they don’t allow for variations in the diameter of the hole, like wood does. For instance, a 9B Turquoise pencil is almost all lead, since the core is so thick.

I might be wrong about this, though.

Great post PRevo -
After I finish the current series of Timbelines posts regarding Incense-cedar use in pencils I have been planning a series on other technical aspects of pencil manufacturing. Graphite and Color cores will of course be part of that series.

You have already covered an important point on the grade variations in graphite and saved me part of my trouble so I can link to this post and expand on other salient points.

Your point regarding a lack of industry standards is very important. For example, the Japanese market prefers softer, darker lead so their HB grade (like we have in our Palomino pencil) would be more consistent with a 2B or even 4B made by manufaturers elsewhere.

Thanks, Woodchuck!
I think that, to me, the Palominos run like a very very soft 2B or 3B.
But I really prefer the Palominos for writing than traditional drawing pencils because the lead is as thin as a Western HB and can be sharpened finer for writing than, say, a Turquoise 4B, which is a pretty thick lead.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Pencil degrees.

The People

Comrades at Arms

Revolutionize Yourself

Spread the Revolution

Search

Categories

Archives

Best With

Stats