Lead In The Real World

I’m sure pretty sure all of us mechanical pencil people have our own favourite lead sizes, grades and brands, but I’ve always been interested in what lead sizes are actually used by the population at large, out there in the real world. Twelve years ago I started making some efforts to actually answer the question, by asking industry sources – retailers, distributors and manufacturers. Some didn’t want to say anything, but a few were happy to give some quite specific answers. On the one hand the information wasn’t particularly confidential, but they also generally didn’t want it shouted from the rooftops. However, over ten years have gone by, and I don’t think they will mind this post. So, here then, a little snippet of real world lead facts.

Leads - 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7 & 0.9mm

Firstly then, the New Zealand importers of two major worldwide international brands of mechanical pencils replied to my questions.

I asked each of them what percentage of sales was each lead size of their biggest selling technical drafting model of pencil, and of their general writing pencil. The results were surprisingly similar between the brands, and so I average them as below. These are the figures for the NZ market.

Technical Pencil

• 0.3mm = 8% of sales
• 0.5mm = 48%
• 0.7mm = 33%
• 0.9mm = 11%

General Writing Pencil

• 0.5mm = 57% of sales
• 0.7mm = 43%

Sales of lead refills, HB grade only

• 0.3mm = 2% of sales
• 0.5mm = 55%
• 0.7mm = 40%
• 0.9mm = 3%

Secondly, a member of JWIMA, the Japanese Writing Instruments Manufacturers Association, supplied the association statistics for the then three-monthly annual quarter. So, that’s essentially the production of the entire Japanese lead manufacturing industry.

Leads, all grades, standardised as 60mm lengths.

• 0.3mm = 4.3% of production
• 0.4mm = 0.3%
• 0.5mm = 67.8%
• 0.7mm = 24.8%
• 0.9mm = 2.7%

And yes, production was in the many hundreds and hundreds of millions of sticks of lead. 

Just as a point of interest, of the 0.4mm lead, only 4% was noted as “for export”. As you might suspect, in the 0.7mm and 0.9mm lead sizes the great majority was noted as “for export”.

Lead Display

I have accumulated a few kilometers of lead over the years and decided that my leads should have their day in the sun too. So here's a few - some old, some new.

From the back row to the front, left to right.

Pentel blue leads. The first is just 'color leads', the second has a blue band and says blue but the third is black band and says blue. Modern Ain and Ain Stein.

Some old Pilot. Does the second from left container look familiar? The Neo-Xu and Eno are the same containers just relabeled. Colour coded tops by diameter.

I like the yellow container with its little window. Ecomate and BeGreen, more relabeling.

Good old Staedtler. The bulk injector dispenser holds 40 leads. Then Mars Micrograph 'Super Hi Polymer'... sounding a bit Pentel-ish there. Then  just 'Super' and finally 'Carbon'. 

Up above I asked if that Pilot container looked familiar. At first glance the Pilot container looks identical, but upon close inspection it is merely exceptionally similar, clearly someone is copying someone.

Derwent Precision Mechanical Pencil Review

Derwent Precision Mechanical Pencil Review

Sometime in the 1500’s the world’s first, and still only, large-scale deposit of high purity solid graphite was discovered in Cumbria, England. So, having discovered pencil lead, all that needed to be invented was the pencil. Many will debate the origins of the pencil, but for my money, if it puts graphite onto paper then its lineage goes back to Cumbria. Today’s direct descendant of the Cumbrian pencil industry is Derwent, who still manufacture in Cumbria. These days Derwent is part of the US multi-national Acco Brands, whose stable of brands also includes Artline, Esselte and Marbig amongst others.

As a collector of mechanical pencils I have previously felt compelled to buy two contemporary pencils simply because of their nod to an important part of pencil history. First was the Cleo Skribent Der Gessner, and second was the Platinum Hayakawa, but now there is a third, the Derwent Precision.

The Precision is Derwent’s first foray into the mechanical pencil market. Given their strength is pencils for artists, it is not surprising they are pitching their first mechanical pencil at the art market. Being manufacturers of wooden pencils it is also not surprising that they have contracted out the manufacture of their mechanical pencil. What is perhaps a little surprising though is their choice to go with a thin lead mechanical pencil rather than a leadholder. I assume they thought a 2mm leadholder was too similar to their woodcase pencils and if they were going to go mechanical, they might as well go all in.

First off then the Derwent Precision is a long slim mechanical pencil, somewhat reminiscent of a Derwent woodcase pencil. It is lightweight in the hand and neutrally balanced. The metal body barrel is hexadecagonal… I hope I counted right… and without any specific grip zone or grip enhancements, all again reminiscent of a woodcase pencil. The grip is fine for those who like to vary their grip placement up or down the body, but for extended use I feel that some form of grip enhancement would have been a good idea, even if just a few concentric rings.

The ‘not quite round’ body and pocketclip combine to put some limits on desk rolling. The pocket clip is a good combination of enough strength and spring to be really useful, but not so much as to rip your papers.

The lead sleeve is a 3mm thin metal pipe and it is a sliding sleeve for pocket safety. Combined with the conical tip section there is good vision of the lead for doing fine detailed work. It is also a good rigid system, although it does have lead cushioning.

How to refill the lead magazine

There is a small emergency use eraser under the push top button. As usual you remove the eraser to refill the lead magazine. The lead advance mechanism feels and sounds good and solid. Ten clicks of the top button will advance about 7mm of lead.

The retail hang-sell carded pencil also comes with a refill pack of leads. On the lead refills are three of the most fearful words in the world of mechanical pencil leads, “Made in China”. It has been a long time since I have bothered to buy, use or try Chinese lead, because past experience has lead me to the conclusion that Chinese lead is abysmal. However, Derwent are themselves lead manufacturers and surely they would not risk their long standing reputation on cheap D-grade lead? Now I caution that I have not done any real comparative testing, and that my pencil is 0.7mm, but I must admit that from my general use I have been pleasantly surprised. This Derwent Precison lead is perfectly respectable, and the inviolability of the formula “Chinese + lead = bad + very” is now under threat.

Overall then I think this is a respectable, if unremarkable, general workhorse of a mechanical pencil. The Derwent name and history is what sets it apart, and I think that alone means you should consider adding it to your collection.

•    Best Points – It’s Derwent. Opening my eyes to Chinese lead.
•    Not So Good Points – The grip
•    Price Range – Low
•    Does this pencil make it into the Top 5? – No

Dimensions – Length  153mm, ‘diameter’ 8mm. Balance point about 75mm up from the tip.

The Good Old Days

These days leads come in plastic. I'm far too young to have been around then, but back in the good old days, when life was slower and simpler, before everything came in plastic, lead refills came in...well...lots of different things.

Like glass tubes with stoppers.

Conway Stewart and Eversharp glass tubes - note the square leads.

Also there were all sorts of metal and wood tubes and containers.



Various metal tubes and containers



Special leads in heavy duty metal containers
Of course the claim of extra thin would be laughed at today. More like "thick for strength".

Moving on we have a variety of wooden tubes and containers

I really like these slotted wooden type holders.

Scripto's in wooden holders

0.036" = 0.9mm = 'Extra Thin Lead'

Wooden tubes for politicians?

Of course there were also just plain old cardboard boxes

and of course cardboard tubes

Gonna get that Road Runner

White Lead and Embroidery

When I first started this blog I thought it would be of interest to a few people from the mechanical pencil using groups like engineers, architects, designers, artists, writers, etc. This has largely turned out to be true, but there is one group of readers that I did not anticipate, and it’s rather silly of me to have not anticipated some interest from them, especially because my mother is one of them. The group I am referring to is the one I have come to call “The Crafty Ladies” with a subset of “The Ladies Who Sew”. Mechanical pencils and multi-pens find favour with many who scrapbook, make cards, sew and embroider, etc. The search for the ultimate multi-pen is not taken lightly, and the quest for the perfect white lead is a True Quest.

White lead? Yes. Over the course of this blog I have had quite a few contacts from ladies trying to find the ultimate in white lead for material marking. For many, the traditional soap and chalk markers just don’t cut the mustard. Strong enough to not break when marking woven fabrics. Thin enough to be accurate. Preferably temporary in that it can be washed off. Definitely non-running or bleed through. These are just some of the desired attributes of the mechanical pencil white lead. I am afraid I haven’t been able to offer much help. Sakura have some white leads, but they generally seem to be 0.9mm. The white lead for the Striker mechanical carpenters pencil has some possible uses but requires sharpening. Pergamano offer a 0.5mm lead which many seem to use. These and the others though all seem hard to obtain and not entirely satisfactory. Recently I was contacted by Christine who was looking for some multi-pen and lead assistance for her embroidery hobby. I suggested she might like to do a little blog article about her use of pencils, and she agreed. So, without further todo, I will now hand over to her.
****

My name is Christine and I use colored pencil leads and multi pencils in my craft work. During my pencil/leads quest, I came across Dave’s blog. My hobby is Japanese Embroidery, which you may have seen on Japanese kimonos. While my pieces are smaller ones intended for framing and hanging on our walls, kimonos are even more intricate, and may take several professional stitchers a year or more to complete. The tools, techniques, fabrics, threads, designs, and colors have remained largely unchanged for 1600 years. There are 2 Centers of study, located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA , and in Japan. These 2 Centers create all of our designs, color schemes, and techniques for completion. To provide some general information, the embroidery is done on silk fabric stretched on a frame, using silk thread:

We use only a few tools, specifically, scissors, needles, a laying tool called a tekobari, and an awl (not pictured):

I some times need to mark on the fabric, for example to note the direction of stitches. Depending on the color of the fabric, we use either a white or non-photo blue 0.5 mm pencil lead - whichever will show up better. The blue lead is one which has been tested by the professionals at the Japanese Embroidery Center, and its color will not run during the finishing process, when we apply a wheat starch to the back of the piece and steam it thoroughly. My teacher gave us several leads, it is a Staedtler Mars product per the printing on the container. Historically, the white lead is a Prismacolor Verithin pencil, which can be sharpened to a fine point. For us, the finer the point, the better, as we may stitch with silk threads as thin as 0.1 mm. Recently, I have discovered a 0.5 mm white lead from Pergamano, which provides the fine point we like. I find the Pergamano color to be shiny, sometimes appearing silver/grey, and the lead is soft. The Pergamano white lead is designed for a card-making process called Pergamano, and I’ve only found it via one supplier. In this photo, I’ve drawn on white and brown paper with 4 leads - 0.5 mm regular lead, Verithin white lead, Pergamano 0.5 mm white lead, and 0.5 mm Non Photo blue lead.

Here, I’ve drawn directly on the silk embroidery fabric as I would do when working, placing direction lines in the small rounded areas in the middle of the picture with blue and white leads:

To reduce the number of pencils I need to carry, one of my favorite toys is a multi pencil, created from a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 3 Color Multi Pen Body and 3x0.5mm Mechanical Pencil Components (blue, white, and regular):

My other multi pen is for travel use, and is a Uni-ball Style Fit 5 Color Gel Ink Multi Pen Pen Body, containing 2 pen cartridges and 3x0.5mm Mechanical Pencil Components.

Both of these multi pens are super for my needs. I wish I needed more lead colors so I could have more of these multi pen/pencils. They have turned me in to a pencil geek.

Here is a photo of this portion of the embroidery completed:

If you’re interested you’re welcome to view my facebook albums (you don’t need to be on facebook to view them) here  and here. More information is at http://www.japaneseembroidery.com/.

Cheers,
Christine, Washington DC area, USA.
****
Great stuff. Thanks Christine. The hours of work in those Facebook embroideries….
Dave.

Striker Carpenters Mechanical Pencil

Striker Carpenters Mechanical Pencil

The oldest known pencil in existence is a carpenters pencil dating from the 17th Century.

Time moves on. Part of the Biss Products design brand group, “Striker” is the brand name used for their range of hand tools, which includes a mechanical carpenter pencil. Or should that be carpenters mechanical pencil, or mechanical pencil for carpenters or…?

Striker claims their carpenters mechanical pencil is tough, durable and reliable, and you can run it over with a ¾ ton truck and it will still keep working. I’m not a carpenter, which makes me the black sheep of the family. I suppose I should really be a collector of carpenters pencils…but I’m not?

However growing up around all that sawing and hammering, helping build many relatives’ houses, etc means I do know my tenon saw from my fret saw, and I just don’t see my sawdusty relatives using a Striker. I don’t see it being suitable for all the non-drawing things that a carpenters pencil gets used for – as a glue spreader, a little wedge or lever, and so on.

Anyway, putting practicality aside, the Striker carpenter mechanical pencil certainly looks interesting, and I’m glad to have one. Thanks to Henrik for sending me one.

The Striker is of relatively normal dimensions for a carpenter pencil. Tough plastic body with a pocket clip.

It is a push top mechanism - that whole black pocket clip section is the ‘push button’ - but it’s not your normal mechanism. Basically it’s a clutch pencil or leadholder with a rudimentary advance mechanism. The pencil has to be held horizontally for the lead to advance. Hold it vertically facing downwards and the lead will free-fall as you push the top, and the lead won’t advance if it's facing upwards.

Feast your eyes on those leads!

Woo-hoo! The Catepillar of lead!

That’s impressive.

Striker brand them as Dura Lead.

As well as “medium density” graphite, there are red and white coloured replacement leads available.

I’m under the impression some artists use carpenter pencils so the Striker maybe useful for them, and I could see it being used in some home workshops, but for carpenters out on the building site…I have my doubts. So, if anyone who swings a hammer for a living (well these days its probably more like pulls the trigger on a nail gun) reads this and has used a Striker then it would be interesting to read your comments. Of course that also goes for anyone who uses a Striker for any other purposes too.

From Isu, here’s two mechanical pencils aimed at the Japanese domestic market for carpenter pencils…but that’s a posting for another day.

Pentel Ain Stein Lead Review

Pentel Ain Stein Lead Review

Prior to the 1960’s the thinnest commercially successful mechanical pencil lead was 0.9mm. Thinner leads of sufficient customer acceptable strength were just not possible. Then in the 1960’s Pentel developed pencil leads using polymer rather than the traditional ceramic clay as the binding agent. Suddenly leads of 0.5mm and even thinner were possible, and the 0.5mm mechanical pencil as we know it today was born.

Pentel have recently released their latest generation lead, Ain Stein.
S = Strongest
T = Technology
E = Enhanced SiO
I = Integrated
N = Network

Now, I don’t read Japanese so I can’t really say exactly what Pentel claim about Stein, but as far as I can make out from Google Translate, it appears they have incorporated some silica like crystalline regularity into the structure of the lead, thus improving strength, smoothness and darkness. I’m not sure if silica is the main binding agent or if it’s a polymer and silica mix.

Clearly a new product such as this immediately aroused my interest, and I was off on an internet shopping expedition. When I opened the parcel containing my first delivery of Ain Stein I was immediately struck by the sheer colourfulness of it all. It was a mighty pretty sight.

To coincide with the release of Ain Stein, Pentel have also released a Limited Edition Graph 1000 x Stein PG1005S mechanical pencil. There is also an Ain Stein plastic eraser as well. It’s eye-candy. It really is. I can only apologise and say that my photographic ability and equipment is just not up to the task.

The leads come in very nice plastic containers, with a bright colour scheme sweeping through the spectrum by lead hardness. As at the time of writing, in 0.5mm the range is 4B through to 4H, including F and HB Hard and HB Soft as well as normal HB. There is also red and blue coloured lead.

You twist the top of the container to uncover a small hole which the leads are dispensed through. The container is recyclable.

Well, Ain Stein certainly has the style, but does it have the substance? Is it smoother, darker and/or stronger than good ole’ everyday Ain? Time to put our size 0.5mm HB models to the test.

First up, how do they compare when erased by Staedtler Mars plastic eraser? (S = Stein, N/S = Non-Stein)

No difference as far as I can tell.

How about smear resistance?

No real difference. Both are quite smear resistant, although if you twisted my arm I might suggest that maybe Stein had a fraction more smear. Just maybe.

Let’s check out darkness.

Yet again, no difference that I can really tell.

Pentel also seem to be claiming an improvement in smoothness.
Well, here maybe for the first time I did notice some difference. Normal Ain is certainly a smooth lead, but Ain Stein did seem a fraction smoother. I did feel that little more of a glide over the paper.

Finally then the strength test. My lovely assistant loaded my test pencils with Ain and Ain Stein so I didn’t know which was which and I proceeded to snap leads. Over and over. The end result was pretty conclusively inconclusive. I did at times think I noticed a difference in failure mode with Stein being a much cleaner sharper break versus normal Ain tending to crumble and break, but other times they seemed the same. Equally on those occassions when I thought one was stronger than the other it was usually Stein, but not always, and most often I didn't think there was any difference. So, I’m not going to dispute that the lead testers down in Pentel’s lab can show Stein as being stronger, but out in the real world I don’t think your average pencil pusher will notice much difference.

So, final conclusion? Pentel apparently say Ain Stein has improved strength, smoothness, consistency and darkness. I can’t disagree, but overall I can’t really agree either. All of my tests here are very subjective, as is each users own experience with their mechanical pencil, lead, paper and writing style combination. I won’t therefore be surprised to see someone else disagree with my assessment of Ain Stein. As I said, I’m sure the Pentel lead experts can tell the difference, just not ordinary folk like me.

0.5mm Timeline

I've been trying to document the introduction of 0.5mm and other thin lead mechanical pencils. I've got about as far as I can go, so am publishing this draft in the hope some of you out there may be able to fill in some of the gaps. You can leave a comment or email me via the My Profile link in the sidebar.

The Rise and Rise of Zero Point Five

A Timeline of the Introduction of 0.5mm Mechanical Pencils and Other Related Stuff!

1961
• Mitsubishi Pencil release 0.9mm and 0.7mm screw mechanism pencils (suspect this is ceramic lead)

1962
• Pentel release the world’s first 0.7mm and 0.5mm polymer leads, and pencils. (Pencil model number? Possibly Pentel Sharp 350?)

1967
• Faber-Castell release the worlds second 0.5mm polymer lead, and their first 0.5mm pencil "A.W. Faber Castell TK 9501".

1968
• Pentel release the world’s first 0.3mm polymer lead, and pencils (Pencil model number?)
• Mitsubishi Pencil release 0.5mm ratchet mechanism pencils (Pencil model number?) (Note the seven year time span from 0.7mm screw mechanism to modern 0.5mm ratchet)

1969
• Staedtler release their first 0.5mm polymer lead and pencil "Micrograph 770"
• Chitose Kagaku Kogyo Co. Ltd (OEM lead manufacturer) founded by Sekiya Takashi, former Pentel employee and developer of their polymer leads.

1971
• The Japan Stationery Company Ltd changes its name to Pentel, which it had been using as a product brand name, and as a company name for some overseas subsidiaries.

1973
• Pentel release the world’s first 0.2mm polymer lead and pencils. (Pencil model PS1042 ?)

From now on 0.5mm continues to increase market share and by the mid-1980’s it dominates the mechanical pencil industry.

CATALOGUE DATA
For some illustration of the rise of thin lead mechanical pencils, here are some examples from some pencil catalogues. A simple measure of how many catalogue pages are devoted to traditional 2mm clutch pencil type leadholders compared to thin-lead mechanical pencils.
(Catalogues are either my own or as viewed on Leadholder.com {Broken link})

Staedtler

1969 Staedtler Mars Catalogue, English language.
• Leadholders only, no MP.

1977 Staedtler Design Mars Group Catalogue, English language.
• 2 pages Leadholders, 2 pages MP

1987/8 Staedtler Catalogue, German language
• Less than 1 page Leadholders, 3+ pages MP

2005/6 Staedtler Catalogue, English language
• Less than 1 page Leadholders, 3 pages MP

2009/10 Staedtler Catalogue, English language
• Less than 1 page Leadholders, 7 pages MP

Koh-I-Noor

1980 Koh-I-Noor USA Catalog
• 1 page Leadholders, ¼ page MP

1985 Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph USA Catalog B
• 1 page Leadholders, ½ page MP
• Note the Rapidomatic MP rather than a Leadholder is described as “the professional’s ultimate choice for drafting”

Pilot Easy-Lead Leads

Pilot Easy-Lead Leads

I recently received a package of leads from someone who reads this blog, an anonymous benefactor from Eugene, Oregon. The leads were surplus to their requirements, and they thought I might put them to better use. Well, I’ll try my best. In further discussion with the donor, Pilot Easy-Lead leads came up, and I mentioned I had some from yonks ago but had never used them. My anonymous lead-friend was quite interested in learning more about the Easy-Lead leads as they had heard they were extremely dark, and they were on the look out for the darkest leads around.

So, to return the favour, here’s a little something on Pilot Easy-Lead leads. Firstly, the leads are made to refill the Pilot Easy-Lead mechanical pencil, and you have no options with Easy-Lead leads. They are 0.7mm diameter, 90mm long and there is only one (unidentified) hardness grade.

Right, let’s lay some graphite on the paper. Yep, those Easy-Leads are smooth, really smooth. And dark, really dark.

This image shows Pilot Easy-Lead in comparison to the HB grade of three other common brands. There is a world of difference in the smoothness of the writing experience. The photo doesn’t really do a great job of showing the difference in darkness. Sorry about that.

Next we have Easy-Lead versus the darkest mechanical pencil lead I have, the Uni NanoDia 4B in 0.5mm. They are fairly similar but Easy-Lead is a little darker and a little smoother.

Finally then I thought I’d check out Easy-Lead against Staedtler Mars Lumograph wooden pencils. So, I think the Easy-Lead is about the same darkness as Staedtler Mars Lumograph 5B. Easy-Lead still beats Mars 4B and 5B for smoothness though.

Clearly then, when it comes to leads, if you are a ‘the darker the better’ sort of person then check out Pilot Easy-Lead leads.

Here's what Pilot have to say about Easy-Lead leads. The Pilot UK website says, “Very smooth, dark and dense writing from an extra long 90mm length lead.” I agree entirely. The Pilot Europe website says, “The high density texture of the lead offers a writing quality similar to a gel ink pen.” Yeah, right! Where would a guy like me get a gel pen from? Oh, ummm, well somehow a gel pen ended up by the telephone…hey I didn’t bring it into the house…had to write down a message…the shame of it all. But at least it was a Pentel. Thus from limited experience I think the gel pen comparison might be stretching things a little too far. But maybe not that far.

Note: It was years ago, but my Pilot Easy-Lead mechanical pencil and Easy-Lead refill were given to me by Cult Pens in the UK. I promised to acknowledge them if I put them on the blog...been a long time waiting.