What is a Pencil?
The modern pencil can trace its origins all the way back to the scribes of ancient Rome. Scribes used a thin lead instrument called a stylus to leave light but easily readable marks on papyrus. This original lead writing instrument is posited as one of the reasons why pencils are still often referred to as lead pencils, even though the cores are made of graphite. Another theory is that graphite was once thought of as a form of lead.
In 1564, a large deposit of graphite was found in Borrowdale, England. While the mineral was appreciated for leaving a much darker mark than lead, and being less messy than ink, it was so brittle that any writing with it required a holder. Initially graphite rods were wrapped in twine, but after a time inserting graphite rods into hollowed sticks or dowels became common practice. Thus, the modern pencil was born.
Mass production of pencils was first started in Nuremberg, Germany in the year 1662, with the first major European pencil maker, Faber-Castell being established nearly a century later in 1761. Spurred on by the success of Faber-Castell, other pencil manufacturers, including Lyra and Staedtler, led to a thriving pencil industry throughout the 19th Century and the Industrial Revolution.
Although there have been some changes to pencils over the years, such as going from a round form factor to hexagonal to stop them from rolling on desks, and materials other than wood being used for the casing, pencils have essentially remained unchanged for hundreds of years.
Types of Pencil
There are many different forms of pencil on the market, each with different properties and uses.
Carbon/Charcoal Pencils
A carbon pencil, also known as a charcoal pencil, is a drawing tool filled with compressed charcoal or carbon, sometimes mixed with graphite, encased in a wooden or paper barrel. These pencils are popular among artists for creating rich, expressive, and dramatic drawings and sketches. They are especially useful for shading, producing deep contrasts, and achieving a wide range of tones.
Carpenter’s Pencils
A carpenter’s pencil is a specialized marking tool used primarily in woodworking and construction. It typically has a rectangular or elliptical shape, which prevents it from rolling off surfaces and makes it easy to grip. Carpenter’s pencils are designed for marking lines and measurements on wood.
Coloured Pencils
Coloured pencils contain no graphite, and instead have a core consisting of a wax or oil-based material that is impregnated with vibrant colours.
Graphite and Clay
Most graphite pencil cores are made from a combination of compacted graphite and clay. This combination allows pencil makers to calibrate the hardness of the core and the darkness of the line that can be made.
Mechanical Pencils
A mechanical pencil is a writing instrument with a refillable lead mechanism that eliminates the need for sharpening. Users advance the lead by clicking or twisting the pencil to expose more, ensuring a consistently sharp point. Mechanical pencils are popular for notetaking, drawing, technical work, and any application where a fine, precise line is needed.
Permanent Pencils
Permanent Pencils are waterproof coloured pencil using a hardened wax core. The nature of the hard wax core makes permanent pencils ideal for use on almost all surfaces including glass, metal, wood, leather, stone, plastic and paper. Once the wax has dried, marks from these pencils are permanent and waterproof. Marks can only be removed using methylated spirits or another solvent. Typically used by tradespeople or for art and craft projects using materials that traditional pencils can’t write on.
Solid Pencils
A solid pencil, commonly referred to as a “solid graphite pencil,” is a drawing and writing tool made entirely of graphite with no wooden or plastic casing. Solid pencils are used for sketching, shading, and technical drawing, and they allow for precise and versatile mark-making. The artist or user holds the exposed graphite and can manipulate it to achieve various line widths and tones.
Watercolour Pencils
A watercolour pencil is a versatile drawing tool with a water-soluble pigment core encased in a wooden or plastic barrel. These pencils are used by artists to create both dry and wet artistic effects. When applied dry, they work like traditional coloured pencils, and when water is added, they can be blended and transformed into watercolour-like paintings, making them ideal for fine art, sketching, and detailed illustrations.
What is the HB Scale?
The H and B on a pencil refer to “Hard” and “Black” respectively. Using these two letters and the numbers two through nine, pencils are divided into 20 separate HB ratings, with 9H being the hardest and lightest and 9B being the softest and darkest. In addition to the H and B pencils, there is also an F category. F pencils fit in the middle of the scale and are specially made to sharpen to a fine point.
Most pencils outside of the middle of the scale – HB, B, H and F – are typically viewed as art pencils, as the different hardness and blackness levels allow for shading, smearing and blending.
Pencil Erasers
One of the key benefits of writing or drawing with pencil is the ability to erase marks. The Roman scribes used wax tablets or pieces of pumice sandstone to scour marks off papyrus, and bread was commonly used to erase early graphite pencil writing.
The first rubber eraser was produced in 1770 by English engineer, Edward Nairne. This original eraser was not hugely effective, thanks to natural rubber extract being brittle and smelly. In 1839, when Charles Goodyear invented the process of vulcanising rubber, erasers were made durable, scent-free and as a result quickly became a household staple. Originally known as “India Gum”, rubber actually got its name from the use of the material to rub away pencil marks.
Rubber pencil erasers don’t just work through friction by scouring the graphite off the page – there is also a chemical element to the process. Graphite pencils work by leaving tiny particles of graphite in the fibres of paper. The eraser is essentially “stickier” than the paper, so the graphite particles adhere to the rubber rather than the paper, erasing the mark.
