The Nuts and Bolts of Mechanical Pencils
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Getting the most out of drawing media MATERIAL WORLD BY SHERRY CAMHY An assortment of some of the many Self-Portrait mechanical pencils available today. At by Mark left is a disposable, non-refillable pencil. NOTE: Gonzales, 2016, At center are several refillable, click-style Mechanical pencils have many other graphite (0.7mm pencils with features including removable names, especially overseas. These 2B mechanical erasers, storage areas for extra lead, and pencil), 7 x 5. soft, comfortable grips. At right and at include propelling pencils, automatic top are claw-style holders, with features pencils, drafting pencils, technical pencils, including built-in sharpeners and grade- click pencils, clutch pencils, pacer pencils, indicator wheels. leadholder pencils and pen pencils. The next morning, curious peas- writing rods of mechanical pencils in sizes ranging ants came to investigate. In the are still called “leads,” a source of oc- from 0.2 to 0.9 mil- depths of the enormous pit where casional confusion. limeters. With these the roots of the tree had been, they In the 18th century porte-crayons, thin, sturdy sticks found something dark and rock hard. extenders with metal claws designed of graphite, contem- To their amazement, they discovered to grasp chalk or graphite sticks, porary mechanical that chunks of it could be used to became fashionable writing and pencils were born. make marks, among other applica- drawing implements. In their wake tions. It soon became apparent that followed countless variations that oday mechanical the newly discovered “blacklead” (also evolved into the diverse family of pencils are called “wad” or “plumbago”) was bet- mechanical pencils available today. T available in a ter for writing and drawing than any- Some designs were crude, others plethora of designs, thing else available. Its marks were ingenious. Examples of all sorts of sizes and even colors. less fleeting than those of charcoal or mechanical pencils can be found in Whatever the model, chalk. They did not fade like ink. And antique stores, not to mention old mechanical pencils unlike metalpoint lines, they were desk drawers. are distinguished The Nuts and Bolts of erasable—rubbing with breadcrumbs In the late 18th century Nicolas- from other pencils made blacklead marks disappear, as if Jacques Conté (1755–1805) began in that their cores are not bonded Others grip leads with a metal claw, by magic. combining powdered graphite and to their outer casings, allowing the and still others utilize side clickers Mechanical Pencils Soon the material was being mined clay to produce pencil leads with cores to be manually or mechanically that push leads forward at conve- and sold. Chards were chiseled into varying levels of hardness. In mod- manipulated, extended, retracted, nient lengths. Many have hollow echanical pencils fill sticks and wound with string to be ern times, plastic polymers have removed and replaced. bodies for storing extra leads. Some the shelves of schools unraveled as needed. Thin slivers been added to the mix, allowing the Some mechanical pencils expel have attached erasers. Simpler, less and offices. They’re an were covered with wax, pushed into manufacture of extremely thin leads or retract leads through a thin tip. expensive designs come in fixed inexpensive, commercially hollow reeds or encased in wood or manufactured product sold metal tubes, making it cleaner and Mby the dozen. They’re often designed easier to work with. Only a year after to be as eye-catching as sugarless the storm Conrad Gesner, a highly gum—and as disposable. It’s not reputed Swiss scholar, wrote of the surprising that many artists have existence of a new lead-holding never given them a serious thought, device, a forerunner of both wooden but high-quality mechanical pencils and mechanical pencils. He specu- can now be found in abundance in lated that the blacklead at the core of art stores. It’s all too easy to dismiss the pencil might be antimony. their potential—and to overlook their The actual composition of the impact on drawing. material remained a mystery until the The origins of mechanical pencils late 18th century when it was discov- are linked to the discovery of graphite. ered to be neither lead nor antimony It was a dark and stormy night, as the but rather a form of carbon. The sub- story goes, in Cumberland, England, stance was renamed “graphite” (from in 1564. A heavy storm toppled a huge the Greek for “write”), but even now A collection of antique mechanical pencils by Mabie, Todd & Co., circa 1870. Gold mechanical pencil by Mabie, Todd & Co., ca. 1870. old oak tree, roots and all. The event the terms “lead” and “graphite” are A wide variety of historical mechanical pencils can be seen online at the PHOTO: JONATHAN V. VELEY Lines drawn with mechanical-pencil leads in widths “Mechanical Pencil Museum,” legendaryleadcompany.com. changed history. of (from top) 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.7mm and 0.9mm. often used interchangeably, and the PHOTO: JONATHAN V. VELEY 22 Drawing / Fall 2016 DRAWINGMAGAZINE.COM DRAWINGMAGAZINE.COM Drawing / Fall 2016 23 MATERIAL WORLD help to maintain the integrity of the which are difficult, if not impos- picture plane. And though mechani- sible, to achieve any other way. He cal pencils are often thought of as says he relishes never having to stop an essentially linear medium, they and sharpen a pencil. John Whalley, need not be. In my Study for Man’s meanwhile, uses an array of me- Best Friend the thin, light lines of a chanical pencils with leads ranging 0.3mm lead helped me develop the from 4H to 4B in conjunction with underlying unity of the composition. graphite powder applied with stumps For the finished drawing I patiently or steel wool. built up large, dark areas of tone with 0.7 and 0.9mm leads, which allowed t can be difficult to ascertain what me to complete the drawing without artists have used mechanical muddying areas by smudging. I pencils, because so often Many accomplished contempo- the medium is simply listed as rary artists use mechanical pencils, “graphite.” But from the variety whether as their primary tool or and quality of mechanical pencils Study for Man’s Best Friend Man’s Best Friend (Study of Dog Skulls) in conjunction with others. Mark available today and from the Darya XX by Sherry Camhy, graphite (0.3mm HB mechanical pencil), 16 x 20. by Sherry Camhy, graphite (mechanical and wood pencils), 16 x 20. Work in progress. Gonzales uses disposable mechanical examples seen here, it’s apparent by Costa Vavagiakis, 2015, graphite (mechanical pencil with 0.9mm HB pencils to create his complex images. that serious artists are giving serious lead), 17 x 14. Costa Vavagiakis uses a hatching consideration to mechanical pencils, sizes, while more complex pencils point of a 0.2mm lead. With mechan- technique with a 0.9mm HB lead for with remarkable results. v are adaptable to different leads with ical pencils, small details such as the precise control over areas of carefully systems to indicate the different sizes pupil of an eye are easily conquered. defined form and luminous shadows, and graphite grades. Metal pencil “ex- A mechanical pencil is easy to tenders” that can securely hold large control, and its lines are consis- leads more than 0.5mm thick—which tently thin, dark and sharp, whereas Class of ‘54 require special sharpeners—may not a traditional pencil’s marks will vary by John Whalley, fit within a more limited definition of in width and value with the slightest 2007, graphite “mechanical pencils,” but many art- change of pressure. This uniform line (mechanical pencil), 43½ x 56½. ists use these larger leads in conjunc- quality has a unique beauty and can © 2016 JOHN WHALLEY. tion with smaller ones for large work. Like traditional drawing pencils, mechanical-pencil leads vary in hard- ness from 9H (the hardest) to 9B (the softest). An HB lead falls in the middle of the scale. Note that some pencils intended for writing, rather than art, use a different scale, from 1 to 4, with higher numbers being harder. Keep in mind too that the exact hardness of any pencil will vary by brand. Artists can use mechanical pencils exclusively or can alternate between them and traditional pencils to great advantage. Among the strengths of mechanical pencils are their fine points, which in many cases are so thin that they do not need to be sharpened, unlike traditional pencils. No standard pencil, no matter how well sharpened, can compete with the 24 Drawing / Fall 2016 DRAWINGMAGAZINE.COM.