Artist & Drafting Pencil Leads Fit Lead Holders & Mechanical Pencils

2mm lead is produced from a mixture of graphite and clay. The lead hardness is determined by the clay to graphite ratio; harder drafting lead has a higher percentage of clay than softer sketching leads. The perfectly graded Berol Turquoise lead is now branded under Sanford’s Prismacolor. The Pentel mechanical pencil lead is formulated from polymer resin bonded to carbon and graphite particles that never need sharpening.

Pencil Lead Hardness

The Conté system is a popular scale for rating pencil hardness, with 9H measuring the hardest through 9B the softest. The entire range of lead hardness is used by artist to create tones that are very light to completely back. The leads used by architects and engineers for drafting are mainly harder. No one scale has been adopted by pencil manufacturers for grading lead hardness.

• Turquoise Prismacolor leads are available 6B through 9H in packages of 12
• The colored Prismacolor lead is offered in red & non repro blue
• Alvin leads are packaged in 3, 12, and 144 with hardness ranging from 2B to 6H
• Pentel .3mm, .5mm, .7mm and .9mm lead is offered in hardness ranging 4B to 6H