Which pencil lead is darkest

In this article, we will help you understand pencil lead grades and how to choose the perfect one for you and your projects.

In the USA, pencil manufacturers often use a numerical scale. The scale is based on numbers, which represent the level of lead hardness in a pencil. The higher the number, the harder the lead and the lighter mark that will be produced. However, they are often accompanied by a number to indicate the level of hardness, blackness, or fineness.

Hard lead is known for being smudge-resistant and giving clean lines, which makes it a great choice for outlines or technical drawings. A softer lead is often used by artists as it can create quick and heavy lines. Today, most pencils using a HB system and lead grades will be designated a number and letter combination. Choosing the correct pencil for your writing or drawing is just as important as selecting a lead grade. Mechanical pencils can be used for both drawing and writing.

Today, however, most pencils using the HB system are designated by a number such as 2B, 4B or 2H to indicate the degree of hardness. For example, a 4B would be softer than a 2B and a 3H harder than an H.

Generally, an HB grade about the middle of the scale is considered to be equivalent to a 2 pencil using the U. In reality however, there is no specific industry standard for the darkness of the mark to be left within the HB or any other hardness grade scale. Thus, a 2 or HB pencil from one brand will not necessarily leave the same mark as a 2 or HB pencil from another brand. Most pencil manufacturers set their own internal standards for graphite hardness grades and overall quality of the core, some differences are regional.

Although it is still commonly referred to as pencil lead. How light or dark the pencil will write and how strong the lead core is depending on the ratio of the graphite to clay.

Pencils with a high ratio of clay to graphite have a stronger lead core and produce light marks when writing on paper. As the ratio of the graphite to clay is increased the core of the pencil writes increasingly dark marks but also becomes softer.

The graphite scale lead hardness scale is a visual means of categorizing the resultant marks from pencils with cores that have different ratios of graphite to clay. There is some dispute as to who was the first to categorize pencils in this way.

However German pencil manufacturers claim that it is a system that they used which predates Franz Hardtmuth with H representing Hardness and B represents blackness. The truth of which has been lost over time but I kind of like the idea that Franz invented the pencil lead scale and named it after himself and where he worked.

As opposed to the German efficiency of hardness and blackness. For many years the HB scale was from 9H to 9B but eventually, some pencil manufacturers added 10H and 10B to their ranges with Staedtler going up to 12B. Buy on Amazon. Check out the Wooden Pencil Brands Ultimate Guide for more information on the pencils and grades available.

It includes 20 of the biggest pencil brands and over different pencils. However, finding the darkest pencil lead is a little more complicated than just choosing the one with the highest B lead grade number.

It may not be any darker than for example a Japanese-made Mitsubishi Hi Uni pencil which has a 10B lead grade. Although the 10B and 12B pencils produced the darkest black lines of any standard graphite pencil a charcoal pencil usually can produce deeper blacks than a graphite pencil.

Charcoal pencils are also made from a form of carbon and are darker than the darkest graphite pencils. However, unlike graphite which is mined from the ground Charcoal is produced by slowly burning wood or other naturally occurring substances in a container with restricted airflow. This leads to the production of charcoal from the wood that had not completely burned through. The charcoal is then compressed and mixed with a binder such as clay, wax, or gum to form the core of the pencil and encased in wood.

The pencils are usually classified by their consistency such as soft medium, or hard or it can also be by their color i. They are relatively smudged resistant although as the B number increases so does the amount that they will smudge. The main drawback of graphite pencils is that they have a small core so are not ideal for covering large areas and there is also a slight sheen to them.

Charcoal pencils can produce deeper blacks than graphite pencils but because charcoal is quite crumbly even when encased in the wood they are still a little messy and can smudge quite easily.

Another problem is that they can be difficult to sharpen. They will also need to be used with a fixer to preserve the drawing. Our top 7 darkest pencils include the darkest graphite and charcoal pencils that are generally considered to produce the deepest black colors.

They are not listed in order of blackness and we do not recommend anyone to be blacker than all the others. At the end of the day, it is down to personal preference and you may need to try a couple of these pencils to find what suits you best.

The Staedtler Mars Lumograph 12B pencil is the graphite pencil that has the highest B rating of any pencil on the graphite scale. Which in theory makes it the darkest wooden drawing pencil that there is.