You asked about the pencil shown in this post?
This handy tool is called a drafting lead holder or clutch pencil. It contains a thicker core of lead (2mm) than a mechanical pencil (0.05mm to 0.09mm) and must be sharpened with a specialized device called a lead pointer.
Pencil lead is manufactured in a range from soft to hard, with “B” representing a soft lead and “H” representing a hard lead. B stands for “Black” and H stands for “Hardness.” As such, a soft lead produces a darker, thicker line and a hard lead produces a lighter, thinner line. The full spectrum is represented below in an image from Dave’s Mechanical Pencils. The more B’s a lead has, the softer it is, the more H’s it has, the harder it is.
Your typical school pencil or mechanical pencil uses an HB lead, which is dead in the middle between soft and hard. (A “#2 pencil” is the same as an HB pencil.) However, for my artwork, I prefer a harder lead which is less dusty and won’t smear as readily. A harder lead keeps its point longer as well. However, with a hard lead, artwork isn’t as black on the page as with a softer lead. For me, this is an easy trade-off. I use a softer-leaded pencil to lead up the back side of tracing paper in prep for transferring a design, but for all other pencilly purposes, I prefer a hard lead.
Perhaps this helps some of you out? I thought lead ratings were relatively common knowledge till I saw the light bulb go off behind Isaac’s eyes when I explained these terms to him a couple of weeks back. I guess I’m in my own little world. Me and my pencils.
Huh – I feel so much smarter now, had NO clue there was a pen like this out there! 🙂
I love lead holders too! Must get them out and start drawing again though.
Awesome! Thanks Heather! I knew about the lead properties, but oddly enough I’ve never heard of a clutch pencil. Thanks for taking the time to go into such detail to help us out.
I’ve never used a mechanical pencil for my pencil drawings. I might have to try it.
Hi Heather. Thanks so much for this post – I had never heard of a lead holder! Off in search of a Hobby Lobby today. BTW, the URL for Dave’s is (or, was) davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com
I have a couple lead holders from the ’50s. Most favorite drawing instrument ever!
I used these while in architecture school. My all time favorite is an antique one from the 60s, it’s super smooth and made of metal. Many of the new ones are plastic and just don’t feel the same while drawing. I think these last longer than modern traditional mechanical pencils because the lead holder style holds more. They can make a mess though.
I love pencils, I’ve always been a bit of a pencil geek and have always (since being about 7) used a 2h pencil, either normal wooden pencil or a mechanical pencil. Feeling the pencil love!!!
Thank-you!
Thank you for such detailed information. What a wealth of knowledge you have! Now off to find me one of those lead pointer devices.
How interesting!!! I love mechanical pencils but for some reason I always use fine point sharpies when I draw out my designs:) Thanks for sharing this!!!
Awesome info! Need to pick up a couple for my sketchbook. Look awesome for Zentangles.
I love lead holders. Am no designer or architect but I find them extremely useful, and no sharpening needed!
My favorite pencil to use while drawing is HB, I’ve been favoring it for the past 3 years.
This takes me back to my early days with hand drafting. I’ve been thinking about revisiting those skills… and now seeing this post, I just might have to! Thanks!