Twist and hold, and you can push the lead back in. It's just like the clicky mechanisms, but twisting takes the place of pushing. These usually pull open in the middle to add more leads. Inside, this type of pencil often uses an adapter, similar in shape to the refill for the matching ballpoint, which contains the whole pencil mechanism and lead tube.
Essentially, the pencil is a ballpoint pen with an adapter fitted to turn it into a pencil. There's usually a cap at the top of the adapter which you remove to add more leads. Some of the pencils at that link will be of the other twist type, but we'll mention those specifically in the next section.
These aren't so common these days, but there are a few around, like Faber-Castell's e-motion. The inside is a kind of screw-mechanism, where you wind the lead down as it's used.
When you finish a lead, you remove the little stub, and push a new lead into the mechanism, and wind it back up to the top. Sometimes these only hold one lead, but they often have somewhere to store spares.
The e-motion, for example, has space for six extra leads hidden behind the nose-cone. Another solution to the problem of stopping to click out more lead is the shake mechanism - give the pencil a firm shake up and down, and a weight hidden inside does the job of hitting the button for you.
These normally have a button in the usual place too, but a quick flick of the wrist takes less time away from scribbling down your notes. Some pencils don't make you stop at all to extend more lead, at least until you reach the end of a stick of lead and have to click the next one through. The way these work can be a little unexpected, as you need to write with almost no lead visible at all.
There is a usually plastic cone around the lead. Normally, you'd have to make sure you clicked out more lead before it wore down enough to reach the supporting tube or cone, but not with an auto-feed pencil. Just keep writing or drawing. When the lead wears down enough that the cone touches the paper, the cone is pushed back up a little way. A spring inside pushes it back, feeding some lead back down with it.
The result is that the lead will wear down until it reaches this cone, but then won't go further. It sounds as though it would be uncomfortable and scratchy to write with, but the cone is smooth and rounded so it doesn't catch the paper.
You may still find it more comfortable to click lead out the usual way when you have time, but if inspiration strikes, just keep scribbling! It's a bit subtle, but we're going to make a distinction here between pencils where the sleeve that surrounds the lead can slide up if pushed; and pencils where the sleeve is designed to slide up easily while writing. A few pencils now have sleeves with edges that are smoothly rounded, so they won't catch on the paper, and made to slide up really easily.
The result is that you can keep writing in the same way you can with an auto feed pencil. The difference is that these pencils won't actually feed out any more lead, so you'll have to stop and click eventually. By that point, though, there's bound to have been enough of a pause in proceedings for you to give the button a click.
Probably the biggest innovation in mechanical pencil technology in the last few years, the Kuru Toga is, quite literally, revolutionary! As you write or draw with it, the up and down movement is used to rotate the lead.
Because a pencil is usually held at an angle to the page, the lead wears down at an angle, and forms a chisel-shaped tip with a sharp point. This shape makes for a thicker line, and the sharp point can catch on the paper. Some people naturally work around this by turning the pencil as they go, wearing the lead down more evenly.
The Kuru Toga does this for you. The result is a finer line, and less lead breakage. While it probably works best with Japanese characters yes, no surprise, it was invented in Japan! With most mechanical pencils, the eraser is there for emergency use only. If you needed to erase much, you'd probably want a separate eraser. A few pencils, though, have larger erasers, with twisting mechanisms to extend them, so they can last a long time.
If you erase often, it's a great feature. If you use mechanical pencils, at some point you're likely to have a lead jam. It happens. A tiny bit of lead gets stuck somewhere in the mechanism, and stops it from working. Lead might not click forward, or it might click forward but slide back in when you try to use the pencil.
Most mechanical pencils can be dismantled to some extent to clear a jam. Usually, the part near the tip unscrews, which lets you see the mechanism. If you then push the button down against your desk, the clutch mechanism pushes up. There's a brass ring around the clutch jaws, holding them shut - push it down, and it will release the jaws. Once they've sprung open a bit of sideways tapping should dislodge any tiny bits of lead.
If the mechanism can't be opened up, blockages can usually be cleared by holding the pencil tip-up, with the button held down against your desk, and feeding a cleaning pin in through the tip to push any little bits of lead out from where they're stuck.
Some pencils include a cleaning pin, attached to the eraser, but many don't. If you don't have one to hand, another piece of thin wire or a pin may fit, but don't force anything too wide into the tip.
At a push, a spare piece of lead can do the job, but it takes a steady hand to feed it in without snapping it! A lot of multipens have pencils as one of their functions.
These are most commonly either twist-action or gravity select models, and the pencil mechanism and lead chamber are all fitted into the space of one of the tiny ballpoint refills. They normally operate like most pencils do, by just clicking a button on the top to extend more lead. Adding more lead is a bit more fiddly, and generally involves pulling the little pencil mechanism off its mounting, just like you would to change the ballpoint refills.
There's space for a few leads in the tube it fits onto, but don't put too many in there - two or three spares is all there's space for. These aren't the best pencils for heavy users, but if you only need a pencil occasionally, they can be ideal - a couple of different ballpoint colours in one pen is quite useful, and a pencil thrown in so it's always handy!
Buying a mechanical pencil is easy. Plus, this pencil comes with its own sharpener so you can ensure your pencil is always just so. Hi Louis, Whilst we do stock a wide range of pencil lead refills, we do not stock 1. The nearest size would be Yard-O-Led in 1. Pen Heaven are a retailer of modern ranges of pens only and we can not advise on vintage pens. You can try contacting Parker directly as they may be able to advise: I have an old parkett pencil I thought took 1.
Just falls out. Must be a 1. The three leads it came with work fine. Do you have the 1. If so let's do business. Thank you. If the pencil is vintage and you say 1. These were the standard for most mechanical pencils from when they were first invented until different lead sizes became available. Yard-o-Led still make and supply these leads for their pencils. You can purchase them using the link below:. I am looking for mechanical pencil drawing leads for plastic film mylar particularly Pentel P1 for film?
Whilst we do not stock either the Pentel P1 or Castell F1, a quick bit of investigation showed the F1 to be suitable for use on "polyester drafting film". We have 1 pencil lead which is suited for writing on multiple writing surfaces including glass, wood and plastic.
This is the Worther Pencil Leads which are thickness 3mm and hardness 7B. This blog was written and created by myself Gemma - Pen Heaven content marketing executive , and published by our e-commerce director David. It was published on October 19th Without knowing the pencil itself, its hard for us to advise. Having said that, MOST vintage mechanical pencils use a 1. This would be a good place to start. Also, some very thick leads with metal findings on the end. Any idea what type of holder these are for?
We try and be as knowledgable about pens as possible, but as we only stock current ranges and models of writing instruments we have limited expertise in vintage pens and pencils. With a little research, I found this: "The most common sizes of lead for vintage mechanical pencils were 1.
Hope it helps. Unfortunately as we do not stock Staedtler, we can not advise on what the leads you have are for. Lead Sizes for Mechanical Pencils.
My father sold office supplies from till We would sit at the table and talk about different pencil leads, refill the refillable ones, and when he passed needless to say I have a bunch of the old ones. They all need refills in them now, and stumbled across this post. Thanks, for a brief few minutes I was back at that kitchen table talking about things no ones thinks about, except us supply freaks! Ballpoint Pens Ballpoint Pens. Rollerball Pens.
Fountain Pens. Oldest Newest Most Voted. Inline Feedbacks. Cindy Tesler. Tiffany Locke. Shubham sharma. Jeff Snow. Our Company. About Us. Contact Us. Our Guarantee. Not Helpful 16 Helpful You can darken any kind of lead you are using by pressing harder with your pencil as you write. However, some leads are so hard that no matter how hard you press, the mark won't be very dark. You might try going over your writing several times to darken it, or switching to a different lead.
Not Helpful 21 Helpful Another brand I would consider to get a mechanical pencil from is Staedlter. If you mean where does it originate, it comes from graphite, which is mineral that is mined.
If you mean where can you get some, check anywhere that sells office supplies. Not Helpful 5 Helpful Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
You should be sure to use 2 pencil graphite when filling out a scanned, multiple choice test. These kinds of tests often can't read other kinds of lead. Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 1.
About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: March 7, Categories: Pencils. Article Summary X To choose mechanical pencil lead, start by checking your mechanical pencil for the lead diameter it takes, which is typically expressed in millimeters. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times. I just wanted to find out which leads are easier to see and fit the pencils that I want t use.
Rated this article:. More reader stories Hide reader stories. Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Jerry Craig Jun 27, Lucy Evans Aug 29, I realize now I should have considered my writing style. This comprehensive and clear article opens my eyes to how much choice there is. Michael S. Jul 2, I really appreciated the explanations of the softness and hardness scales.
John M. Jun 27, As an artist, there are lots to choose from! KL Brown Oct 3, Share yours! More success stories Hide success stories.
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