Rose day Pencil Art

What to look for in a mechanical pencil

Right Size Lead

With so many to choose from, how do you find the right one for your project? First, you need to think about the lead.

There are 4 common sizes of leads for

mechanical pencils. Before you even start looking at mechanical pencils, know which lead size you will need. If you’re in doubt, .5mm and .7mm are both very versatile for both writing and drawing.

0.3 mm: thin for detailed drawings or fine writing.

0.5 mm: popular, good for writing and drawing.

0.7 mm: most common, good for writing and drawing non-detailed work.

0.9 mm: popular for sketching or use on newsprint where a thinner lead would rip through.

How do you use a mechanical pencil?

For the most part, mechanical pencils are quite simple to use - with most of them, you just click the button on the end to feed out more lead whenever you need to. Retract the lead by holding the button in and gently pushing the lead in. When one stick of lead is used up, keep clicking until the next appears.