In 1564, in a place called Barrodale in England, people discovered a black mineral-graphite. Because graphite can leave traces on paper like lead, which is much darker than that of lead, people call graphite "black lead". At that time, shepherds in Barrotel used graphite to mark sheep. Inspired by this, people cut the graphite block into small strips for writing and painting. Soon, King George II of England simply collected the Barrodale graphite mine as the royal family's possession and designated it as a royal patent. Use graphite bars to write, it will stain your hands and break easily. In 1761, the German chemist Faber first solved this problem. He rinsed the graphite with water to turn the graphite into graphite powder, then mixed it with sulfur, antimony, and rosin, and then formed this mixture into a strip, which was much tougher than pure graphite strips, and it was not easy to get hands dirty. This is the earliest pencil. Until the end of the 18th century, only Britain and Germany were able to produce such pencils in the world. Later, Comte mixed graphite with clay and burned in a kiln to make a pencil lead that was both good and durable in the world at that time. When the ratio of clay mixed in graphite is different, the hardness of the pencil core produced is also different, and the color depth is also different. This is the origin of the H (hard pencil), B (soft pencil), and HB (soft and hard pencils) marked on the pencils we see today. The larger the B value, the softer and thicker the pencil, and the larger the H value, the harder and lighter the pencil. Soft pencils are loose in lead and light on the paper for easy modification, while hard pencils are suitable for in-depth depiction of details. 6B to 2H are commonly used pencils for sketching. Usually 4B or 5B pencils are suitable for dark tones (6B pencils are too thick to coordinate with other pencils), HB is suitable for mid-tones, and 2H or 4H is suitable for drawing in the bright part of the light. In the end, the task of putting the wooden pole jacket on the pencil was done by the American craftsman Monroe. This is how the pencil we use now was born.

Author: Strongink Pen Kits