Regular vs. Mechanical Pencils
The Past
When I was in elementary school, I was writing with some
regular wooden pencils. Earlier, I had complained that the pencils I used
always became dull really fast. In the garage, we had a black hand-crank pencil
sharpener. Now the garage was not heated and the hand-crank pencil sharpener
was bought when my dad was in high school. Those two facts combined made
standing on a chilled metal step stool to crank for several minutes to sharpen
one pencil sound very boring and uncomfortable. This particular day my mom walked in carrying
a rectangle plastic container.
“I had your dad get you some mechanical pencils to try.”
I stopped writing. “What are they?”
“They’re pencils you don’t have to sharpen.” She smiled.
I tossed my pencil aside.
My mom chuckled, opened the container, and handed me an
orange one.
“Thanks Mom.”
I started writing with it.
Snap! The
lead broke.
“Um Mom
how do you make it sharp?”
“You push the eraser down.”
I pushed it down a couple of times and had a very long
point in no time. I started writing.
Snap! The lead
broke again.
I pushed the eraser down, fewer times than before. I
managed to write a sentence before it broke again.
Snap!
My mom walked back out into the dining room,
where I was writing. “Try not pushing down so hard on the paper. And here.” She
tried moving my fingers. “Don’t strangle the pencil. Hold it like this.” She
showed me the correct way to hold it.
I sighed. “I don’t push it down to hard.”
“You’re strangling the pencil.”
“Okayyyyy.” I went back to writing.
Snap.
This time the pencil also
made a mark.
I grinned guiltily. “I wasn’t pushing down that hard.”
My mom
rolled her eyes.
I tried
erasing the pencil mark and made the point two inches long. “Oops.” I broke the
extra lead off with my fingers.
“See you
are pushing down to hard.”
“Well
how else am I supposed to do it? And the mark wouldn’t come off otherwise and I
can’t put the lead back in.” I pushed the eraser, but only a tiny bit of lead
came out so I pushed it again. The last bit of lead fell out of the pencil. I
looked guiltily at my mom, “Can I have another one?”
“This
isn’t going to work. We can’t go through more than a pencil a day. They’re
expensive.”
“Sorry.”
“Just
don’t push so hard.”
I went
back to writing. In a couple of seconds, the lead broke again and I put down
the mechanical pencil. Looking around, I grabbed my old regular wooden pencil
and went out to the garage to sharpen it. Coming back in three minutes, I
started writing again to finish a couple seconds later for lunch.
The Present Debate
I still
don’t like mechanical pencils. However, I am gentler on my pencils than I used
to be. But still what are the advantages of each type of pencil? For the minority
of people still concerned about the ‘lead’ in regular pencils, since as late as
1564, what we call the ‘lead’ of a pencil has actually been graphite (1). About
two hundred years after the invention of the printing press, another German
manufactured the first mass-produced pencil in 1662 (1). According to
cultpens.com Mechanical pencils have several advantages, you don’t have to
sharpen them, have consistent line width, consistent balance, they are
refillable, and there is a wide choice of style and materials with mechanical
pencils (2). On that last one, I would have to disagree. While there are a wide
choice of style and materials with mechanical pencils, the same goes with regular
pencils. Not all pencils are #2 Ticonderoga’s. In addition to the standard
graphite pencils, there are also solid graphite, charcoal, carbon, colored,
grease, watercolor, erasable color, non-reproducing (photocopying machine can’t
copy what you write with it), stenographer, and golf pencils (3).
Some
people consider the mechanical pencil to be superior to the wooden pencil,
because mechanical pencils can be refilled. However, most domestic and
international pencils today are made from Incense-cedar trees in California
(1), which,
“To
ensure the continued availability of Incense-cedar, forest workers have
carefully managed the stands of trees, and timber companies have committed to
harvesting Incense-cedar on a sustained-yield basis. “Sustained-yield” means
that the annual growth of the forest is greater than the amount harvested from
the forest. Forests managed on a sustained-yield basis are abundant and
healthy, and will continue to provide wood for people and habitats for animals
for generations to come,” (1). Similarly, there is “No Special [legal] Status” for
these trees according to the U.S. Forrest Service’s Database (4). This means
that they aren’t in any danger and that the efforts to keep this resource’s
population healthy are so far successful. Therefore, there isn’t need for concern about
the sustainability of wooden pencils.
How
about those into drawing? Again there are a bunch of different types of both
mechanical pencils as well as wooden pencils. However, when comparing the
standard versions of each in a pencil drawing, one youtuber at least has come
to the conclusion that there is not a significant difference between mechanical
and wooden pencils. She only noted that, “the mechanical side [of the pencil
sketch she did] is a little bit darker compared to the wooden side…[and] the
wooden side is also a lot easier to blend,” (5).
The Conclusion
To end
this comparison, I think I’ll quote the youtuber, “But honestly it’s up to what
you like to do, your personal preference.” In order to keep endlessly spending
money on lead, I’ll stick with wooden pencils, plus I like their erasers
better.
Image Credit: "Pencils" by Me.
Sources:
(1) "Pencil History" by Pencils.com. Accessed 2-4-18.
(2) "Guide to Mechanical Pencils" by Cultpens.com. Accessed 2-4-18.
(3) "Different Classifications and Types of Pencils" by Historyofpencils.com. Accessed 2-4-18.
(5) "Mechanical Pencil VS Wooden Pencil" by SuperRaeDizzle Accesed 2-4-18.
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