Had to pick between a 6B and a 4H for a set of plans last Tuesday

I was doing a detail drawing for a small addition on a 1940s house in St. Paul and hit a wall. The 6B graphite was way too soft and smudged every time I moved my hand across the page. Switched to a 4H mechanical lead and it was too light, barely visible under the lamp. After 3 tries I settled on a 2H lead with a light touch and it held the line clean without smearing. Took me an extra 45 minutes to redo the sheet but the print came out sharp. Anyone else struggle with getting the right hardness for vintage home details?

2 comments

2 Comments

barbaraw4725d ago

Fought this exact battle last month on a victorian porch trim drawing. The 6B turned into a charcoal mess by the time I got to the scrollwork and I had to tape a piece of paper under my hand to keep it clean. Tried the 4H and it scored the vellum so bad the ink wouldn't take in those lines later. Finally landed on a 3H clutch pencil with a good sharp point and it rode that perfect middle ground between smear and scratch. That 45 minute redo sounds painfully familiar, I had to scrap a whole elevation because I didn't test the lead first.

victor_adams25d ago

Started sharpening a 6H to a needle point once for some super fine brick joint lines and ended up snapping the tip off three times before I gave up. Had the same problem as you @barbaraw47 with the ink refusal on scored vellum, drove me nuts until I switched to a rougher tracing paper that actually grabbed the graphite better. The clutch pencil trick is a good one, I usually go with a 2H myself because I find the 3H still ghosts through if I press too hard after a long day. There's nothing worse than getting deep into a detail only to realize your lead choice is fighting you the whole way.