STAEDTLER100-HB Mars Lumograph Graphite Pencils for Drawing & Sketching- HB (Box of 12)

First of all THESE PENCILS ARE NOT TOYS - they are much too expensive too soft and WAY too black to be left in the hands of a child. I got the 8B because someone at my Life Drawing class showed me one. This soft pencil is wonderful to use - it is intensely black not grey like normal graphite. It is very tough, one can use a light touch or a really heavy push without breaking the point and the strip sharpens easily and takes a long time to wear down but being so thick it will shade full 5mm lines if held at a low angle. I have hated graphite pencil for drawing most of my life -ever since I saw sanguine crayon and silverpoint and brush drawings, but these Pencils, however they are made, are a joy to use. They are also very difficult to smudge, though the side of the hand tends to pick up some black it is not as much as a 6B graphite would give and washes off very easily. If the lines are light they can be rubbed out with a putty rubber but heavy lines leave a ghost on paper...They seem to be slightly soluble in water and White spirit but I have not experimented much with this. I would not use them with watercolour or colour pencil unless you want black lines around everything - I am told they are much used by animators and can see why they would be. I do not know why Amazon classes these pencils as toys, they are a perfect professional Tool.

Been using these for years. Was in college for animation and illustration and these were recommended for their top quality, would not use anything else.

Love these pencils for darker areas of graphite art pieces. Consistant quality. Not as dark as the Lumagraph Black range, but does give a clean graphite compatible finish.

Can't give a rating for sheerness, since I've no idea what it means. Softness is a silly category in this context. These pencils are graded F, which is somewhere between HB and H. As far as I know, there's no internationally agreed standard from one manufacturer to another on grading, so one HB pencil may be harder - or softer - than one made by another company.Anyhow, as far as these go, they are perfectly between the HB and H grades produced by Staedler. As usual, they are high quality pencils with a consistent lead, no unwanted grains or unexpected powdery sections; just the same from start to finish. They sharpen well and feel comfortable in use.As with their leadholders, Steadler's wooden pencils, are, in my opinion, the best you can get, and they are the only thing I'd consider for drawing.

Probably the perfect pencil. Absolutely and completely consistent -- the lead never varies, never snaps during sharpening, and is smooth all the way through. A real everyday pleasure to use.

Hexagonal shape stops hand from slipping which can happen with round shape pencils. Consistent quality of graphite. The 2B allows a good variety of mid and dark tones to be built up when sketching.

Great set of pencils

Perfect

Much easier to use... erasing is much easier

I use a soft pencil to mark my music scores so that it can be easily erased.

Excellent product with a consistent product quality pencil to pencil, year over year.This pencil is excellent for making the light marks that need to be there, but that no one needs to see.

I bought a box of 12 - 'B' pencils because I use that one more than the others. It was a very good deal. These are excellent pencils. I am happy. What more can I say. :)

Very satisfying pencil - darkness of the 12B but smaller core like the 10B, allowing a sharper point. My research finds me annotating older books with foxed pages and aging paper. After trying every major brand, I can state this is the very best pencil I have found for that purpose. Many thanks to Staedtler for a fine product.