Pencil Leads

Lead Degrees

Leads come in a variety of different degrees, also known as hardness which determines how dark or light they write. We've noted below wherever were able, the degree of the leads we offer for sale. General rule of thumb to remember is that the more H you see in the degree, the harder and lighter the lead will write. The more B you see in the degree, the softer and darker the lead will write. HB is the equivalent of the standard No. 2 pencils you probably grew up using.

Common Lead Degrees

H - hard, light writing, equivalent to no. 3 pencil
F - hard, light writing, equivalent to no. 2 1/2 pencil
HB - in the middle, equivalent to no. 2 pencil
B - soft, dark writing, equivalent to no. 1 pencil

Common Vintage Lead Sizes

The most common sizes of lead for vintage mechanical pencils were 1.1mm and 0.9mm. 1.1mm leads were frequently referred to as "thick" lead and the 0.9mm size was often referred to as "thin" lead. Of course, today, there are much thinner diameter leads made, but we're talking antique pencil leads!

For your reference:
1.1mm = 0.046 inches
0.9mm = 0.036 inches

Victorian Lead Designations

Many old pencil makers such as Mordan, Baker and others and especially in England and Europe used a letter designation to indicate the diameter of the lead used. There was no standard for this, so it's always best to try and spec out your lead diameter with an electronic micrometer or caliper. Here's a listing of lead designations we've compiled:
AM = 1.5mm
H = 0.80mm
M = 1.0mm
VS = 1.5mm
W = 2.0mm

Refilling your Vintage Mechanical Pencils

Most mechanical pencils made before the late 1960s and some even after that are refilled by feeding lead in from the Point End. Those that feed from the barrel (below the eraser) are a fairly modern invention! Don't be fooled by leads in the barrel, in older pencils, that was simply a space to store a few extra leads, but that's it - just storage. As always with vintage writing instruments, exceptions will crop up! 

Collectible Woodcase Pencils

Wood pencils may very well be the most user friendly writing instrument in the world! Generally non-toxic, wood pencils are leak-proof, can delete your errors and are not subject to electronic snafus. Not to mention they are inexpensive and easy to acquire. A wood pencil can write on average a line abut 35 miles long - about 45,000 words. A sharpened pencil point can withstand writing pressure of about 3700 pounds of pressure per square inch before breaking off.

Early references to graphite date back to around 1564 when plumbago was discovered by shepherds and used to mark their flocks. In 1779 K.W. Scheele in Sweden discovered that plumbago was a form of carbon and named it graphite. In 1662, Friedrich Staedtler opened a pencil shop in Nurnberg, Germany. Kaspar Faber first commercially produced pencils in 1765 in Stein, Germany by binding graphite with Bavarian clay. Faber Castell continues to make pencils and other writing instruments today. Other early pencil inventors were Corte of France and Hardtmuth of Austria who worked on perfecting the graphite composition. Today, many of the early formulas for graphite are still in use by pencil makers.

Pencil Erasers

Unfortunately, as with most writing things, erasers were not very standardized over the years, nor are they now! However, there are a few common sizes that fit a good many of the pencils made. The easiest way to determine what size eraser you need for your mechanical pencil is to measure the diameter of your old eraser in millimeters. If the eraser is gone, take a measurement of the opening where the eraser goes. Rulers work fine for this, but if you have a caliper, it will work even better! If all else fails, and no erasers are the correct diameter for your pencil (yes, it happens!), you may have to consider creative alternatives. Carving your own eraser refills is an option. Good old fashioned Pink Pearl erasers work well for this, as do Magic Rub white vinyl erasers. If you're handy, you can also make a metal "punch" and punch out refills from a larger block style eraser. A piece of paper makes a good shim, if a ready made eraser almost fits, sometimes all it takes is a small piece of paper wrapped around the base of the eraser to make it fit just right. On the opposite end of this theory, sometimes taking a ready made eraser that is just a tad bit too big and shaving off a little bit will provide you with the correct fit. You just need to think outside the box a little bit when it comes to refilling erasers on your vintage mechanical pencils.

We thought it might be helpful to keep track of which size eraser fits in which mechanical pencils. This is a very simple list. There could be oddities and exceptions. We've also listed known diameters of erasers we've measured and other little tidbits of eraser information. Whatever we come up with that might be helpful, we'll keep adding to the list. If you have a positive identification of pencil and eraser size, please drop us an email and we'll include it on this list. We hope this info is helpful to you!

Which Eraser Do I Need?

Unfortunately, as with most writing things, erasers were not very standardized over the years, nor are they now! However, there are a few common sizes that fit a good many of the pencils made. The easiest way to determine what size eraser you need for your mechanical pencil is to measure the diameter of your old eraser in millimeters. If the eraser is gone, take a measurement of the opening where the eraser goes. Rulers work fine for this, but if you have a caliper, it will work even better! If all else fails, and no erasers are the correct diameter for your pencil (yes, it happens!), you may have to consider creative alternatives. Carving your own eraser refills is an option. Good old fashioned Pink Pearl erasers work well for this, as do Magic Rub white vinyl erasers. If you're handy, you can also make a metal "punch" and punch out refills from a larger block style eraser. A piece of paper makes a good shim, if a ready made eraser almost fits, sometimes all it takes is a small piece of paper wrapped around the base of the eraser to make it fit just right. On the opposite end of this theory, sometimes taking a ready made eraser that is just a tad bit too big and shaving off a little bit will provide you with the correct fit. You just need to think outside the box a little bit when it comes to refilling erasers on your vintage mechanical pencils. 

6mm diameter Erasers are Back!!!   Small things make a difference!

Many vintage pencils including Parker 51, Parker Vacumatic, Sheaffer Snorkels & other Sheaffer models plus a wide range of other older mechanical pencils use 6mm diameter erasers.  Slowly, but surely, most of the companies stopped offering this popular size eraser, until finally, within the last year, the last company still offering the erasers, Sheaffer,  dropped them from their line up, too.  So many of these pencils are still in circulation and in use, what to do if you make a mistake?  The only option was hand carving an eraser one at a time yourself. That is quite a chore, we've done that many times for odd sized erasers. Instead of hand carving erasers, we decided to talk with a friend who is a tool and die guru - extraordinaire and see if he could come up with some kind of machine where we could somewhat easily make 6mm diameter erasers.  Lo and behold, a few weeks later, an amazing machine arrived on our doorstep and we once again have 6mm erasers made from pink pearl eraser blocks - so you know they erase very nicely.  We were thrilled and to be honest, even if it isn't the most exciting thing in the world to do, it's pretty darned satisfying being able to turn out perfect 6mm diameter erasers!

Remember to save any metal sleeves that may hold or surround old erasers, you'll probably need them!

AUTOPOINT
Autopoint No. 40E erasers = 6.7mm dia
Autopoint No. 39E = 8.5mm dia

ESTERBROOK
Esterbrook "Dollar" Push Pencil (cap actuated), 4 3/4" long - Eraser is 5 mm diameter and its metal collar is 6 mm in diameter. The collar is 3/8" or 1 cm long
Esterbrook Early "PJ" (uses 0.46/1.1mm dia lead) model, 4 7/8" long - Eraser is 5 mm diameter
Esterbrook later "PJ" model - (uses 0.46/1.1mm dia lead), 4 7/8" long - Eraser is 5 mm diameter
Esterbrook "TJ" model (uses 0.36/0.9mm dia leads) Eraser is 5 mm diameter
Esterbrook Small "TJ" model (uses 0.36/0.9mm dia leads), collar is 1/4 inch long. Eraser is 5 mm diameter
(Thank you to Jim Crutchfield for the above Esterbrook information.)

After further investigation, it seems that many PJ and TJ erasers use 6mm diameter erasers, a fairly common size. Perhaps Esterbrook changed eraser size specs over the many years of production? At any rate, please be sure to measure your Esterbrook pencils before ordering to ascertain if your pencil uses 5mm or 6mm erasers.

EVERSHARP
Utility Pencils (ca. 1930s long pencils) use 7.4mm dia erasers

PARKER
Parker 45 pencils use 3.45mm dia erasers
Parker 51 pencils use 6mm dia erasers
Parker 75 metal twist activated pencils use 6mm dia erasers
Parker 75 plastic and later 0.5mm pencils use 3.45mm erasers
Parker 95 pencils use 5.0mm dia erasers
Parker Arrow pencils use 5.0mm erasers
Parker Classic pencils use 4.7mm dia erasers
Parker MODERN Duofold pencils use 9.0mm erasers
Parker Jotter pencils use 4.7mm dia erasers
Parker Premiere pencils use 5.0mm dia erasers
Parker Vector pencils use 4.7mm dia erasers

SHEAFFER
Over the years, Sheaffer many times used letter designations for erasers. Below is a list of the the letter designations and corresponding diameter or the eraser.

B = 5.25mm dia
D = 3.9 - 4.0mm dia, length 14mm
G = 5.0mm
P = 6.0mm dia - (Currently being made by Pendemonium - see PEN6MM-6)

Sheaffer Agio pencils use 5.0mm dia erasers

Sheaffer Snorkel Pencils use 0.9mm diameter pencil leads and Sheaffer No. 86135 0.6mm diameter erasers without the "cage".  The eraser slides into the eraser holder perfectly and securely.

There were two versions of Sheaffer Targa pencils, early ones used 0.9mm diameter leads, later ones used 0.5mm diameter leads and of course they each used a different eraser! So, if you can figure our which lead your Targa takes, you can also figure out the eraser.

Sheaffer Targa 0.5mm diameter lead pencils use Sheaffer Type G 5.0mm diameter erasers

Sheaffer Targa 0.9mm diameter lead pencils use Sheaffer Type A erasers

SCRIPTO
K780 (clear and translucent colors) use 6.6mm dia erasers