How hard pencil is indicated. Simple pencils, differences

Practical tasks in engineering graphics

Drawing lines and fonts

Graphic work number 1

Graphic work № 1 , recommended for students to perform engineering graphics, is aimed at mastering the skills of drawing drawing lines, fonts and inscriptions, as well as familiarizing themselves with the basics of working with compasses.
In the process of performing the work, the student must complete the drawing frame, the main lines provided for ESKD, drawing font letters and circles represented by various drawing lines.

The work is carried out on drawing paper format A3 (420 × 297 mm).
To do the job, you will need pencils with a hardness TM ,T , 2T , a ruler with a length of at least 300 mm, a protractor, a compass, a square (to execute auxiliary parallel lines), eraser, pencil sharpener.
The ruler and square must be wood or plastic (metal strongly "cut" the pencil lead, leaving dirt on the drawing).

For the high-quality performance of graphic works, you must have a set of pencils, which must include a pencil of medium hardness ( TM ), solid ( T ) and very hard ( 2T ). In this case, hard pencils are used to draw thin lines in the drawing and for a preliminary sketch of the outline of the image, which is subsequently outlined with a medium hard pencil.
Pencil markings in different countries are described below.

Pencil hardness designation

In different countries, the hardness of pencils is marked with different symbols.
In Russia, marking of pencils with letters is adoptedM (soft) andT (solid) or combinations of these letters with numbers and with each other. The numbers in front of the letter indicate the hardness or softness of the pencil. Moreover, it is intuitively clear that2M - very soft,M - soft pencil,TM - a pencil of medium hardness (hard-soft),T - solid and2T - a very hard pencil.

There are often imported pencils on sale, for which European or American markings are applied.
In the United States, pencils are marked with numbers from 1 to 9 (fractional numbers are also used, for example: 2.5), while a # (hash) sign is usually placed in front of the number:#1 , #2 , #2,5 , #3 , #4 etc. The higher the number (digit) in the marking, the harder the pencil.

European pencil markings are based on the letters of the Latin alphabet:

· B (abbreviated from blackness - blackness) - corresponds to the Russian marking under the letterM (soft);

· H (from hardness - hardness) - corresponds to the Russian hardness markingT (solid);

· F (from fine point - thinness, tenderness) - a pencil of medium hardness, approximately correspondsTM ... However, the combination of lettersH andV – HB also means medium pencil hardness.

European marking provides for a combination of lettersV andH with numbers (from 2 to 9), while, as in the Russian marking, the larger the number, the higher the property of the pencil corresponding to the letter (softness or hardness). Pencils of medium hardness according to the European marking have the designationH , F , HB orV .
If there is a letter on the pencilV with a digit from 2 to 9 (for example:4B , 9B etc.), then you are dealing with a soft or very soft pencil.
LetterH with a number from 2 to 9 on a pencil indicates its increased hardness (for example,2H , 7H etc.).

Graphic job №1 and a sample of the work performed are presented in the figure below.
A sample of the work performed in full size can be opened in a separate browser window by clicking on the picture with the mouse. After that, it can be downloaded to a computer or printed on a printer for use as a task for students.
The task is presented in two versions:

· Option number 1

· Option number 2

The task is aimed at acquiring and improving the skills of drawing lines of the drawing and fonts, while their style must meet the requirements of the standards ESKD and ESTD.

According to the requirements ESKD the sizes of lines and fonts in the drawing must meet the following requirements:

· main solid thick line (for drawing a frame, title block, contour of a part or a node - that is, for the main lines of graphic work) should have a thickness 0.6 ... 0.8 mm; in large drawings, this line can reach 1.5 mm in thickness.

· dashed line (drawing the lines of the invisible contour)- executed in thickness 0.3 ... 0.4 mm (i.e. two times thinner than the main thick line)... Line length (4-6 mm) and the distance between adjacent strokes (1-1.5mm) normalized GOST 2.303-68;

Other lines (dash-dotted, wavy, solid thin - to indicate axes, extension and dimension lines, cut boundaries, etc.)- thick 0.2 mm (i.e. three times thinner than the main thick solid line).
Length of dashes in dash-dotted line (axis designation) should be 15-20 mm, the distance between adjacent strokes is 3 mm.

· letter height fonts must comply with the acceptable standard ruler, while the height of lowercase letters and the distance between letters in the line correspond to the size of uppercase (uppercase) letters.
Most often in graphic works of the format A4 and A3 fonts like V inclined 75 degrees, with the height of lowercase letters (which should be equal to 7/10 of the height of the uppercase, i.e., uppercase letters), is taken equal to 3.5 or 5 mm (respectively, the height of the capital letters is 5 or 7 mm).

· Letter spacing the line should be equal to 1/5 uppercase height (uppercase) letters, i.e. for the height of the capital letter 5 mm the distance between letters in a line is 1 mm, for the height of the capital letter 7 mm- the distance between letters is approximately 1.5 mm .
When drawing letters, it is important to maintain the same height and slope in the line, as well as the distance between adjacent letters.

In the section to the question Who understands the marking of pencils - 2B, B, HB, given by the author Alexander Chumakov the best answer is
Pencils differ in the hardness of the lead, which is usually indicated on the pencil and indicated by the corresponding letters. Pencil hardness markings differ from country to country. On the pencil, you can see the letters T, MT and M. If the pencil is produced abroad, then the letters, respectively, will be H, HB, B. A number is indicated in front of the letters, which is an indicator of the degree of hardness of the pencil.
Pencil hardness marking:
USA: # 1, # 2, # 2½, # 3, # 4.
Europe: B, HB, F, H, 2H.
Russia: M, TM, T, 2T.
Hardest: 7H, 8H, 9H.
Solid: 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H.
Medium: H, F, HB, B.
Soft: 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B.
The softest: 7B, 8B, 9B.

Answer from Alexander Kobzev[guru]
artists))) and Draftsmen))

Answer from Sedoy[guru]
H - hard, M or B - soft and softness levels

Answer from Tigr[guru]
Pencils differ in the hardness of the lead, which is usually indicated on the pencil and denoted by the letters M (or B) - soft and T (or H) - hard. A standard (hard-soft) pencil, in addition to the TM and HB combinations, is denoted by the letter F.

Answer from Galchenok ......[active]
2B - hard lead. B- medium hardness. HB - soft

Answer from Sergej[newbie]
B means softness of the shaft, 2B is a very soft pencil, for example, it is good for shading, B is a pencil with a soft shaft, H is a pencil with a hard shaft, and HB is a hard-soft pencil. Depending on the softness or hardness, lines of different thickness are drawn. Well, in my opinion, HB is suitable for all cases. Well, nomadically in drawing they use pencils of different softness.

Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth on Wikipedia
Check out the wikipedia article on Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth

Graphite pencils that exist to this day, was invented by a French scientist Nicola Conti in 1794. Usually, a lead pencil is called a “simple” pencil, as opposed to colored pencils. Graphite pencils can be divided into two main types: soft and solid... The type is determined by the softness or hardness of the lead inside the pencil body. You can tell the type of pencil by looking at the letters and numbers written on it. The letter “M” indicates that the pencil is soft, and the letter “T” is hard. There is also a type of TM - hard-soft. The degree of hardness or softness of a pencil can be recognized by the numbers written in front of the letter. For example, 2M is twice soft than M. and 3T is three times harder than T. In many countries of the world abroad, for example, in England, in the USA, the letter H or B are written. H means hard, B - respectively soft and HB is hard-soft.

A striking example for comparing pencils can be seen in the figure:

The choice of a pencil depends on the type of paper, on the work being done, and also on the personal preferences of the artist. For example, I prefer the HB pencils from Faber Castell. It is more convenient to sharpen pencils with stationery knives. Historically, knives for sharpening stationery (feathers) were called "penknives". It is very important to keep your pencils safe from dropping. The lead can be shattered into small pieces from the impact. It is also important to keep your pencils dry. When dampening and subsequent drying, the pencil shirt can be deformed, which will lead to a violation of the integrity of the lead. There is also another type of lead pencil called the Mechanical Pencil. They are convenient in that you do not need to sharpen. These pencils have a movable lead. Its length can be adjusted using a button. Mechanical pencils come with very thin leads (from 0.1 mm). There are also mechanical pencils with an intermediate lead thickness. The thickest mechanical pencil lead that I could get my hands on is 5mm. Professional artists often like to draw with such pencils.

Hardness marking of pencils

Pencils vary in lead hardness, which is usually indicated on the pencil.

In Russia, graphite drawing pencils are produced in several degrees of hardness, which is indicated by letters, as well as numbers in front of the letters.

In the United States, pencils are marked with numbers, and in Europe and Russia, a mnemonic combination of letters or just one letter.

The letter M denotes a soft pencil. In Europe, they use the letter B for this, which is actually an abbreviation for blackness (something like blackness, so to speak). The number 1 is used in the United States.

To designate a hard pencil in Russia, the letter T is used. In Europe, respectively, H, which can be deciphered as hardness.

A hard pencil is designated as TM. For Europe it will be HB.

A standard hard-soft pencil, in addition to combinations in Europe, can be denoted by the letter F.

For guidance in these international issues, it is convenient to use the table of correspondence of the hardness of the scales, which is given below.

History of pencils

Beginning in the 13th century, artists used thin silver wire to paint, which was soldered to a pen or stored in a case. This type of pencil was called a "silver pencil". This instrument demanded a high level of skill, since it was impossible to erase what was drawn by it. Another characteristic of it was that over time, gray strokes applied with a silver pencil turned brown.

There was also a "lead pencil" that left a subtle but clear mark and was often used for preparatory sketches of portraits. For drawings made with silver and lead pencil, a subtle line style is characteristic. For example, Dürer used similar pencils.

Also known is the so-called "Italian pencil", which appeared in the XIV century. It was a rod of black clayey shale. Then they began to make it from burnt bone powder, fastened with vegetable glue. This tool allowed you to create an intense and rich line. Interestingly, artists still sometimes use silver, lead and Italian pencils when they need to achieve a certain effect.

Graphite pencils have been around since the 16th century. The first description of a graphite pencil was found in the 1564 writings on minerals by the Swiss naturalist Konrad Geisler. At the same time, the discovery of a deposit of graphite in England, in Cumberland, where the graphite was sawn into pencil rods, dates back to. English shepherds from the Cumberland area found a dark mass in the ground, which they used to mark the sheep. Due to the color similar to that of lead, the deposit was mistaken for deposits of this metal. But, having determined the unsuitability of the new material for making bullets, they began to produce thin sticks pointed at the end from it and used them for drawing. These sticks were soft, stained your hands, and were only suitable for drawing, not writing.

In the 17th century, graphite was usually sold on the streets. To make it more comfortable and the stick was not so soft, artists clamped these graphite "pencils" between pieces of wood or twigs, wrapped them in paper or tied them with twine.

The first document that mentions a wooden pencil is dated 1683. In Germany, the production of graphite pencils began in Nuremberg. The Germans, mixing graphite with sulfur and glue, received a rod of not such high quality, but at a lower price. To hide this, pencil makers have resorted to various tricks. Pieces of pure graphite were inserted into the wooden body of the pencil at the beginning and at the end, while in the middle there was a low-quality artificial rod. Sometimes the inside of the pencil was completely empty. The so-called "Nuremberg Goods" did not enjoy a good reputation.

It was only in 1761 that Caspar Faber developed a method for strengthening graphite by mixing crushed graphite powder with resin and antimony, resulting in a thick mass suitable for casting stronger and more uniform graphite rods.

At the end of the 18th century, the Czech I. Hartmut began to make pencil rods from a mixture of graphite and clay, followed by firing. Graphite rods appeared, reminiscent of modern ones. By varying the amount of added clay, it was possible to obtain rods of different hardness. The modern pencil was invented in 1794 by the talented French scientist and inventor Nicolas Jacques Conte. At the end of the 18th century, the British Parliament imposed a strictest ban on the export of precious graphite from Cumberland. For violation of this prohibition, the punishment was very harsh, up to the death penalty. Despite this, graphite continued to be smuggled into continental Europe, which led to a sharp increase in its price.

On the instructions of the French convention, Conte developed a recipe for mixing graphite with clay and producing high-quality rods from these materials. With the help of processing at high temperatures, high strength was achieved, but even more important was the fact that changing the proportion of the mixture made it possible to make rods of different hardness, which served as the basis for the modern classification of pencils by hardness. It is estimated that a pencil with a rod 18 cm long can draw a line of 55 km or write 45,000 words! In modern leads, polymers are used, which make it possible to achieve the desired combination of strength and elasticity, make it possible to produce very thin leads for mechanical pencils (up to 0.3 mm).

The hexagonal shape of the pencil case was proposed at the end of the 19th century by Count Lothar von Fabercastle, noting that round pencils often roll off inclined writing surfaces. Almost ² / 3 of the material that makes up a simple pencil goes to waste when sharpening it. This prompted the American Alonso Townsend Cross to create a metal pencil in 1869. The graphite rod was placed in a metal tube and could, if necessary, be extended to an appropriate length. This invention influenced the development of a whole group of products that are used everywhere today. The simplest design is a mechanical pencil with a 2 mm lead, where the rod is held by metal clamps (collets) - a collet pencil. Collets open when a button on the end of the pencil is pressed, resulting in an extension that is adjustable by the user of the pencil.

Modern mechanical pencils are more advanced. Each time the button is pressed, a small section of the lead is automatically fed. Such pencils do not need to be sharpened, they are equipped with a built-in eraser (usually under the lead feed button) and have different fixed line thicknesses (0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, 0.9 mm, 1 mm).

Lead pencil drawings have a grayish tone with a slight sheen, there is no intense blackness in them. The famous French cartoonist Emmanuel Poiret (1858-1909), who was born in Russia, invented the pseudonym Caran d'Ache, which sounded aristocratic in the French manner, with which he began to sign his works. Later, this version of the French transcription of the Russian word "pencil" was chosen as the name and trademark of the Swiss brand CARAN d'ACHE, founded in Geneva in 1924, producing exclusive writing instruments and accessories.

Simple pencils, differences. What is a pencil? This is a kind of instrument that looks like a rod made of writing material (coal, graphite, dry paints, etc.). This tool is widely used in writing, drawing and sketching. Typically, the stylus is inserted into a comfortable frame. pencils can be colored and "simple". Today we will talk about such "simple" pencils, or rather, about what types of graphite pencils exist. The very first object that remotely resembles a pencil was invented in the 13th century. It was a thin silver wire soldered to the handle. We kept such a "silver pencil" in a special case. To draw with such a pencil required remarkable skill and skill, because it was impossible to erase what was written. In addition to the "silver pencil" there was also a "lead" one - it was used for sketches. Around the 14th century, the "Italian pencil" appeared: a rod made of black clay shale. Later, the rod was made from burnt bone powder mixed with vegetable glue. This pencil gave a clear and color-rich line. By the way, this kind of writing instruments are still used by some artists to achieve a certain effect. Graphite pencils have been known since the 16th century. Their appearance is very interesting: in the Cumberland area, English shepherds found a dark mass in the ground with which they began to mark sheep. Since the color of the mass was similar to lead, it was mistaken for metal deposits, but later they began to make thin sharp sticks from it, which were used for drawing. The sticks were soft and often broke, and their hands got dirty, so it was necessary to place them in some kind of cover. The rod began to be clamped between wooden sticks or pieces of wood, wrapped in thick paper, tied with twine. As for the graphite pencil, which we are used to seeing today, Nicola Jacques Conte is considered its inventor. Conte became the author of the recipe when graphite was mixed with clay and subjected to high temperature processing - as a result, the core was strong and, in addition, this technology allowed you to control the hardness of the graphite.

Lead hardness Lead hardness is indicated on the pencil in letters and numbers. Manufacturers from different countries (Europe, USA and Russia) have different pencil hardness markings. Hardness designation In Russia, the hardness scale looks like this: M - soft; T - hard; TM - hard-soft; The European scale is somewhat wider (the F marking has no Russian correspondence): B - soft, from blackness (blackness); H - hard, from hardness (hardness); F is the middle tone between HB and H (from the English fine point - thinness) HB - hard-soft (Hardness Blackness - hardness-blackness); In the USA, a scale of numbers is used to indicate the hardness of a pencil: - corresponds to B - soft; - corresponds to HB - hard-soft; ½ - corresponds to F - medium between hard-soft and hard; - corresponds to H - hard; - corresponds to 2H - very hard. Pencil pencil stripes. Depending on the manufacturer, the tone of the line drawn with a pencil of one marking may differ. In Russian and European pencil markings, the number in front of the letter indicates the degree of softness or hardness. For example, 2B is twice as soft as B and 2H is twice as hard as H. Pencils are marketed commercially from 9H (hardest) to 9B (softest) Hard pencils Start from H to 9H. H - hard pencil, hence - thin, light, "dry" lines. With a hard pencil, they draw solid objects with a clear outline (stone, metal). With such a hard pencil, according to the finished drawing, over the shaded or shaded fragments, they draw thin lines, for example, draw strands in the hair. A line drawn with a soft pencil has a slightly loose outline. A soft lead will allow you to reliably draw representatives of the fauna - birds, hares, cats, dogs. If it is necessary to choose between a hard or soft pencil, artists take a pencil with a soft lead. An image drawn with such a pencil can be easily shaded with a piece of thin paper, with a finger or an eraser. If necessary, you can finely sharpen the graphite shaft of a soft pencil and draw a thin line similar to that of a hard pencil. Hatching and Drawing Strokes on paper are drawn with a pencil tilted at an angle of about 45 ° to the plane of the sheet. To make the line thicker, you can rotate the pencil around the axis. Light areas are hatched with a hard pencil. Dark areas are correspondingly soft. Shading with a very soft pencil is inconvenient, since the lead quickly becomes dull and the fineness of the line is lost. The way out is to either sharpen the point very often, or use a harder pencil. When drawing, they gradually move from light to dark areas, since it is much easier to darken a part of the drawing with a pencil than to make a dark place lighter. Please note that the pencil should not be sharpened with a simple sharpener, but with a knife. The lead should be 5-7mm long, which allows you to tilt the pencil and achieve the desired effect. Graphite pencil lead is a fragile material. Despite the protection of the wooden shell, the pencil must be handled with care. When dropped, the lead inside the pencil breaks apart and then crumbles during sharpening, making the pencil unusable. Nuances you should know when working with pencils For shading at the very beginning, you should use a hard pencil. Those. the driest lines are obtained with a hard pencil. The finished drawing is drawn with a soft pencil to give it juiciness and expressiveness. A soft pencil leaves dark lines. The more you tilt the pencil, the wider the track will be. However, with the advent of pencils with a thick lead, this need disappears. If you don't know what the final drawing will look like, it is recommended to start with a hard pencil. With a hard pencil, you can gradually dial the desired tone. At the very beginning, I myself made the following mistake: I took a pencil that was too soft, which made the drawing dark and incomprehensible. Pencil frames Of course, the classic version is a lead in a wooden frame. But now there are plastic, varnished and even paper frames. the lead of such pencils is thick. On the one hand, this is good, but on the other hand, such pencils are easy to break if put in a pocket or dropped unsuccessfully. Although there are special pencil cases for carrying pencils (for example, I have a set of KOH-I-NOOR Progresso black lead pencils - a good, solid package, like a pencil case).

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