The Pencil Encyclopaedia
Every wood-cased graphite pencil worth knowing.
The world’s most complete catalogue of wood-cased graphite pencils — every brand, every grade, every spec, in one place. Compare them, learn them, and buy the right one.
533Pencils catalogued
29Brands
22Grades, 10H–10B
12Countries of origin
Every grade, 10H to 10B
From the hardest technical leads to the softest, blackest drawing graphite — the full ladder, end to end.
10H
9H
8H
7H
6H
5H
4H
3H
2H
H
F
HB
B
2B
3B
4B
5B
6B
7B
8B
9B
10B
← harder & lightersofter & darker →
Browse all 533 pencils
Twenty-nine brands, one catalogue
From the Japanese icons to historic European houses and boutique American makers — catalogued side by side.
Mitsubishi uni147
Tombow92
Koh-I-Noor24
Staedtler23
Derwent20
Caran d'Ache19
Faber-Castell18
Lyra18
General Pencil17
Cretacolor16
Camlin14
Musgrave14
Kitaboshi13
Apsara12
Bruynzeel12
Pentalic12
STABILO11
Conté à Paris10
BIC9
Palomino9
Blackwing7
Maped5
Dixon Ticonderoga3
Pelikan3
Royal Talens1
Winsor & Newton1
Daler-Rowney1
Arteza1
Mont Marte1
From the encyclopaedia
Field guides and comparisons for people who take their graphite seriously.
Guide
The Darkest Pencils
We measured the softest, blackest graphite on the market to find the true darkest pencil.
Read the guide →
Coming soon
Pencil grades explained
H, B, F and the numbers — what the grading scale actually means, and why brands disagree.
Coming soon
Hi-uni vs Mono 100
Japan’s two finest drawing pencils, compared grade for grade.
// Enterprise Graphite Instrument Cataloguing System //
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