Learn more› By Melanie Pinola Confession time: I’ve never liked mechanical pencils. The lead breaks as soon as it touches paper, or it never leaves the pencil body in the first place.

I thought I was using the pencil wrong, but other mechanical pencils—whether they had the classic push top or a button on the side—were just as miserable to use. I gave up and went back to ...

Lead width and hardness are really what we’re talking about here. Most mechanical pencils will take lead of any hardness, and many of the higher-end options have a rotating indicator so that you know ...

The Standard's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Intricate, calligraphic writing, mathematical equations and ...

blue, red or purple ink (no green surprisingly), and mechanical pencils in 0.5 or 0.7mm lead sizes.

But am I being environmentally irresponsible by asking parents to buy plastic mechanical pencils? The Lantern is sympathetic: It’s hard enough evaluating the relative ecological impact of two ...

You might need to experiment with different size pencils and solders to get a perfect match. Common mechanical pencils come in sizes to accommodate 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 mm leads, but there are bigger ...