Tray
Graphite, graded and counted.
The tray holds five grades. Left to right: 2H, H, HB, B, 2B. That is the range we use for a letter and for a draft that may take ink later. We do not stock 8B. It smears on sized cotton and it transfers to the envelope.
| Grade | On our cotton |
|---|---|
| 2H | A light line you can ink over. On the gelatin-sized 118 gsm it stays pale under a dark dye. |
| H | A note that should not dominate the page. |
| HB | The ordinary point. Sharp, it is darker than a blunt 2B. |
| B | A darker note. Keep the point long and the pressure ordinary. |
| 2B | Softer still. A long point snaps if you bear down as if the sheet were newsprint. |
The pencils are cedar, hexagonal, and they have no eraser on the end. An attached eraser dents the next pencil in the tray, and in a furnace-dry week it hardens anyway. A vinyl block sits in the same tray and is sold on its own. One block, not a tin of shapes.
A dozen is twelve
We sell one pencil or twelve. Twelve go into a paper band. The single is priced higher than one twelfth of the banded dozen, because the dozen is already counted. Both prices are on the ticket. We say them before we wrap anything.
We will put a point on one pencil at the counter while you wait. The tool is a blade, unless you ask for a short point that will live in a pocket. A right blade takes the cedar off in one curl. We sweep the shavings into the bin before the next count. We do not sharpen a handful while a ream is being counted. One pencil, then back to the sheets.
When the room dries out
Cotton that felt yielding in October ticks when you flex it in January, once the furnace has been running. The tooth tightens. Graphite rides the tops of the fibers and looks lighter. People ask for a softer grade. Sometimes that is the right change. Sometimes the point is dull.
The same dry sheet changes the ink line: dye draws tighter, and a customer thinks the bottle has thickened. Often the paper changed. Read The furnace and a sharper line beside the ink page before you replace a bottle that was only cold or only dry. The July opposite, a cockled sheet and a wetter line, is west light.
A pencil line under iron gall should be the 2H or the H. A soft grade smears into the size and muddies the ink. We will say so if both are on the counter at once. Pairings for the sheets are on the cotton page.