![]() As noted previously, it has a very wide core. The Super-DX remains an amazing specimen of pencilcraft – the finish is just astounding. On paper, it may be just a shade lighter. I still agree that it a has a waxier feel. The fude enpitsu (brush pencil) is a gold finshed 10B pencil with a Hi-Uni cap. Now the above are the mainstream pencils – but there are (at least) three others. ![]() I think these pencils provide a really interesting and satisfying experience, which I recommend to anyone seeking to lay down exceptionally dark lines. On this paper, and others such as Fabriano Disegno 200gsm (94lb) paper (acid free, toothy), I have trouble really seeing any greater saturation or darker line among the various grades. The 9B and 10B have decidedly wider cores. On Strathmore Bristol 300 series 260gsm (100lb) paper (acid free, white, smooth), trying the new Hi-Unis is like tasting county fair caramels – they are all amazingly smooth and delicious. Tombow stops at 6B, as did Mitsubishi – until 2008, when they added 7B, 8B, 9B, and 10B to the Hi-Uni lineup. Some manufacturers offer very dark pencils in “carbon” or “ebony” lines – but these are typically composed of charcoal, carbon (soot or lamp black), or oil based, rather than graphite.Īnd some pencils that use the traditional B grades, like the Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 7B and 8B, are carbon based pencils. ![]() Anything beyond that can be very hard to find, especially as a traditional graphite pencil. These soft grades typically go up to 6B in the ranges of many manufacturers. I like it, but am undecided about the appearance.įor drawing and shading, the super dark marks of the softest grade pencils can be very appealing. The pencil does leave a notably dense, rich, black line. I bought a box of the 2B with the blue finish. So regarding the pencils – they come in B and 2B grades, and a choice of green, pink, or blue finishes. So what about the scientific advances said to be in the formula? Shouldn’t this be a product in Mitsubishi’s premier Uni range? Here I am lost – if the product is what it claims to be, why is it priced and packaged as a lower end item? The pencils look like (and are labelled as) a product for children. NanoDia? Nanoscopic diamonds? Well, graphite molecules are no doubt the cousins of diamonds in the carbon family. So the features went into a new product – the NanoDia. An established line can’t just be altered. So if Mitsubishi did find a way to make a graphite core denser and smoother, one can see that they may have had a problem on the matter of what to do with their discovery. And perhaps even making the lead stronger might be seen as too much change to a formula. But any feature that changes the feel of the lead on paper, or the blackness or luminescence of the line, or the known chemistry between the graphite and paper, probably has to be directed elsewhere. So how then, does an improvement get introduced? Well, perhaps it depends on what the feature is – if the strength of a lead core can be improved without changing other pencil characteristics, then that feature could possibly be integrated with the main pencil line. That they remain absolutely reliable and stable as tools for artists is a main selling point over readily available and less expensive alternatives. A key differentiator of the top global pencil lines – the Hi-Uni, the Mono 100, the Castell 9000, or the Mars Lumograph 100 – is that they remain the same high quality product, and perform the same way, year after year, decade after decade. Paint or wood improvements are probably simple enough to introduce, and won’t likely disrupt the user base, but a change to a graphite formula could cause problems. Now considering this matter, I’ve been wondering just how a major pencil manufacturer introduces product improvements. The features of note include strength and density. The line was announced in 2008, and started with mechanical pencils refills woodcase pencils were introduced a couple of years later. The graphite is claimed to benefit from some important and noteworthy quality advances. The Mitsubishi NanoDia pencil is supposed to be something special.
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