Re: "First Steps" Exercises from DWM Videos
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2023 6:51 am
One last point to make about these UNI leads. On small applications the flat face of the chisel point is wonderful, but on larger areas of application it becomes a PITA (Pain In The *ss ) since the flat face gets very smooth and leaves very little graphite on each stroke. The remedy is more pressure and the constant application of more pressure leads to sore fingers, hands, wrists and arms - and even worse to "graphite shine". Thus far I've put up with it, but I do find it very ugly and annoying. The sharp edge is Ok to work with and as an experiment, I sharpened one of the UNI leads ( the 2B I think ) to a sharp point with my KUM eraser. That point applied lots of graphite without undue pressure and the point lasted a very long time - I think that the hardness of the lead, it's break resistance and it's point retention are it's "marketing points". My takeaway here is that if I continue with the UNI leads it will not be with a chisel point but with a well sharpened point.
The dilemma I'm facing now is this : Staedtler & Faber-Castell & Koh-I-Noor 2mm lead products are not at all common here, which means they have to be imported, which means very high prices. Amazon and Dick Blick sell them for reasonable prices but the shipping is EXHORBITANT. I have some locally available brands - namely STABILO and MONGOL. MONGOL pencils are everywhere here, They are the yellow bodied school type pencil, made by EBERHARD-FABER, come in three grades (#1, #2 and #3 - very original I know - #2 is an HB), the quality is reasonable and while they are useable, they only give a very limited value range ( from about values 3 to 7 - nothing darker ). Tonight I'm going to buy a set of STABILO pencils to try them out but STABILO is an unknown brand to me - anyone know anything about them?
So, if I abandon the UNI leads in favor of graphite pencils, I can adopt the MONGOLs and I have to accept a very reduced value range and only 3 pencils to work with OR I can adopt the STABILOs if my test tonight has positive results.
My father would have called that "A bit of a sticky wicket!"
The dilemma I'm facing now is this : Staedtler & Faber-Castell & Koh-I-Noor 2mm lead products are not at all common here, which means they have to be imported, which means very high prices. Amazon and Dick Blick sell them for reasonable prices but the shipping is EXHORBITANT. I have some locally available brands - namely STABILO and MONGOL. MONGOL pencils are everywhere here, They are the yellow bodied school type pencil, made by EBERHARD-FABER, come in three grades (#1, #2 and #3 - very original I know - #2 is an HB), the quality is reasonable and while they are useable, they only give a very limited value range ( from about values 3 to 7 - nothing darker ). Tonight I'm going to buy a set of STABILO pencils to try them out but STABILO is an unknown brand to me - anyone know anything about them?
So, if I abandon the UNI leads in favor of graphite pencils, I can adopt the MONGOLs and I have to accept a very reduced value range and only 3 pencils to work with OR I can adopt the STABILOs if my test tonight has positive results.
My father would have called that "A bit of a sticky wicket!"