One of the reasons i prefer it to the staedtler is because it has an end cap eraser. It’s the best quality one I’ve found, and erases cleanly even after the pencils have sat in a drawer for a few years. I find they work as well as stand-alone erasers, and they are enormously more convenient.
I have a 6B and an 8B pencil on my desk. I use them sometimes. It’s a Mars Lumograph. Should be pretty easy to find 12B–10H. However the lead is really thick on the softer grades, so sharpen carefully.
You can find the Lumograph in all hardness ranges but it is intended as a drawing pencil, so they very light weight and do not have an end eraser.
Stranger
Never! Recklessly sharpen always!
Well that hangs the whole thing up entirely.
It’s a “pencil” and doesn’t have yellow paint on it, and now you’re saying it doesn’t have an eraser on one end.
Egad. What is this world become!
OK…now this thread has just begun to become…not sure…have to ask an expert on modern slang.
Huh. Well, that sounds reasonable.
But, final answer, I find it much more satisfying to take a 6B pencil and just scratch out and obliterate at the offending passage! 
OK, a box of Staedtler Lumographs in 9B and one in 8B came my doorstep…today or last evening, I think.
Decent pencils. I did want to try the Mitsubishi wooden barrels…I’ve heard the quality of their graphite is especially smooth…and I don’t know why I thought I would notice the difference of 9B and 8B, much less need both.
Well, maybe gifts for the nephews, while keeping the lion’s share for myself, of course!
Comfortable in the hand…the only real flaw I find is that they are featherweight…not very substantial to hold.
But along with those came along some Mitsubishi 2mm leads in boring old 2B and 4B (I’m either out of those hardnesses, or can’t find them…anyway…useful softnesses to have around, I find…kind of general purpose for those who enjoy the medium-softer grades of lead).
And for once the packs of a dozen 2mm leads didn’t come from Amazon with multiple broken leads. Don’t know how that happened, but that seems good!
And since this is of critical interest to everyone on god’s green earth, I just found one of the last of my supply of Conté Mentor model 249 in HB. That’s been the only wooden pencil I’ve ever really enjoyed.
Indeed, even the eraser at the non-pointy end is fine.
And the wooden barrels are painted in red. Not a bad pencil. God knows I’ve gone through enough of them over twenty or (mumble…more…years).
But I am pleased with the Mitsubishi Uni leads…an aburd cut over Staedtler or Koh-I-Noor leads…although one pays a premium (six per pack rather than twelve for the Koh-I-Noor leads…and however many leads they shove in those little blue plastic tubes from Staedtler you’d see at an art store or however).
Sorry to say the Staedtler 925 model…click-to-advance. Otherwise a nice feeling lead holder. But who has the patience to be clicking all day just to advance the lead? Not to mention the inconvenience of sharpening/pointing those?
Those cheap little Mitsubishi Uni lead holders, at about five bucks a pop, have kind of grown on my. No, they don’t have a sharpener/pointer integrated to their design, but their leads are indeed very nice,
Since I should probably have some more wooden pencils that I approve of, I guess I’ll try score some Conté Mentor…in 2B would be nice…but I suspect it’s a student model, given the model name. You know, model 249. It’s regular Skull-and-Bones type stuff.
also Over the years I have all of these HB leads, many in unopened packages included with various leaders…no…never going to use HB for writing or anything in my life.
Maybe some kind of smelting process? Grind them into dust, put them in a Ralph’s coffee can, and send them off to the sea?
Beats me…probably just toss 'em.
Still using the Blackwing 602 for guide lines, still happy with its performance!
I saw this pencil on sale on the way out of my local Rockler’s, and bought it on a lark.
I. LOVE. IT!
Best carpenter’s pencil I’ve ever used.
That is the problem with pencils, as opposed to holders. So my perfectly good pencil is down to a stub, not a respectable golf pencil, even. What am I supposed to do with it? I bought a certain length pencil and I can’t even use all of it?
Stranger
For math, erasable pencils are invaluable. I write and take notes with pen and mechanical pencil. Conveniently, that gives me 2 colors. Nice!
I have an assortment of 5mm mechanical pencils. Some have retractable nibs so they don’t eat a hole in my pocket. I’ve tried the Kuro Toga - it’s ok, but for some reason it’s not my go-to.
Oooh! That is almost irresistable!
My crude Shrek-like mitts can grasp one of those…and I can use the dozens of HB leads in those as well.
I don’t do a lot of woodworking…but occasionally I overcome my sloth and put up a shelf or something at home…pencil is handy for marking the studs, marking wood to be cut.
Thank you for a very good excuse to spend more on some more lead holders! Seriously, that’s a good tip! (Er…so to speak).
Kind of pricey…but I was just now looking at this Sckriss 2mm lead holder at forty-eight clams…which is a bit much for me, since I’m always swapping lead holders depending on what grade of lead I desire at the moment.
I might rather “invest” in a box of regular wooden carpenter pencils…but that’s not to say this model only need serve in a handyman’s line of work. Pop an 8B in there and make a drawing of a cat…or whatever people do!
I have a feeling you might be making a bit of a spoof, but…I suppose it’s a valid…er…point.
Although I was talking about just the maybe hundred or so bare 2mm leads I accumulated in HB, which I don’t find appropriate for any kind of writing…good for making rough marks on wood, though.
@Stranger_On_A_Train yeah, I’ve seen those pencil extenders…
Am I the only one who thinks they are completely ridiculous? Just get a new pencil, fools! Cut off the eraser and feed it to one’s goldfish!
Or, join the elect few and “Choose lead holders. Won’t you? Also, buy war bonds where you work or bank!”
“Series E Defense bonds! Each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy’s gun!”
Stranger
My god, man, have you never heard of a pocket protector?
How reckless of you!
And a mathematician at that.
Tsk, tsk! 
Here is a general observation for buying pencils: if you do not like featherweight pencils, the ones that contain zero wood feel somewhat more substantial, because graphite is denser than wood.
Not in the case of cheap plastic mechanical pencils (probably the majority today). Although I would agree that if you want more heft in your pencil you’ll lean towards metal mechanicals, the ferrule design and/or woodcase pencil extenders provide plenty of heft and balance options for wood pencils.
I was probably not clear. I was not talking about mechanical pencils, just ‘plain’ pencils. Standing in front of the display, I noticed two kinds: one where the lead is encased in wood/plastic/whatever, but also the kind that is just a solid cylinder of graphite covered with a bit of lacquer so you can hold it without getting it all over your fingers.
Even a cheap metal pencil extender will, presumably, take care of heft and balance issues, if any.
Ah yes, “woodless” pencils. Thanks for the clarification.
They are a strange category. I find I only prefer them when I’m drawing and want to develop flats and edges on the graphite. Rarely for writing. I think because sharpening them tends to be messier than with woodcase. I don’t know, but presumably that’s why they aren’t the default, given the comparative complexity of manufacturing woodcase pencils.