The Portland daily press., 1899-11-08
PENCIL LEADS.
Costly Varieties for the U.e OF Artists
Many Kinds of Pencils.

called black-lead, though is contains no
ead-mixed with other substances. such
a. clay. Ire leads are formed BY fcrctng
the material OF which they are composed
ground mp and moistsned 90 a. to give IL
O suitable consist ency, through forms or
mouida From these forms the material
comes out, like string or oord. Lsfs to
itseH 10 would coil up Ike . string. This
is out into the lengths required for the
pencils In which 10 ~ to tie ussd.
The finest of artist's pencil leads are
made Of rem arkably fine and pure
Siberian graphite that is worth perhaps
half Its weight n silver. This is groun
and resrouna 10 give 1t perfect uniform
ity OF texture. and II Is then subjected to
process called sluioing. In whi,h the
powderei graphite Is foatsd upon the
surface OF water Grit or other impuri-
ties ssparat, themselves from 10 here and
sink. the graphite being then skinned
of. There IL mixed With this, for the
making Of the pencil leads. some proper
ton Of German clay thai 10 Itself Of .
texture 90 fine that q rednished surface
Of It has to the touch tas smoothnsss Of
silk. This admixturs Of clay Is requisite
to hold the lead together; the degree Of
the leads softnssa being governed large.
" by the proportion of clay used.
Leads OF this sort, not enclosed In wood
but made to be used Ia hollow Pen oils,
are very soft and easily broken. Suoh
leads are put up for sale In trim, Ion g.
Tat boxes, containing half dozen leads
ranged side BY side, each lead in deep
little chamber OF it's own. The hneet and
softsst leads of this sort sell st retail for
b5 c,nts q box, some for a. much ~ 66
cent?, or say, 10 cents each. This price
might sesm high 10 one unaooustoInsd t.
buying that kind Of pencil or pencil leads
Dut he can buy Q cedar pencil Of the oon-
ventional size and form. containing .
lead Of tie sam: IKE. KIND and quality: ior ~
for 10 cents. Ten oent' for a whole pencil
SENS like lower price: nut while the
lead in the wooden pencil In somewhat
longer IL Is of only about half tbs dame
tar Of the leads Of this kind sold SEPARATE
~, and the separate leads are actually
cheaper.
There are othr artists pencil leads,
put up In fat toxss like those described,
which are further protscted By placing
each lead frst In q slender. delicate glass
tube; these tubes, each with lead an
closed, bsing dropped into the several
are In various oolors, and cost less than
those above mentioned. but with fess
diamster Vt lead, and stiil more fragile
and liable to be broken.
Pencil lsads and complete pencils for
various artistic purposes are produced In
single line Of oedSr pencils with colersd
leads there are TO b. found forty-eight
different eolors and shades. Thsse vari-
ous pencils are put tn many uses BY many
persons; by artists, architects, draught,,
mes. map makers photographers and
others.
few articles Of mors world wide common
use, and few things that are made In
greatsr variety. Lead pencils are made,
ss to shape, round, square, bsxegonal,
triangular, diagonal. otlong and oval
and IN many sizss; and the leads are like
Wise made In many shape: and OF many
siEes, as we'll a. telling produced In many
coiors. There are many styles. a. 20 collar
and shade OF wood, and the manner OF
lsttsring; many kinds OF pencil tops; and
there are many kinds Of the hollow pen
ellis, with which separate leads are used.
Pencils ara produced not only for many
countries, and penoiis that were In de-
mand In one country might not b. want
ed In another. In ons country the psnoil
user likes to have pencil with. this famil-
lar lettering ON II stamped in gold: In
another country he may prefer to have
that mark stamped In silver. Some Per-
pie Ike one sort Of top on pencil, and
some like another, or some particular scrs
Of that kind, and all These preferences,
whatever they may bs, are taken into 40
count. There 10 one pencil man ufacturer
who produces for the American market
alone bet wsen 7U0 and 200 varieties Of
lead pencils, and ~ many more varieties
60, 81 a ,uI ~ E.Vu
Lead pencils Of ali grades from the fnes {
to the cheapest cost less now than they
used to. and some are sold nowadays at
prices that seem marvellousIy low, these
Including school pencils, some Of which
are sold at retail as low as i've cents q