Editing The Pen Addict 96/transcript (section)

== Pencil Qualities ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's true.

'''Andy Wellfle:''' I didn't consider that. But yeah, those, those are kind of the qualities of my favorite pencils.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So is there, is there a, such a thing as a smoothness grade or is that incorporated into the lead hardness, darkness grades? Because, you know, notice that some pens or pencils are smoother and a lot have more, a more gritty feedback. Is that just the manufacturer and, you know, the, the types of materials that they're using is just kind of a manufacturer specific or is there any, is there anything to, to that?

'''Andy Wellfle:''' Yeah, that's really. And even those pencil grids I was talking about are not, none of that is regulated. Uh, everything's just kind of like, you know, people just kind of take a guess and just check the formula. But, but mostly that ties into, um, ties into that hardness scale. Um, if it's, if it's smoother, generally it's probably softer. Um, whereas if it's grittier, kind of toothier is the word that I often use. Um, uh, that one, that one is generally going to be a little bit harder, but it really depends on the manufacturer. I think. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And trying, trying some of these pencils, like when the black wing came out, you know, I just, you know, I mean, I had to try it just because I'd heard so much about it. And I'd never realized that a pencil could be so smooth. Yeah. I was like, Whoa, this is kind of eyeopening a little bit from someone who really almost zero experience with pencils, you know, just using, you know, whatever, whatever you can find and pick up and, um, trying something a little bit nicer like that was, it's like, wow, these are different in a good way.

'''Andy Wellfle:''' Yeah. And some of that, it could also be like, if some, if something's a little bit grittier, sometimes that even has to do with how well it's sandwiched within the wood, the, um, the lead, like if it's like super well put in there, I won't kind of vibrate and shake around a lot while you're drawing, dragging it across the paper. Oh, so, you know, that can often, you know, play a little bit role in that too. Okay. That makes sense.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that you kind of, you alluded to it just a second ago, some of your favorites, let's talk, let's talk about your favorites. Like, you know, give me your, like you said, maybe you have a top five, tell me, tell me what they are and why, and then, and why, you know, one is better than the other one you prefer more than another one.