Fat Lead Holders

When it comes to lead sizes for sketching, I have gone through many phases.

I started out with 0.5mm and stayed with that for several years before moving on to 0.7mm and 0.9mm.

Then I went back to finer leads such as the 0.3mm, and even experimented with ultra fine 0.2mm leads.

Then I went back to the boader end of the spectrum with 2.0mm leads, and loved them so much I wrote an article about these leads.

In a subsequent article I wrote that I had finally settled on 1.3mm leads as the perfect size for me, especially for subway sketching on small cards.

Later I discovered multi-mechanical pencils that combined different lead sizes in one pencil.

But I've never really ventured beyond 2.0mm.

I even had two pencils with fatter leads in my collection which had been neglected and forgotten: 3.0mm and 5.8mm. They are made by Maruzen Bijutsu Shoji (丸善美術商事) which is a Japanese company.

In English they are the Maruzen Artist Materials and Works Company or just Maruzen Art (not to be confused with the famous Maruzen department stores).

These pencils are fairly heavy and have a smooth aluminum barrel with brass parts inside and a chrome plated nose cone and back button.

They advance the lead in increments when you push the back button with your thumb.

They are called Thumb Holders.

I don't know why they chose that name since these pencils will definitely not hold a thumb. At this big lead size, a lot of people call them lead holders.

So I decided to sharpen my Maruzen Art 3.0mm Thumb Holder and give it another try.

I took it with me for some subway sketching on blank meishi (business cards) and was happy to find that this pencil was perfectly fine for small sketches.

I could get lots of line variation similar to a brush with both fine and broad lines, depending on the angle of the tip.

And the 4B lead made nice black lines that did not smudge with watercolor on Kent cards. I think there is less smudging on smooth surfaces like Kent.

Here is a sketch done on a cheap 3x5 index card with a very smooth surface.

By the way, all the photos on this page are larger than they appear, so you can pinch out to see more details.

The Kaweco Classic Sport 3.2mm

Now that I had warmed up to fatter lead holders, there was another one out there that looked so cool and was always in the back of my mind; now I could finally rationalize the purchase.

I ordered a Kaweco Classic Sport Clutch Pencil in my favorite color on Amazon.

I tested it on the subway, and found that I could make expressive sketches.

I was able to get both thick lines and very fine lines by adjusting the angle of the pencil because there is usually a sharp point at the very tip.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the 5B lead that came with the pencil did not smudge with watercolor, at least not on smooth Kent cards.

This pencil is very short and fits in the palm of my hand as well as my front pants pocket. It is also very light.

A lot of people swear by the Kaweco Sport, and it has a lot of fans. However, as I sketched with it for a few weeks, I personally found that the barrel a little too fat for my fingers, and it was not as comfortable as the Thumb Holder.

Took the Plunge

Suddenly my Thumb Holder been promoted to the position of best sketch pencil.

And to think that this perfect pencil had been sitting unused and forgotten in a drawer for all those years.

Now I wanted to get a spare or two, plus extra leads just in case it becomes discontinued.

The popular Lamy Scribble 3.15mm pencil is a case in point; the replacement leads are still available, but good luck trying to find the pencil itself.

I went into town (Tokyo) and ended up buying four more Thumb Holders so that I could have a complete set in every color that was offered. I also bought several packs of proprietary 3.0mm 4B leads.

Lead Pointers for 3.0mm Lead

Why would anyone want to sharpen a fat lead so that it makes the exact same line as a thin lead?

I discovered that the advantage comes when you try to get line variation by adjusting the pressure.

A fatter lead will get more line variation even when sharpened, and it won't break as easily. In my quest for expressive line variation I often bear down so hard that I break even 2.0mm lead!

The sketch above was done quickly on the subway on a blank business card with the 3.0mm Thumb Holder and sharpened 4B lead.

The Thumb Holder has a lead pointer in the end button which unscrews, but it is not a good option especially on a crowded train for two reasons:

1. You have to stop drawing and unscrew the end button from the barrel.
2. You have to immediately dump out the graphite powder or it will get everywhere, on your fingers and inside the barrel where it will come out the other end.

However, two of my 2.0mm lead pointers will also take this 3.0mm lead, and they fit in my pocket without spilling graphite powder everywhere. These are:

• The OHTO Brass Lead Pointer
• The Kitaboshi Pencil Lead Sharpener

As I wrote above, Maruzen Art produces another Thumb Holder that holds 5.8mm lead, which might be the fattest lead in a pencil in the world. Any leads fatter than that are just held in the hand and used without a lead holder.

I had one of these ultra fat 5.8mm Thumb Holders which I had bought at the same time as its 3.0mm sibling, but had never used it much except for a few experiments many years ago.

So it was time to sharpen it up and give it another try.

I sketched on a 3x5 index card because it seemed to make better sense than a business card with such a fat lead.

The 5.8mm version comes with a very soft 6B lead, but it did not seem to smudge with watercolor on this paper which was not Kent, but a smooth watercolor paper with a little tooth.

I was very happy with the results, but this 5.8mm Thumb Holder is definitely heavier than the 3.0mm model and a little unwieldy.

However, I absolutely love sketching with this pencil at the zoo. Somehow the extra weight and girth of this fat pencil seems to be an asset in such situations, and it is not unwieldy at all; I actually prefer it.

Now I was hooked on fat leads, and bought a second 5.8mm Thumb Holder plus a decent supply of leads. Again, it's ironic that this pencil sat unused in a drawer for all those years...

Having discovered that I enjoyed sketching with ultra fat leads, it was time to get what some consider to be the ultimate sketching pencil, Kaweco Sketch Up Brass 5.6mm Lead Holder. It comes with a 5B lead.

Although this Kaweco lead is advertised as 5.6mm, it is closer to 5.4mm. Standard 5.6mm leads from other makers will probably be too fat for this pencil, which will only take leads up to 5.5mm in diameter.

I'm a sucker for anything that fits in my aesthetic triumvirate of brass, wood or leather.

I went back to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo with my Kaweco Sketch Up and some blank 3x5 cards.

The results were better than I had expected.

Just for fun, I did try sketching people on the subway with this pencil on small blank business cards.

As you can imagine, I could get lots of expressive line variation, but no details or fine hatching.

Sharp fat leads

In the sketch above, the lead was not very sharp, so all the lines are either broad or light.

I should have sharpened the lead first for better results, because as I mentioned above, sharp leads will get more line variation.

I'm sure this is probably because of the tip of the graphite pressing deeper into the paper surface so that more of the graphite comes in contact with the paper.

But the results are so striking that I am always amazed, and wonder if there aren't other factors at play.

Here are two sketches made on the subway with the Maruzen Art 5.8mm 6B lead which had been sharpened.

These sketches were made several months after I made the sketch above.

The one above was done on a cheap thin index card, and the one below was done on a thicker business card made with Kent paper.

This pencil got amazing line variation which resembles brush strokes.

The limitations of such a thick lead on such a small sketch will force you to think before each stroke, which is a good thing.

I mentioned above that I have found two lead pointers which will work on 3.0mm lead, but they won't take these fatter leads.

You can use the built-in lead pointer in the end button which unscrews, but you run into the two problems I mentioned above:

1. You have to stop drawing and unscrew the end button from the barrel.
2. You have to immediately dump out the graphite powder or it will get everywhere, on your fingers and inside the barrel where it will come out the other end.

I have a dedicated lead pointer that looks like a wooden egg, to which I attached a small chain. So that solves the first problem.

But the second problem remains because the pointer is open so the graphite powder just falls out, which can be a disaster in some circumstances.

You can also use a small self-contained pencil sharpener that is designed for regular wooden pencils.

These work well, but the angle is a bit too sharp for this type of pencil, not to mention all the wasted grahite.

My quest is to find a fat lead pointer with self-contained graphite storage compartment. If I find one, I'll mention it here in the future.

Wrapping it up

Here are the pencils I reviewed in this article, and they are all great for sketching, depending on your personal preferences. They are listed according to their lead thickness from 3.0mm to 5.8mm.

• The Maruzen Art 3.0mm
  Thumb Holder Slim


• The Kaweco 3.2mm
  Classic Sport Clutch Pencil


• The Kaweco 5.6mm
  Sketch Up


• The Maruzen Art 5.8mm
  Thumb Holder

All these pencils get a big fat thumbs up.

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