0.2 mm lead in H or 2H? No longer made?

[Olumin]

Since I occasionally make technical drafts of components and parts by hand, I commonly use mechanical pencils in 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7mm in hardness 2H, H and HB respectively. Recently I thought about getting a Pentel Orenz in 0.2mm for even finer detail. However, 0.2 lead (which is only made by Pentel), seems to only come on HB, B and 2B. These are too soft to allow for the fine lines I am looking for. Pentel seems to have made H grade .2 lead in the past as part of their Hi-Polymer line, these seem to no longer be made…


(Elusive 0.2 in H, no longer sold...)

Does anyone know of 0.2 leads in either H or 2H which are still sold (somewhere)?

[tp4tissue]

Jetpens have them.

https://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-Ain-Stein-Lead-0.2-mm-HB/pd/11966

[Olumin]

Jetpens have them.

https://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-Ain-Stein-Lead-0.2-mm-HB/pd/11966

They used to, they dont sell them in H or 2H. What you linked is HB...

[tp4tissue]

Hrrrm... well..  if you only let out a little bit of the tip at a time, it shouldn't be that much more brittle than h/2h.

[Olumin]

Hrrrm... well..  if you only let out a little bit of the tip at a time, it shouldn't be that much more brittle than h/2h.

B is soft, H is Hard. Any number prior to that indicates how hard or soft, the bigger the number, the softer/harder the lead. HB is the middle ground, standard hardness. I am looking for harder lead, as they draw finer, less dark lines. I don’t worry about breakage as the Pentel Orenz protects against that.

[biothermal]

IIRC the lead you have a picture of in your first post (Pentel Hi-Polymer) was the only pencil lead in 0.2 that had an H variant.

At this point that lead hasn't been available for a good four+ years so you might be out of luck. Check eBay every now and then... maybe you'll find some.

[yui]

tbh when i did try to get really fine details on a drawing i used to "sharpen" my 5mm leads on a piece of scrap paper

[Olumin]

Yes, I use a 2mm pencil and sand paper for that purpose. It would just make things easier to get a 0.2 in 2H/H instead.

[fohat.digs]

When I was drafting in pencil in the 1970s-1980s I used these to get needle-sharp points. They work fantastically well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Staedtler-Mars-502-Lead-Pointer-Tub-Sharpener-Mechanical-Pencil-Draft-MJ/312431411966?hash=item48be5d02fe:g:xgEAAOSwEVlcQC49