this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2025

47 points (98.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

asklemmy@lemmy.world

42,320 readers

8,147 active

1,273 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world

7) No Hit-and-Run questions.

Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.

8) No Bots.

Posts or comments from bots, LLM's, AIs, Neural Networks, Transformers, or Marvin the Paranoid Android are not welcome in AskLemmy. Real humans only please.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 3 years ago

moderators

Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world

Asudox@lemmy.world

lemmy_bot@lemmy.world

beefbaby182@lemmy.world

ModeratorCan@lemmy.world

neidu3@sh.itjust.works

asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev

candyman337@lemmy.world

candyman337@sh.itjust.works

Which is better for mechanical pencil 2B or HB (feddit.fr)

submitted 10 months ago by url@feddit.fr to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What I want is a darkest

all 16 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 63 points 10 months ago* (7 children)

So, 2B or not 2B? Is that your question?

2B is darker.

hideshow 7 child comments

[–] jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 months ago

2B||!2B

parent

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (5 children)

4B is not 2B, and yet it's darker

parent

hideshow 5 child comments

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Of course, because 4B is 2 2Bs and if 2Bs are darker, then 2 2Bs are darkerer.

Don't get me started on 8Bs

parent

hideshow 4 child comments

[–] essell@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

You're well on your way to a proper hive there

parent

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Lol, I was just countering your joke

I don't remember ever using 8B, but 6B and 7B is fun to use for shading.

parent

hideshow 2 child comments

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

All good, I'm just having fun

parent

[–] gazter@aussie.zone 1 point 10 months ago

Only Anish Kapoor is allowed to use 8B.

parent

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 27 points 10 months ago (4 children)

More Bs means it's softer, so more graphite will get onto your paper when you draw a line, which makes it darker.

More Hs means it's harder, so less graphite. The advantage is that it doesn't get used up as quickly and you can draw finer lines, although the latter is kind of a given either way, since you're using a mechanical pencil.

hideshow 4 child comments

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago (1 child)

Ding ding, this is the exact right answer.

For technical drawings, you generally want to use 6H and up for lines you're probably going to erase, 2H for real drafting, and 2B and up is for shading and thicker work. We'd occasionally do "structural" lines in 4B.

I doubt you can find a mechanical pencil with 4B and over though.

parent

hideshow 1 child comment

[–] marduk@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks for the real world examples!

parent

[–] url@feddit.fr [S] 5 points 10 months ago (1 child)

Thanks. I got a lot of HB refills and when I use them I can't even see the marks

parent

hideshow 1 child comment

[–] Libb@piefed.social 4 points 10 months ago

Then you know you need darker. I use HB, 2B or 4B depending if I write (2B, HB) or sketch (4B, sometimes 2B)

parent

[–] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 13 points 10 months ago

What I want is a darkest

2B.

/thread

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 10 months ago

2B, for the Glory of Mankind.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

More B=softer=darker, but also losing sharpness faster

More H=harder=lighter, but keeps its point longer.

I've got a range of pencils from 4B to 6H. Every pencil hardness has its use.