The hunt for the EE grade pencil
While I thought the letter pencil grades (”HB”, etc.) were standard, I came across this lament about the end of the barely known EE grade.
The web’s best site for researching issues like this is the always entertaining and informative Leadholder.com, which has many vintage drafting equipment catalogs online.
It seems that in the 1930s, Staedtler’s line ended in 3B, ExB, ExExB.
By the 1950s, the line had extended to 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, ExB, ExExB.
It is as if these grades had relative meanings. I take the “Ex” to be “Extra”.
In the 1970s or eighties, the grades had become EB and EE. I know of a store that still has an old Staedtler display which shows these grades.
And finally, sometime between that time and the present, EB and EE disappeared, with 7B and 8B appearing.
The trail would appear to run cold - except that Staedtler is a huge global corporation. After my posts on the pencils of New Zealand and Australia, I found myself checking Staedtler’s many national sites, and noticed that they aren’t all just translations or localizations of the same content.
And there it was on the site of Staedtler Thailand - the Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100, still produced in grade EE.
So if you’re looking for this pencil, it’s not yet extinct - though it is on the endangered pencil list. Quickly testing it out, I can find no difference between it and the 8B. Something might be revealed by longer term use. It also doesn’t say where it’s made - most likely it’s origin is in Thailand.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
The Endangered Pencil list….ain’t that the truth.
I’ve got some nice unfinished cedar advertising pencils from an insurance agency and the letter went out today “Where did you get these? They’re wonderful!”
Film at eleven. If this guy comes through for me I could dump my lifetime supply of Ganske for Senate advertising pencils….they’re not very nice.
However, prewar vintage advertising pencils are usually pretty nice stuff, and they’re not hard to find here. Farmers never threw anything away.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:52 am
it seems that the Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 EB is indeed now an 8B. But the EE seems not quite the same as 7B, well it didn’t seem so a long time ago, don’t have one right now for experimentation. The E’s seem to have been discontinued a couple of years ago and they are my FAVOURITE pencils. Perhaps originally used for use on drafting film.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:32 am
Between 1996 and 2001, “EB” was changed to “7B” and “EE” to “8B”. This was done in an effort to standardize the designations; “EB” and “EE” were not very well-known (e. g. Faber-Castell never had them) and didn’t fit into the Hx/Bx scheme. The formulae of the 7B/EB and 8B/EE pencils have not been changed (besides some minor changes that are applied to all grades now and then for optimisation etc.). - Source: Staedtler Germany.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
well i think they have changed. the 7B actually ‘blacker’ than the EB. But I have found some EE’s on ebay in a mixed box and today boxes of 12 EE’s. I’m happy….. EE’s are my favourite drawing tool.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:12 am
where can i get those pencil?
I need to get ‘EE’ and ‘EB’.
so, If u see my reply, u can send me a email.
Thanks.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
http://www.rsaum.co.uk is no longer available, so I still don’t know what the reason for removing EB and EE is. I have probably the only copy of a 2MM EB Lead refill in California, and I’d sell all I had to get that line back into production and distribution! They can be erased compleately with an electric eraser, and they don’t smudge or smear no matter how heavy a line you put on any kind of papaer if you can’t use a toxic fixative or a scanner! Is there some sora petition or boycott we could send to the company to get at least those leads back on the market?
July 24th, 2008 at 6:51 am
There is some more information here, though lead refills were not considered.
I believe that the current EE and 7B and 8B pencils are “carbon” pencils - a graphite/charcoal blend. (Also made by others.)
I’m guessing based on comments that the EB and EE grades were once solely (or primarily) graphite based.