Monday, February 1, 2016

Odd Lead Sizes at Legendary Lead Company

Recently I wrote about the Panda Pencil Company (http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-panda-pencil-company.html) and the treasure trove of lead, including long obsolete and hard-to-find leads that were left over when the company shut down.

Over the weekend, I spent some time fitting odd-sized leads into some pencils in my collection, many of which have been featured in articles here:


From left: (1) Hicks, .126"; (2) Eversharp checking pencil, .120"; (3) F.T. Pearce leadholder, also .120"; (4) Edward Todd in sterling, .104" (5) John Holland "push/pull" pencil, also .104" (6) Eagle Automatic, .100" (7) G.W. Heath leadholder, also .100" (8) enormous Fairchild magic pencil ("King Kong" from the Leadhead's pencil blog), .096" (9) another Eagle Automatic, this one using .083" (10) Fairchild "dropper," also .083" (11) "Patent Mar 21 '71" (a Hicks patent), .080" (12) Fairchild in rose gold, .080" (13) Edward Todd, .078" (14) American Pencil Co. sword figural pencil, .072".

So far, I've got .046" leads up on the website (www.jonathanveley.com/legendary-lead), but I'm hoping to get all the different sizes and colors up in the coming weeks.  Check out the Legendary Lead Company facebook page for updates as we go (https://www.facebook.com/legendarylead).