Why does nobody talk about how busted old-school drafting leads can be?

I was digging through some old supplies at a shop near Cleveland last week and found a box of vintage 2H leads from the 70s... decided to try them in my modern clutch pencil just for fun. The lines came out way sharper and more consistent than the new stuff I've been using, even on my beat-up vellum roll. Has anyone else had luck with really old graphite or am I just getting lucky with this batch?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_ben8d ago

Grabbed a box of 70s leads from an estate sale myself and got way cleaner hairlines on my drafting film, so your batch probably isn't just luck. In my experience that old graphite just holds a better point than most modern stuff.

kelly.dylan8d ago

Is it just me or does everything from back then just hold up better than the new stuff? My grandpa had the same hand tools for forty years and they never failed, but I can't keep a modern screwdriver from stripping for more than a few months. Seems like companies stopped caring about making things last once they figured out people would just buy replacements.

holly_price8d ago

Oh totally, my buddy Mike found a whole set of vintage drafting leads at a thrift store a couple years back. He was just messing around with some old school drafting film and swore the lines he got were way sharper than his usual Staedtler stuff. He said the graphite just felt denser or something, like it stuck to the film better and didn't smear as easy. He even tried sharpening some modern leads the exact same way and couldn't get the same crisp look. So I think there's something to that old formula for sure.