Pencil sharpener pencil in position, although they then sharpen them to the usual conical point as for a round pencil, abandoning some distinctive aspects of the carpenter's pencil. Sharpeners with a single blade for use on wax crayons are available, and sometimes included in boxes of crayons. These often have plastic blades, which are adequate for the soft wax. Mechanical pencils dispense the graphite lead progressively during use and thus do not require sharpening; such pencils are sometimes called "self-sharpening". A type of mechanical pencil has a rotating gear mechanism which rotates the lead slightly every time the lead is lifted off
Negro (lead pencil) Negro (lead pencil) Negro is the name of an artist's drawing medium, consisting of black pencil lead often encased in a wooden or paper tool. Its history and uses are common knowledge among illustrators and historians interested in illustrative art. The word "Negro", translates to "black" in Spanish and Italian, and is a term commonly used to describe artists' media and pigments that are black or dark in color. Negro lead was originally composed of a mixture of wax and charcoal and was often used in combination with heavily textured coquille paper. The intention was to create sturdy pencil line