Hectograph Pencils...

Has anyone used hectograph pencils for stencils? I like the idea of just tracing the stencil onto the tracing paper.

Do they work like carbon transfer paper?

I dont have a printer, nor do I have any intentions of getting one to print stencils on, was just wondering if the pencils work at all = longevity of stencil staying compared to the paper

Anyone with experience?

Thanks for reading,

Dave

I bought one on ebay thinking the same as you and imo its a pile of shit the transfer never seems to come out clean if at all, The only way i could get mine to show was by wetting the pencil itself but that left big fat lines which are no good for most transfers, might just be my pencil or might even be the transfer/tracing paper i used that didnt take the pencil well but im having to order the transfer paper now after trying the pencil and not getting good results.

buy one there only cheap and see but i wouldnt buy another even if it was only around a quid.

Ive never used the pencils that you are talking about but Ive used the surgical markers w/ tracing paper before and they work so so. Are you saying that you dont have a pprinter at all or that you dont want to get a thermal printer for the transfer paper? The reason I ask is that you dont have to use tracing paper for a stencil. You can use printer paper. I just print it out off my computer then just set it righ on the transfer paper and go over whatever outlines I need. This serves a few purposes. First, in my opinion the printer paper takes the transfer ink better and makes for a better stencil. Two, every time you trace something you degrade the lines a bit. This way youre going right off the orginal print out. Not having to trace the original then go over that tracing to get the transfer. Which leads to 3 ... it saves time.

Just be aware when buying hectograph pencils on eBay, there are a lot of 4b pencils being passed off as hectograph .... I know, cos I bought some a while back... Great for drawing but do bugger all in terms of stencil making. Just a heads up , scrutinise before you buy

I bought some Spalding and Rogers ones a good few months back and they are shit! Impossible to sharpen without breaking the crumby soft lead. Dont waste your money Dave!

The ones from Superior Tattoo Supply in Phoenix AZ seem to work pretty good, heres the link Stencil Transfer Pencil From Superior Tattoo

I know this thread is old but I do use these and they work great especially if you use tracing paper and to sharpen them you must use a makeup sharpener not a regular pencil sharpener. Like you would use for eye liner.