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There is an FAA accepted test of paint film hardness that requires special calibrated pencils, available ONLY from Mitsubishi pencil company, in packages of 17 for $224. Each pencil comes with an individual certificate of calibration shows that it meet's it's specified hardness level. The test is ASTM D 3363, "Standard Test Method for Film Hardness by Pencil Test"

https://www.gardco.com/Products/Hardness-Testers/Scratch-Har...

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17 to a pack seems like an odd number. Was it originally 18 and then they removed one to keep the price down.

In Japan numbers have meaning. Haiku have a 5-7-5 pattern - which gives you 17 as a sum. And saying the number 17 in Japanese sounds like youth and vitality. Might not be so odd after all.

Well, it will always be odd ;)

Biggest smile I've had all day...

Thank you!

This pack contains one pencil of each hardness 9H through 6B. There are 17 hardnesses in that range.

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