Pencil marks

In detail

A pencil deposits graphite — layers of carbon that shear off the tip and lodge in the texture of whatever they are drawn across. It is a particulate deposit rather than a stain, and that classification does more work than it sounds like it should. Nothing dissolves graphite. What removes it is either mechanical, lifting the particles out of the surface texture, or a carrier that suspends them and can be blotted away. The carpet institute's entry reflects this exactly: pencil opens at a solvent, then warm water, then an ammonia solution, and it names no detergent solution at all, which is unusual in a database where detergent is the default first move. On a hard surface an eraser is the correct tool for the same reason — it works by picking particles up rather than by dissolving anything. The complication on paper, matt paint and unsealed plaster is that the particles have been pressed into a porous texture, so any wet method spreads a grey haze over a wider area than the original mark, and a dry mechanical approach is usually the only one that leaves the surface intact.

What works

• Melamine foam is effective against Pencil marks Established practitioner practice

  It works by taking a very thin layer off the surface, which is also why it dulls anything with a finish.

Why

• Pencil marks is explained by Mechanical action and abrasion

Hacks and claims involving this

• The melamine sponge cleans anything Supported