The pins are already sharpened and are in a metal box stabilden. For Artistic drawing, sketching and writing, they are ideally suited, because they are good in the hand and be guided well. The pencils are in the thickness H2, H, F, HB, B, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7 and B8. The quality of the pencils is excellent. I would recommend it only because I often work with it.