These are the only pencils I've ever used for measurement marking. I grew up around my family's sign business and in these were always around. They are PERFECT for marking painted walls prior to hanging pictures. The marks wipe off easily - even if you leave them there for a week or so (not recommended of course). They should only be used on walls painted with gloss or semi-gloss paint, though. As the name suggests, they will mark just about anything, and they don't make big messy smudges like some wax pencils - they leave a nice clean line and can be sharpened as needed.