I remember those sanding pads, which were always too rough. I used to burnish the points further on a piece of scrap paper. 2H and 4H pencils kept their points well, and you have to remember that the purpose of the erasable pencil line was to provide a guide for the permanent inking, not for final blueprinting.
So you didn't have to bear down on the point.
We were allowed one (simple) drawing with ink and blueprinting to show each of us students the entire process.
I still have a couple of inking pens with the adjustable nibs around somewhere.
Jeeze, I don't even know if you can buy India Ink any more... I suppose line drawing artists still use it, though?
Terry