diff --git a/src/canvas/strokes.ts b/src/canvas/strokes.ts
index f6199a8..35991db 100644
--- a/src/canvas/strokes.ts
+++ b/src/canvas/strokes.ts
@@ -478,7 +478,15 @@ export function drawStrokesOnCtx(ctx: CanvasRenderingContext2D, strokes: readonl
         // reads as a textured graphite line rather than a flat vector stroke. Pressure = darkness.
         if (s.tool === 'pencil') {
             const pp = smooth(s.points);
-            const pw = pp.map((_, i) => baseSize * (0.65 + 0.35 * Math.min(1, prAt(pp, i) * 2)));
+            // 0.65x at no pressure, 1x at the neutral 0.5, 1.35x at a full press. The `* 2` is
+            // what puts neutral at 1, and this used to be wrapped in `Math.min(1, ...)` - which
+            // meant the width stopped growing at 0.5 and every press above it drew exactly the
+            // same stroke, to the pixel. A stylus writes well above 0.5, so in practice the
+            // pencil behaved as though pressure were switched off: #338's "pencil pressure is
+            // ignored". Removing the clamp only extends the curve past neutral; nothing at or
+            // below 0.5 changes, so no mouse-drawn stroke - which reports no pressure and reads
+            // as the neutral 0.5 - renders any differently than before.
+            const pw = pp.map((_, i) => baseSize * (0.65 + 0.7 * prAt(pp, i)));
             // As the marker: the scratch, the grain fill and the blit were all full-canvas for
             // a stroke of any size. This was the most expensive thing the profiler found.
             const box = inkBounds(pp, Math.max(...pw, baseSize) / 2 + SCRATCH_MARGIN, ctx.canvas.width, ctx.canvas.height);
@@ -491,6 +499,11 @@ export function drawStrokesOnCtx(ctx: CanvasRenderingContext2D, strokes: readonl
             // have re-phased the grain per stroke.
             tctx.setTransform(1, 0, 0, 1, -box.x, -box.y);
             tctx.lineCap = 'round'; tctx.lineJoin = 'round'; tctx.strokeStyle = baseColor; tctx.fillStyle = baseColor;
+            // Darkness, 0.5x at no pressure up to fully opaque at the neutral 0.5. This clamp,
+            // unlike the width's, is real and stays: alpha is already 1 at neutral, so there is
+            // no headroom to press into. Lowering the neutral to make room would re-render every
+            // pencil stroke ever drawn - lighter - so above neutral the pencil says pressure in
+            // its width alone.
             smoothStroke(tctx, pp, pw, (i) => { tctx.globalAlpha = 0.5 + 0.5 * Math.min(1, prAt(pp, i) * 2); });
             tctx.globalAlpha = 1; tctx.globalCompositeOperation = 'destination-in';
             const pat = tctx.createPattern(grainTile(), 'repeat');
diff --git a/test/canvas/pixels.test.js b/test/canvas/pixels.test.js
index 33c6b60..38b837c 100644
--- a/test/canvas/pixels.test.js
+++ b/test/canvas/pixels.test.js
@@ -66,6 +66,35 @@ test('an eraser stroke takes ink away where it crosses', () => {
     assert.ok(after > 0, 'the eraser took the whole stroke, not a band of it');
 });
 
+/** A straight pencil stroke at one pressure, and how thick it came out. */
+function pencilThickness(pressure, pen = true, size = 24) {
+    const { c, ctx } = fresh();
+    const points = [];
+    for (let x = 20; x <= 180; x += 10) points.push({ x, y: 60, pressure });
+    drawStrokesOnCtx(ctx, [stroke({ tool: 'pencil', size, pen, points })], false, new Map());
+    const { box } = ink(c);
+    return box ? box.y1 - box.y0 + 1 : 0;
+}
+
+test('a pencil keeps widening above the neutral pressure', () => {
+    // The width term was wrapped in `Math.min(1, pr * 2)`, which stopped growing at 0.5 - so
+    // every press above neutral drew the same stroke to the pixel, and a stylus (which writes
+    // well above 0.5) behaved as though pressure were switched off. That is #338's "pencil
+    // pressure is ignored"; on main these three numbers are all equal.
+    const a = pencilThickness(0.5), b = pencilThickness(0.75), d = pencilThickness(1);
+    assert.ok(b > a, `0.75 is no thicker than neutral: ${a} -> ${b}`);
+    assert.ok(d > b, `a full press is no thicker than 0.75: ${b} -> ${d}`);
+});
+
+test('a pencil drawn with no pressure is drawn at the neutral weight', () => {
+    // The invariant that keeps the curve change off existing artwork: a mouse reports no
+    // pressure, which reads as 0.5, and the width at 0.5 is exactly 1x. So any future reshaping
+    // of the pencil's pressure response has to keep passing through 1 at neutral, or every
+    // pencil stroke ever drawn re-renders differently.
+    const mouse = pencilThickness(0.5, false), neutralPen = pencilThickness(0.5, true);
+    assert.equal(mouse, neutralPen);
+});
+
 /**
  * The width an eraser actually clears, measured as the gap it cuts through a solid band.
  * `pen` is set, so the pressure is trusted as a tablet's would be.