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The Ticonderoga is a wonderful workhorse of wood cased pencils. As you've pointed out their lead is sturdy and their price is almost unbeatable for the performa

The Ticonderoga is a wonderful workhorse of wood cased pencils. As you've pointed out their lead is sturdy and their price is almost unbeatable for the performance. Possibly the only downside is they're no longer made in the USA and I feel like their overall quality has suffered since the move to China and Mexico. If you're willing to explore pricier options there are so many excellent wood case pencils to be had! The luxury option would probably be the Palomino Blackwing 602. It's a ludicrously expensive pencil, but for your money you get what is hands down the nicest wood cased pencil available. Every line of pencil Palomino makes is fantastic, I'm a huge fan of their Forest Choice pencils as a starter for people who are already in love with the Dixon Ticonderoga. Some others to possibly check out are the Baron Fig Archer, the Tombow 2558, and the Uni Mitsubishi 9850.

hxta98596 10y ago
This person knows their pencils. I agree. Second the Palomino recommendation. It's all relative but I wouldn't call the Blackwing 602 "ludicrously expensive"...they cost about $1.50 per pencil. Though maybe you are thinking of the vintage Blackwing pencils. Blackwing used to be made by a different company (Eberhard) decades ago. These older vintage Blackwing pencils if you can find one cost like $50 today. Still the new ones being made are about $1.50 and are great too.
- artimaeis 10y ago
  Thanks! I'm a pretty big fan of stationary and writing as a hobby so I try to keep up with what's good. You're right, calling the price of the Blackwing 602 ludicrous was a bit of a stretch. But considering you can get 144 count of Dixon Ticonderoga for the same price as 12 Blackwings it's pretty difficult for a lot of people to justify. I did not know about the Eberhard Blackwings. I'll have to look further into that to see if I can get one as a collection piece!
MrTonyD 10y ago
I've struggled with sharpening pencils. I enjoy a good pencil - but I've never found a sharpener that works consistently. Any advice?
- hxta98596 10y ago
  One of the KUM sharpeners from here. Using 2 stage blades helps: https://pencils.com/product-category/sharpeners/ https://pencils.com/product-category/sharpeners/ Another option buy an X-acto knife (watch youtube videos how to sharpen a pencil with a knife if needed). It's the best way to sharpen a pencil to the way you like it but it takes time. I usually just use the KUM.
  - appleiigs 10y ago
    My mom is a retired graphic design artist - she still uses a knife to sharpen her pencils. Does it nice and slow, like it's relaxing. I remember going to her office as a kid and her cut and paste was with a knife and spray adhesive too.
- mdip 10y ago
  We go through a box of 96 ct. pencils every 3 months (4 kids in elementary school). Here's the thing, there are some really good pencil sharpeners out there, but at the end of the day, if you buy good pencils, any newer sharpener will work well. The one I use, today, cost me $6.00 at Office Max last September. It's a motorized, battery operated, sharpener but the sharpener part is one of those cheap, plastic, single blade deals. It's set at a good angle and when it goes dull -- like they all do -- in about 6 months or so, I'll throw it out and spend another $6.00. If I put any pencil in this thing that's lower quality than the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils I buy, the lead snaps off before it gets sharp, but I've never had that happen with anything at least of that quality. And I won't pay more than $6.00 because regardless of how much I've spent on a sharpener (my last was about $50), they go dull in about year and have to be thrown out.
- artimaeis 10y ago
  I'm going to second hxta98596's recommendation and recommend a Kum Masterpiece sharpener. Two blades lets you get just the right point shape and the ability replace the blades over time helps maintain consistent sharpening performance.
- shiven 10y ago
  Carl Pencil Sharpener CC-2000 Red Angel-5 Premium. Made in Japan. Lasts for years. Never broke a lead.
mdip 10y ago
I'm a pencil junkie, personally. This is mainly because I'm particularly good at losing things, especially when said things cost less than $0.25/piece. They're so cheap you don't even waste time thinking about keeping track of them. When I do construction projects, I sharpen up a half-box and bring them to wherever I'm working so that when, invariably, I'm holding a piece of wood and a ruler but failed to actually grab the pencil to mark the spot, I can feel around with my free hand until I am jabbed by a sharp lead. On that list, though, I have a box of Blackwings and three of them are sitting in my pen cup on my desk as I type this. They're exceptional pencils -- almost too good in some ways -- something about the weight/density of them feels at the same time both like you're holding something that's "better than a pencil" but also something that's almost not a pencil. The friction of the lead against the paper is smoother than I'm used to -- not bad, just different. I jokingly call them my "hipster pencils"[0]. I haven't tried the others, but I'll take a look - thanks for the tip! [0] When they arrived, my wife informed me that my "Yuppie pencils are here" -- I informed her that "yuppie" is about a decade dated and we settled on "hipster" but even that is a pretty inaccurate term since most of the hipsters I know have an affinity for this watered down, swill beer called PBR that we used to buy when we were underage because it was cheap. Kids these days. :P
tedmiston 10y ago
> Palomino Blackwing 602 Looks like $22 for 12 on JetPens [1]: > The unique rectangular black eraser can be extended as it wears down from use, and also pops out completely from the pencil body for replacement. That's a nice feature. [1]: https://www.jetpens.com/Palomino-Blackwing-Pencil-602-Pack-of-12/pd/8117 https://www.jetpens.com/Palomino-Blackwing-Pencil-602-Pack-o...

hxta98596 10y ago

This person knows their pencils. I agree. Second the Palomino recommendation. It's all relative but I wouldn't call the Blackwing 602 "ludicrously expensive"...they cost about $1.50 per pencil. Though maybe you are thinking of the vintage Blackwing pencils. Blackwing used to be made by a different company (Eberhard) decades ago. These older vintage Blackwing pencils if you can find one cost like $50 today. Still the new ones being made are about $1.50 and are great too.

artimaeis 10y ago
Thanks! I'm a pretty big fan of stationary and writing as a hobby so I try to keep up with what's good. You're right, calling the price of the Blackwing 602 ludicrous was a bit of a stretch. But considering you can get 144 count of Dixon Ticonderoga for the same price as 12 Blackwings it's pretty difficult for a lot of people to justify. I did not know about the Eberhard Blackwings. I'll have to look further into that to see if I can get one as a collection piece!

MrTonyD 10y ago

I've struggled with sharpening pencils. I enjoy a good pencil - but I've never found a sharpener that works consistently. Any advice?

hxta98596 10y ago
One of the KUM sharpeners from here. Using 2 stage blades helps: https://pencils.com/product-category/sharpeners/ https://pencils.com/product-category/sharpeners/ Another option buy an X-acto knife (watch youtube videos how to sharpen a pencil with a knife if needed). It's the best way to sharpen a pencil to the way you like it but it takes time. I usually just use the KUM.
- appleiigs 10y ago
  My mom is a retired graphic design artist - she still uses a knife to sharpen her pencils. Does it nice and slow, like it's relaxing. I remember going to her office as a kid and her cut and paste was with a knife and spray adhesive too.
mdip 10y ago
We go through a box of 96 ct. pencils every 3 months (4 kids in elementary school). Here's the thing, there are some really good pencil sharpeners out there, but at the end of the day, if you buy good pencils, any newer sharpener will work well. The one I use, today, cost me $6.00 at Office Max last September. It's a motorized, battery operated, sharpener but the sharpener part is one of those cheap, plastic, single blade deals. It's set at a good angle and when it goes dull -- like they all do -- in about 6 months or so, I'll throw it out and spend another $6.00. If I put any pencil in this thing that's lower quality than the Dixon Ticonderoga pencils I buy, the lead snaps off before it gets sharp, but I've never had that happen with anything at least of that quality. And I won't pay more than $6.00 because regardless of how much I've spent on a sharpener (my last was about $50), they go dull in about year and have to be thrown out.
artimaeis 10y ago
I'm going to second hxta98596's recommendation and recommend a Kum Masterpiece sharpener. Two blades lets you get just the right point shape and the ability replace the blades over time helps maintain consistent sharpening performance.
shiven 10y ago
Carl Pencil Sharpener CC-2000 Red Angel-5 Premium. Made in Japan. Lasts for years. Never broke a lead.

mdip 10y ago

I'm a pencil junkie, personally. This is mainly because I'm particularly good at losing things, especially when said things cost less than $0.25/piece. They're so cheap you don't even waste time thinking about keeping track of them. When I do construction projects, I sharpen up a half-box and bring them to wherever I'm working so that when, invariably, I'm holding a piece of wood and a ruler but failed to actually grab the pencil to mark the spot, I can feel around with my free hand until I am jabbed by a sharp lead. On that list, though, I have a box of Blackwings and three of them are sitting in my pen cup on my desk as I type this. They're exceptional pencils -- almost too good in some ways -- something about the weight/density of them feels at the same time both like you're holding something that's "better than a pencil" but also something that's almost not a pencil. The friction of the lead against the paper is smoother than I'm used to -- not bad, just different. I jokingly call them my "hipster pencils"[0]. I haven't tried the others, but I'll take a look - thanks for the tip! [0] When they arrived, my wife informed me that my "Yuppie pencils are here" -- I informed her that "yuppie" is about a decade dated and we settled on "hipster" but even that is a pretty inaccurate term since most of the hipsters I know have an affinity for this watered down, swill beer called PBR that we used to buy when we were underage because it was cheap. Kids these days. :P

tedmiston 10y ago

> Palomino Blackwing 602 Looks like $22 for 12 on JetPens [1]: > The unique rectangular black eraser can be extended as it wears down from use, and also pops out completely from the pencil body for replacement. That's a nice feature. [1]: https://www.jetpens.com/Palomino-Blackwing-Pencil-602-Pack-of-12/pd/8117 https://www.jetpens.com/Palomino-Blackwing-Pencil-602-Pack-o...