A Hot Streak for Blackwing

A few weeks back I wrote a piece on my top 10 Blackwing Volumes editions, but I may have spoken too soon because, wow, since then I’ve had an opportunity to get my hands on some really good pencils. Technically, two editions I plan to discuss today aren’t part of the “Volumes” subscription program. Rather, they’re either special releases Blackwing has issued with select retail partners (i.e., the Philadelphia Museum of Art) or a special “throwback” edition released to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Blackwing’s revival (the “Blackwing Eras” pencil).

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From top: Blackwing Volume 840 (“Surf”); Blackwing x Philadelphia Museum of Art (“Diana”); Blackwing Volume 3 (“Ravi Shankar”); and Blackwing Eras

The Blackwing Eras Is Now My Favorite Blackwing Released to Date

Yes, even more than my beloved Blackwing 344 (Dorothea Lange). With the “Eras” release, Blackwing set out to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the brand’s 2010 “revival” by releasing a pencil that pays “homage to the past and celebration of the future of Blackwing”, borrowing throwback design elements from vintage Blackwing pencils. The Eras feature a dark grey barrel, the “iconic dark grey ferrule with gold stripe,” a darker gold imprint, a red eraser reminiscent of a vintage Pink Pearl, and the extra-firm graphite core. To be perfectly honest, I prefer the look of the Blackwing Eras over the look of the current Blackwing 602, from the darker lacquer and ferrule to the slightly different tone on the imprint and eraser. The extra-firm graphite has become a favorite, and by including it in the Eras edition, Blackwing is apparently confirming what many have said: that it’s the closest approximation to the graphite formulation used in the original pencil.

If you’re a Blackwing fan, get yourself at least one pack of these pencils. While I personally would love it if Blackwing replaced the current 602 with the Eras (or at least updated the 602 to incorporate the retro design elements of the Eras), this pencil is billed as a limited edition. The pencils have not hit retailers yet, but you can order directly from Blackwing.

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Other Recent Releases Aren’t So Shabby Either

At the time I published my “Top 10” post, I was still awaiting the arrival of Blackwing Volume 3: the Ravi Shankar edition. The matte yellow finish (“turmeric”, according to Blackwing) showcases an overlaid pattern inspired by the design of one of Ravi Shankar’s sitars. While this pencil might not be exactly what those clamoring for a yellow Blackwing were expecting, I found the execution on this pencil superb, and it also features the popular extra-firm graphite.

I found two other recent arrivals very well done pencils, but they do feature the “balanced” (i.e., Blackwing Pearl") core that people either love or hate. I’m ambivalent - the balanced core isn’t my favorite, but I don’t hate it either, especially when it’s packaged in great looking editions like the Blackwing x PMA Diana from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Blackwing Volumes 840 “Surf” edition. The Diana pencils feature a monochromatic gold scheme inspired by August Saint-Gaudens’ sculpture of Diana housed in the PMA’s Great Stair Hall. It’s a standard edition that can be purchased from the Philadelphia Museum of Art online or in the museum gift shop. The sea green and gold “Surf” pencil, inspired by surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku, is unfortunately no longer available directly from Blackwing, but some retailers still have remaining stock, and Blackwing is still selling three-packs of the Volume 840 “Clutch” Pocket Notebook Set.

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A Note on Blackwing’s New Packaging: Bring Back the Flat Pack

One thing I’m NOT crazy about is Blackwing’s new retail packaging, which I saw for the first time at the National Stationery Show back in January. As part of a recent brand refresh, Blackwing discontinued it’s “flat pack” box in favor of new “vertical” packaging that was plainly designed to make it easier for brick-and-mortar retailers to display the pencils. While the box looks great on a shelf, it’s less convenient for the customer who purchases multiple boxes, because storing these things takes up more space than the old flat box, which packed perfectly into drawers. Most enthusiasts have had a similar reaction to the new packaging, but given how much Blackwing has invested in the rebrand, I’m not sure anything will change. You can’t have it all!

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On the other hand, if you want to keep an entire box of Blackwings on your desk, the new box does serve as a nice pencil cup.

Disclaimer: I purchased the pencils featured in this review with my own funds, for my own collection. I was not compensated in any way for this review and all opinions expressed are my own.

My Top 10 Blackwing Volumes Pencils

Most stationery subscription services haven’t stuck with me. Around this same time last year, I wrote an article titled “Are Stationery Subscription Services Worth It?” in which I looked at the pros and cons of having a steady stream of new releases automatically coming to your mailbox. Personally, nothing much has changed since then in terms of my own situation. I still subscribe to both Blackwing Volumes and C.W. Pencil Enterprise’s “Pencil Box” subscription service. Though I considered resubscribing to Field Notes in light of the great releases they’ve put out over the past year, I don’t use enough pocket notebooks to justify it. (Anyway, now that I’m both a Field Notes and Write Notepads retailer, this isn’t such a big deal, as I have an endless supply of notebooks if I see an edition I like or I somehow run out. In many ways, the problem is worse, because I have this constant temptation to raid the store inventory for my personal stash, but that’s a story for a different time.)

So what keeps me coming back to Blackwing Volumes? It’s not as though I’m using up a dozen of each release on a monthly, or even an annual, basis. Honestly, it’s more about supporting the brand’s creativity and guaranteeing that I’m able to enjoy each of the releases, which can sell out quickly. If there’s one I don’t particularly like, or if the pencils pile up to the point where I can’t use them all, pencils are easy to give away, and I have a school-age child.

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It’s easy to see which Volumes get the most use.

What I realized while waiting for Blackwing Volume 3 (Ravi Shankar) to arrive, is that I’ve never done a deep dive and talked about my favorite Blackwings, and with so many special editions having been released over the past few years there are some exceptional pencils to choose from. As a relatively long-term subscriber, I have most of the editions in my personal stash, with the exception of the very early ones. Here are my favorites:

1. Blackwing Volume 344: Dorothea Lange. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that I have a half gross of these tucked away. The combination of the deep red burgundy barrel, red imprint, and bright red ferrule - well, other than maybe the upcoming Volume 3, I’m not sure there’s a pencil that’s a better fit for my personal taste.

2. Blackwing Volume 211: John Muir. I don’t have many 211s left, but I honestly prefer the standard release Blackwing Natural, with it’s grey eraser and extra-firm graphite. (I actually think I only have a single 211 left, and I couldn’t find it, which is why the Natural appears in the photo at the top.)

3. Blackwing Volume 10: Nellie Bly. An underrated release that doesn’t get enough love. The simplicity of the matte grey finish, inspired by newsprint, makes this a pencil I could use everyday.

4. Blackwing Volume 73: Lake Tahoe. The raised texture on this pencil gets me. Plus, this one features Blackwing’s softest graphite found in the original Blackwing MMX (now the “Blackwing Matte”).

5. Blackwing Volume 24: John Steinbeck. I love this pencil not only for the blacked-out color scheme, but because it’s the first Blackwing pencil to feature their “extra-firm” graphite, which is an excellent choice for drafting and long-form writing. I sometimes swap out the black eraser for a pink one, just to add a little contrast.

6. Blackwing Volume 16.2: Ada Lovelace. I’m not a computer programmer, or even that technologically adept, but I love the combination of the white barrel and black ferrule.

7. Blackwing Volume 1: Guy Clark. The first (and to date, only) Blackwing Volumes editions to feature a round barrel. While I’m a Nashville native, and maintain some familiarity with country music, I’ve never been a huge Guy Clark fan, but I certainly appreciate how they pulled this one together.

8. Blackwing Volume 155: Bauhaus. Of course this one was going to make the list. My collection of Bauhaus-inspired writing instruments increases yet again.

9. Blackwing Volume 530: California Gold Rush. The second Blackwing pencil to feature the extra-firm graphite, this model was a tribute to California Historical Site No. 530, where gold was first discovered. The banded ferrule added another unique touch to a pencil that’s a favorite for many.

10. Blackwing Volume 4: Mars. Volume 4 was somewhat controversial due to the gritty texture of the paint, but the combination of the dark orange barrel, gunmetal ferrule, and the soft MMX graphite keeps this one in my rotation.

All pencils pictured here are from my own personal collection. As of 2024, The Gentleman Stationer is now an authorized retailer of Blackwing, so you can purchase directly from us and show your support!

The Best Truly American Pencils: New Releases from Musgrave Pencil Company

The Musgrave Pencil Company is located in Shelbyville, Tennessee (“Pencil City”), which sits just down the road from my hometown of Franklin. Several years ago I reviewed some bulk pencils I had purchased from Musgrave, and came away impressed with the quality at the price point. Musgrave, however, had not updated their website in years, and the company appeared to rely heavily on advertising and specialty pencils, as well as white labeling (i.e., making pencils for other brands). In 2018, things changed, as Musgrave hired a new marketing team and started development on a new product line. You can hear more about Musgrave’s transformation on Episode 134 of the Erasable Podcast, featuring creative directors Nicole and Tim Delger, the team behind the Musgrave rebranding.

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The Musgrave Harvest 320 “Professional,” shown here atop a Write Notepads Reporter Notebook (now available in an eye-popping red). Write Notepads and Baron Fig remain my preferred paper for pencils due to the texture and slightly tactile feel.

So What’s Behind the “Heritage” Tagline?

Musgrave has been making pencils in Shelbyville since 1916, so they’ve witnessed multiple shifts in the pencil industry during their more than a century in business. These changes included the move in the 1960s-1970s from traditional Tennessee Red Cedar to California Incense Cedar, which today remains the preferred wood for making pencils (though companies have shifted to other sources as even Incense Cedar has become scarcer and more expensive). The new Musgrave website features a comprehensive company history, including a bunch of unique photos from the pre-WWII era.

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Musgrave’s new “Heritage” collection is headlined by the “Tennessee Red,” made from the same Tennessee Red Cedar used in American pencil-making all those years ago. Apparently, Musgrave discovered a source for Tennessee Red Cedar slats, which they used to create these gorgeous, highly aromatic wood-grain pencils that, to me, smell like cedar should. If you’ve ever been inside a cedar closet or stuck your head inside a wooden chest made from red cedar, you’ll know which smell I’m talking about. Musgrave also updated their signature “Harvest” yellow No. 2 pencil to include a “professional” version made from Incense Cedar, and even released a “Single Barrel 106” pencil made from vintage (i.e. 1930s) Red Cedar pencil slats.

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My favorite thing about the Tennessee Reds is the variation in the wood grain. And the Tri-Star logo. As a Middle Tennessee native and (mostly) lifelong resident, I’ll buy anything with the Tri-Star.

The core that Musgrave uses is perfect for my style of writing. While it’s labeled a “No. 2” (at least on the Harvest), to me it writes more like a 2B or a No. 1, my preferred grades of graphite. Both pencils have excellent point retention for graphite this dark, and while one drawback is that Musgrave’s cores can have a tendency to smudge, that’s a trade-off I’m personally happy to make.

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These three Musgrave pencils all write a similarly dark line. Writing sample is on a Write Notepads Dot-Grid Spiral Notebook.

Both the Tennessee Red and the Harvest 320 Professional are “home run” products for Musgrave, and I’m ecstatic to see this iconic American company stake out a piece of today’s expanding market for high-end pencils. My sole wish would be for them to devote additional time to quality control (discussed further below) and to consider softening the hex shape, especially on the Harvest series. I mentioned in my prior review that Musgrave’s signature hexagonal pencil can be a bit uncomfortable to write with for long periods of time - those edges are sharp. I know that Musgrave is capable of smoothing things out a bit because they have made a series of extremely comfortable incense cedar pencils to accompany Write Notepads’ “In the Pines” and “Telegraph” limited edition pocket notebooks. I’d love to see them do this on a standard release, and given how much I love Musgrave’s core such a pencil would easily become my primary writer. (For some reason, probably due to the texture of the wood, the Tennessee Red feels less sharp.)

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Musgrave pencils sharpen very well. The Harvest 320 is shown here with a point carved by a NUK single-stage long-point sharpener, possibly the best I’ve used, that was featured in this quarter’s C.W. Pencils Pencil Box Subscription. I hope they sell these sharpeners soon, because I want to buy a bunch!

A Note on Sharpening and Quality Control

The release of the Tennessee Red Cedar pencil has not been without minor controversy, which I feel I need to address briefly. The Musgrave website states that the supplier of the Red Cedar slats “wasn’t used to prepping slats for pencils,” and if the slats aren’t uniform, it can result in off-center cores. Musgrave’s site suggests that off-center cores are a purely aesthetic issue, but they’re not: an off-center core can affect a pencil’s ability to sharpen (though once you get them sharpened, they’re perfectly usable).

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The pencil on the left had a badly off-center core, but I was still able to get it sharpened to a super-long, concave El Casco point. The Tennessee Red on the right had a centered core and sharpened just fine in the Carl Angel-5.

My entire order of 24 Tennessee Reds only contained 2 “bad” cores, and I was actually able to get both of these pencils to sharpen, though it took running them through my El Casco sharpener as both the Classroom Friendly and the KUM Masterpiece kept giving me an uneven point nearly covered by wood on one side. Personally, I think Musgrave should inspect these pencils before they ship to remove the duds. It was fairly easy for me to look at a handful and quickly spot the off-center cores. To their credit, from what I’ve heard Musgrave is more than willing to work with customers to make things right if you receive an order containing multiple unusable pencils. They have excellent customer service.

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Twenty Musgrave Tennessee Reds. The controversy over “off-center cores” is somewhat overblown - of this fistful of pencils, only one is badly off-center (top center), which isn’t uncommon but when you are selling premium pencils, it’s a legitimate issue for customers.

Visit Musgrave’s New Online Shop

You can purchase the pencils featured in this review directly from Musgrave. As I mentioned above, Musgrave has redesigned their website, including their online store. While Musgrave manufactures a vast catalogue of pencils, both standard and novelty/promotional, the new retail strategy focuses on their “Heritage Collection,” such as the Tennessee Red and the Harvest 320 Professional, both of which you can purchase by the dozen, or in an engraved (and highly aromatic) red cedar box. Overall, these are excellent pencils made by a classic American stationery company, and pencils always present an opportunity to purchase quality stationery at relatively minimal cost. Both Tennessee Reds and Harvest pencils cost a whopping $9 per dozen (compared against $24.95 for a dozen Blackwings). If you’re a fan of darker pencils with an awesome story behind them, grab these now because they have received a lot of attention and I suspect there may be a run on them in the future.

Disclaimer: The products featured in this post were purchased with my own funds for my own use. I was not compensated in any way for this review. This post (and content linked to in this post) contains affiliate links and links to my own retail store.

Stationery as a Inexpensive Way to Relive Your Childhood and The Blackfeet Indian Pencil: My Favorite Pencil of All-Time

All this recent hubbub over the return of Dunkaroos has me in a bit of a nostalgic mood. Not necessarily because of Dunkaroos - I was a bit too old for that fad -but it did get me thinking about things from childhood and why we collect and get fixated on certain items. Take stationery. I’d venture that if you ask yourself why you’re stationery obsessed (and if you’re reading this blog, “stationery obsessed” is an accurate description), two things come up: (1) You’ve always been this way, going to back to when you were a kid; and (2) as you’ve grown, you have, at times, found yourself thinking back to certain pens/pencils/notebooks that you remember fondly and wondering whatever happened to them. For me, this resulted in a six-month eBay quest to accumulate a full gross of my favorite school pencil, the Blackfeet Indian Pencil. While reason eventually took hold and I managed to stop myself after buying up six dozen, I don’t regret this little adventure at all.

Background on the Blackfeet Indian Pencil

Those of us who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s probably may remember the Blackfeet Indian Pencil for its promotional gift set, featuring a dozen pencils in a cedar box stamped with a Remington-esque logo. The pencils were made by the Blackfeet Indian Writing Company, founded in 1972 and located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana. Until its closure in the late 1990s, the Blackfeet Indian Writing Company manufactured writing pencils, art pencils, pens (which I’ve never seen but are also available on eBay). Apparently the company passed from tribal control into private hands around 1992, and subsequently went out of business not too long after.

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The Blackfeet Indian Pencil Company released multiple versions of their pencil over the years. Shown here are two, with both black and gold writing/ferrule combinations. The font and graphics on the pencils themselves also changed. The particular box shown here was a promotional gift for a building supply wholesaler in Montana and North Dakota.

I received a dozen of these pencils, in the commemorative box, for Christmas one year when I was 12 or 13, which must have placed the timing towards the end of the company’s run. I remember seeing these for sale at The Nature Company and museum gift shops, which I assume is where my parents (probably my Dad) picked these up. I mostly used yellow No. 2 pencils (Faber-Castell Americans) throughout my school years, so the fact that these are natural pencils probably made them stand out in my mind as something different. I loved the fact that they wrote darker than the Faber-Castell American, which has a firmer core, yet lasted a long time. I had a few of these pencils left well into college, so I probably picked up a few dozen more along the way after that initial batch.

I’m not the only to stockpile this pencil. I didn’t know this when I set out on my journey to track it down, but apparently the Blackfeet Indian Pencil has developed its own cult following over the years. For example, the composer John Luther Adams disclosed in a Facebook post a couple of years ago that he uses Blackfeet Indian Pencils to compose, and Ticonderogas for general writing. The “Blackfeet craze” isn’t quite as pronounced as the hype surrounding the original Blackwing, but eBay pricing has steadily risen. Good thing I have 6 dozen.

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In terms of lacquered finish, the closest match is the USA-made Ticonderoga Natural on the left. Yes, I have a mini-stash of those too. No, they’re not for sale, and if you make me a trade offer, it had better be good.

So What’s the Verdict, and Where Do I Get This Pencil?

Is the Blackfeet Indian Pencil as good as I remember it? Yes, it is. While certainly not a luxury pencil on par with a Blackwing or a Palomino, this pencil holds its own with its contemporaries (the Ticonderoga Natural) as well as modern equivalents like the General’s Cedar Pointe and Musgrave’s new “Tennessee Red” (discussed further below). Honestly, unless you have a nostalgic connection to this pencil or are a collector who wants to own a piece of history, you can find similar pencils for MUCH less money, and at around $20-30 per dozen (what I’d consider the reasonable eBay rate for Blackfeet Indian Pencils) the Blackwing Natural probably gives you better performance and feel at that price point. In my case, however, I have no regrets due to the personal connection. I’m glad I’ll have a stash of these pencils for a long time to come.

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The graphite on the Blackfeet Indian Pencil, the General’s Cedar Pointe No. 2, and the Ticonderoga Natural appear close to identical, though the feel of the Blackfeet and the Cedar Pointe is so close that it has me thinking they might even share a core. Both the Blackwing Natural “extra firm” and the Musgrave Tennessee Red feature much darker graphite.

If you’d like to source a box of Blackfeet Indian Pencils for your own collection, you’re probably reduced to scouring flea markets, garage sales, and eBay. At any given time, there are multiple eBay listings for Blackfeet Pencils. While some sellers are asking $60-100 for a set of pencils in the cedar box, it’s still relatively easy to find loose pencils and even full packs for $20-30 if you’re patient, which can be less than the cost of a Blackwing Volumes edition, so we’re not talking vintage Blackwing money or anything close.

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If you’d like a set of beautiful cedar pencils in a commemorative box, and don’t want to pay out the nose on eBay, I’d suggest that you opt for a set of two dozen Musgrave “Tennessee Reds.”

Alternatives to the Blackfeet Indian Pencil

General’s Cedar Pointe No. 2 is the closest match. While the Blackfeet Indian Pencil is coated in a clear lacquer and General leaves the Cedar Pointe unfinished, the pencil offers a similar aesthetic (natural pencil, black ferrule) and the cores are so close on the two (at least the two specific pencils I’m using) that it makes me wonder whether the Blackfeet Writing Company might have sourced them from General.

For a natural pencil with a lacquered finish, you can of course try the Blackwing Natural, which has a softer core despite containing Blackwing’s “firm” graphite, and also the new Musgrave “Tennessee Red,” which has its own lacquered cedar aesthetic, made even more interesting by the fact that Musgrave is now using actual red cedar - a pencil-making material common more than a hundred years ago - as opposed to the incense cedar commonly used to make modern pencils. I just purchased a box of these in their own commemorative cedar packaging and they’re gorgeous.

Pencil reviews are some of the most popular content here at The Gentleman Stationer, and I promise I’ll try to do more, as I use a lot of pencils (and have quite a stockpile).

Disclaimer: I purchased the pencils featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use.

Brand Profile: Taking a Look at Moonman's Emergence and Current Direction

Despite Chinese pens having been widely available for a decade or more - since I’ve been in this hobby - none of the brands have ever caught my interest the way Moonman has. The Moonman M2 is the first Chinese pen that legitimately impressed me, to the point where I think it’s a better writing instrument that many pens that cost five times as much. Why? The nib. Any pen company, anywhere in the world, can churn out mass-produced plastic tubes that look decent. Budget pens that write exceptionally well are true gems, and I’ve yet to experience a bad Moonman nib.

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Look familiar?

What do we know about the company itself? Not much. From what I can gather by way of Chinese pen experts such as Frank Dong of FrankUnderwater, Moonman is one of several brands manufactured by a large Shanghai-based pen company, Shanghai Jingdian. What differentiates Moonman from other “budget” pen companies is that they have chosen to focus their attention on factory-tuning nibs to a level that most pen companies never reach, while still maintaining a sub-$20 price point.

The nib quality has remained consistent even as Moonman’s product line has expanded. On the M2, Moonman uses a gold-plated No. 5 nib with a basic “Iridium Point German” engraving. So-called “IPG” nibs have garnered - deservedly - an atrocious reputation for quality, but mine arrived tuned to perfection. On newer models such as the C1 and the C2, Moonman has opted for a larger No. 6 nib that still writes well, but quite obviously “borrows” design elements from Conklin and Monteverde. Not only is this tactic unnecessary to sell these pens, but the mishmash of design elements doesn’t work and cheapens the overall look.

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Sure, it’s technically a different pattern, but how hard is it to come up with a basic logo that distinguishes your brand?

As much as I enjoy Moonman pens for the fact that they are true bargain-basement workhorses, recent developments have me questioning how much I should support them going forward. Need another example? Well, I probably should have noticed it before now from the promotional photos, but the recently released Moonman C1 is an obvious attempt to replicate Shawn Newton’s Shinobi, particularly the clear models with different color sections. I’m not sure whether this would qualify as technical infringement - the Shinobi design is rather basic and minimalist, after all, and I believe it originates from a custom design proposal submitted to Shawn by a customer - but this goes a step beyond “inspiration.” Is this where Moonman is headed now?

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Does the “C” in the “C series” pens stand for “copycat”? The Moonman C2 moves ever closer to Franklin-Christoph territory.

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Once you have it in hand, you’re not going to mistake the feel of a C1 for a Newton Shinobi. Shawn’s pens have a much more substantial feel in hand.

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Design issues notwithstanding, there’s nothing wrong with the nibs on these pens. Both are excellent writers.

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You can see the facet on one side of the pen. The one thing Moonman has perfected here over the Shinobi is that the cap is double-threaded so that the facet on the cap and barrel line up perfectly every time you cap the pen. On the Shinobis you have to guess.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

As much as I enjoy bargain-hunting, recent developments with Moonman as a brand have bothered me a bit, and I’m not sure I like the direction in which this company is moving. Sure, we can debate the extent to which transparent plastic cylinders can/should be protected as proprietary designs, but PenBBS has shown that it’s possible to be successful at this price point without blatant copycatting, which just makes your brand look cheap. Moreover, if I’m going to spend money supporting a company, I want to see them putting effort into bringing something unique to the market, not just inexpensive versions of other peoples’ pens. The irony in this, of course, is that Moonman’s design decisions create a completely unnecessary distraction for the brand. Moonman nibs are more than capable of standing on their own, and the company doesn’t need to churn out knock-offs to be successful.

I’ve acquired all of my Moonman pens via eBay. Currently, Moonman’s “eyedropper” lineup includes the Moonman M2, the Moonman C2, and the Moonman C1, all of which cost less than $20. The only one I can in good faith recommend is the M2, for the reasons I’ve discussed, and the M2 remains an exceptionally nice pen for the money. That said, unless I see the brand moving in a drastically different direction I will certainly lose interest if they continue to release more of the same.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.