Does It Ever Make Sense to Stockpile Stationery? Maybe Sometimes.

I’ve been thinking about this question a LOT lately. And not necessarily because I want to justify my own collection, which actually has diminished significantly in recent years. I’ve not purchased any new pens for months, and have made an honest effort to sell off unused items, work my way through my backlog of paper, and simply be more conscious about acquiring additional stuff. Of course I still tend to accumulate pens, pencils, ink, and paper over time - it’s the nature of product reviewing that you sometimes need to acquire items to review - but it’s become more gradual, I don’t feel as though I’m drowning in clutter, and I’m not losing money. A semi-annual stationery purge helps to keep things in check.

I’m not a collector, in the traditional sense, and I try to buy only those things that I could conceivably use one day. On principle, I discourage FOMO-driven “fear hoarding.” You know the forum threads - “They might discontinue X limited-edition product or run out quickly, and I know I haven’t tried it yet but it’s going to be great because X blogger says so and I went ahead and bought seven bottles/boxes/packs of notebooks because I might never be able to get it or anything like it ever again.” This type of stockpiling isn’t healthy, for your sanity, your wallet, or the stationery industry in general. These purchasing frenzies incentivize brands to churn out dozens of ill-conceived “limited edition” versions of the same product rather than innovate and bring something new to the market. Many “limited editions” aren’t even unique - with respect to something like fountain pen ink, is there any good reason to stock up on a dozen bottles of a single color when the overwhelming majority of people go through a bottle (maybe two) a year at most, and where the size and scope of today’s ink market renders it extremely unlikely that you won’t be able to find a similar, if not identical, color? Stockpiling like this rarely makes sense to me.  

Recent eBay score.

Lately, however, I’ve been wondering whether a good case does exist for stockpiling certain products you use regularly and form a core part of your workflow. Two items in particular prompted this internal debate: (1) the Baron Fig Mastermind desk pad, and (2) the cedar No. 2 pencil. The first, I’ll freely admit, is more fear-driven than the other. To my knowledge, Baron Fig is in no danger of going away anytime soon, but I’ve not found anything similar to the Mastermind that matches its combination of size, paperweight, and format. (The Studio Neat Panobook and the Write Notepads Landscape Notebook are similar, but I love that the Mastermind is a tear-away desk pad, especially since I have to shred most of my notes from work.) There’s no need for me to invest in a lifetime supply of writing pads, but does it make sense to have extra stock on hand to hold me over if it’s ever discontinued and I need to find something else? Since I’ve used the Mastermind every day consistently for the past two years, probably.

The Faber-Castell Mongols from the 1990s often have usable erasers, unlike older Eberhard-Faber branded pencils where the erasers have calcified.

The cedar No. 2 pencil presents a better case for buying up what you can while you can still get it. Much ink has been spilled (or graphite smeared) lamenting the fact that modern pencil production is plagued by inconsistent quality, even within brands, and unannounced design and manufacturing changes. Take the Dixon Ticonderoga, for example. While the original, USA-manufactured cedar Ticonderoga has been a bit over-romanticized, there’s no disputing the fact that since Dixon began outsourcing production to multiple factories around the world, consistent quality has been elusive. I’ve purchased a box of Black Ticonderogas made in Mexico that were some of the worst pencils I’ve ever used - hard, scratchy, and way too light for their No. 2 designation. Another pack of Chinese-made Ticonderogas that I purchased from Target are still among the best pencils in my stash, with a smooth, dark core, while yet another identical-looking box purchased from Office Depot were just “meh.” 

My pencil cup runneth over. Most of these will end up like the Blackwing stub below.

Woodcase pencil-making is, by its very nature, resource-intensive and susceptible to economic pressures that force manufacturers to outsource and cut costs, especially in market segments like school supplies where they can’t raise prices enough to compensate. All of the favorite inexpensive “school” pencils I used growing up (the Dixon Ticonderoga, the Faber-Castell American, the Blackfeet Indian Pencil) have either seen production move overseas or have disappeared entirely from the U.S. market. What’s to say that more brands won’t follow? Sure, it’s a safe bet that Blackwing probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon - as long as people are willing to pay close to $30 for a dozen pencils - but can you really say the same about Generals, which operates a factory in the uber-expensive New York City metropolitan area and focuses on pencils that sell for around $6 per dozen? Even CalCedar (maker of Blackwing) discontinued the eraser-tipped Palomino No. 2, which I consider one of the best pencils ever made. They used to sell them in bulk for $100 per gross, and failing to pull the trigger on that purchase is one of my great regrets. I won’t make the same mistake with the Forest Choice No. 2.  

Original Blacking MMX, circa 2010.

I guess the point of this musing is to say that if I find a reasonably priced product that I use daily and enjoy, why wouldn’t I purchase it while I can, especially if there’s a real (as opposed to perceived) danger of it going away forever? Building up a nice stock of quality woodcase pencils doesn’t cost very much, and pencils don’t take up much space or deteriorate quickly. A dozen USA-made Ticonderogas from the 1990s or 2000s can be had on eBay for as little as $7, and they’re as usable as ever. Sure, that’s pricier than what you’ll see in stores today, but it’s still much less expensive than a dozen modern Blackwings. That Faber-Castell “American” pencil I mentioned? You can buy a sealed half gross of those for $20 - still less than a dozen limited edition Blackwings. The other good thing about pencils is that if you have school-age kids in the house, those pencils are going to get “stolen”, and you can always donate unused pencils or those that don’t match your personal preferences to school-supply drives, which my office runs every fall. In short, be conscious of what you use, and don’t buy multiples of stuff simply because of FOMO-pressure or because someone like me told you to, but at the same time, don’t let today’s trendy obsession with “minimalism” keep you from ensuring that you have a ready supply of quality writing tools that you need to do the work you love.

Now excuse me while I go finish work on my pencil bunker.

Disclaimer: This post contains links to paid sponsors and affiliates. All pencils pictured in this review were purchased with my own funds for my own use.

Also, please do not flood me with emails about selling pencils or pens. I’ve recently been receiving scores of unsolicited e-mails asking if I will sell “XYZ” pen, pencil, or notebook (typically a limited edition). If I am looking to sell or trade something, I will typically ask for trade offers or post things for sale on a separate page. Thanks for understanding - I can only respond to so much email!

Pencil Review: Dry Highlighters and Double-Ended Editing Pencils

It’s been a looong time since I’ve posted any pencil-related content around here, but pencils are something I certainly love and use a lot, as do many of my readers, so I need to make more of an effort to diversify. First up is a short piece on a category of pencils that plays a key part in my workflow: highlighting pencils, also sometimes referred to as “dryliners.” Why, you might ask? First of all, I find that they last longer than traditional ink-guzzling liquid highlighters, they don’t dry out, and I would think they’re also a more eco-conscious choice because you’re not stuffing landfills with discarded plastic bodies. Second depending on how you sharpen these pencils, you can adjust the tip size to make it narrower or broader, per your preference. The downside, of course, is lighter pigment than in traditional liquid ink, and some might find sharpening inconvenient because the core is soft, like a colored pencil. If you want to keep a point or a narrow tip, you’ll have to sharpen a lot.

The Caran d’Ache Graphicolor Highlighter/HB Combo, which combines a highlighter/dryliner pencil with a standard HB graphite half, to make notes while you highlight without switching writing implements. It’s great for when you’re reading!

“The Editor” by CW Pencil Enterprise and Caran d’Ache, as well as the more economical Milan highlighter/HB graphite combo.

Similarly, so-called double-ended editing pencils combine two different colors of graphite, traditionally blue and red. CW Pencil Enterprise, however, recently released their latest collaboration with Caran d’Ache, “The Editor,” which is a double-ended pencil featuring red and HB graphite - a more convenient combination. I haven’t quite figured out a use case for this pencil yet. I mostly prefer to edit in ink as opposed to red pencil, but Caran d’Ache’s red pigment is excellent and very visible.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Unfortunately, those of us who are into quirky stationery items like these know that the only place to get them are via highly specialized shops. CW Pencils carries the Caran d’Ache Graphicolor HB/Highlighter combo, the Milan graphite/highlighter combo, and of course, “The Editor”. Of these three, the Milan is the one that’s most likely to make its way into my daily rotation. At $1 each, it’s a more economical choice for a workhorse than the Caran d’Ache pencils, which run a pricey $3 per pencil. I do like the editor though, and I’ll likely keep them tucked into books I’m reading for annotations. That way they’ll last longer!

Another option for highlighter pencils are Faber-Castell Textliners, which can be extremely difficult to source in the States, so I stock up on them whenever I place an order to UK retailer Cult Pens, which sells them by the box in all available colors. These also aren't double-ended pencils - they’re quite long, triangular jumbo grip highlighters that last a while, which defrays the cost a bit.

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

Pencil Review: The (Palomino) Blackwing Pearl

The Blackwing Pearl is the third and - so far - final iteration of CalCedar’s Blackwing revival. Ironically, this was the Blackwing release that I was most excited about, yet it’s also the one that was the biggest letdown in terms of performance. On paper, the Pearl should be my favorite pencil. I love the pearlescent white lacquer, and white pencils are uncommon. Per Blackwing’s description, the Pearl also features “a balanced and smooth graphite core that is softer than the graphite found in the Blackwing 602, but firmer than the graphite found in the Blackwing.” In other words, a dark pencil like the original Blackwing with better point retention for writers. So what gives?

Multiple people have observed that the graphite core in the Pearl smears more than the core in the original Blackwing, despite being firmer. I’ve had the same experience, and for that reason alone I prefer the original Blackwing and/or the 602. I have a thing about being able to write on both sides of a piece of paper, and a pencil that smears and ghosts drives me crazy.

A writing sample of all three Blackwing pencils, plus a "one pass" smear test. Notice the Pearl at the bottom, 

That’s not to say that the Pearl is a bad pencil - far from it - it’s much less smeary than a lot of other pencils, but if I’m shelling out $22 for a dozen Blackwings, and can get a darker line and less smearing and ghosting with the original and a perfectly adequate dark line with the 602, that leaves the Pearl as the odd-pencil-out. (I can actually tell very little difference between the point retention on the original Blackwing pencil and the Pearl, by the way, though the Pearl is slightly harder.)

The three Blackwing finishes, from top: (1) Blackwing original; (2) Blackwing 602; and (3) Blackwing Pearl

As with their other pencils, Blackwing recently revised the design of the Pearl, which now differs from the pencil pictured here. While the Pearl still features the white finish, Blackwing has changed the imprint from black to gold and swapped in a white eraser. I’ve not seen the “new Pearl” in person, so I can’t say for sure how I feel, but this seems like a mixed bag. The white eraser looks nice, but the gold imprint…? I think I might prefer the black.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

The quickest way to buy a dozen Blackwings is via Amazon. Like the other pencils, Blackwing has featured the Pearl’s “smooth and balanced” graphite core in its series of limited edition “Blackwing Volumes” pencils, including the recently released Volume 1, a tribute to the singer-songwriter Guy Clark, and Volume 725, the initial limited edition Blackwing with a “sunburst” finish, based on Bob Dylan’s electric guitar at the Newport Music Festival. For some reason, the Pearl core has appeared in the music-themed editions. Intentional?....

The Pearl (top) compared against the Blackwing Volumes 1, which is a round pencil with a gray wash. 

This review is the third installment of an anticipated multipart review of the various Blackwing pencils on the market today. If you liked this post, please check out Part I - my review of the original Palomino Blackwing with some background on the revival of the brand, Part II - my review of the Blackwing 602, as well as my earlier review of the Blackwing line of notebooks.

Disclaimer: I purchased the pencils featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use. This post contains affiliate links.

Pencil Review: The Original (Palomino) Blackwing

Few stationery items have drawn more attention - and fueled more late-night internet bickering - than the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602. In recent years, the Blackwing “legend” has taken on a life of its own in popular culture, due to a combination of (1) the scarcity of the original vintage pencil; (2) the mythology surrounding the pencil and those who used it, fueled by internet stationery obsessives - seriously, who are these people!?; and (3) the 2010 release, to much success and acclaim, of a highly regarded series of pencils in the style of the original Blackwing by CalCedar, a California-based pencil manufacturer that purchased the Blackwing trademark once it expired.  

The original Eberhard Faber Blackwing dates to the 1930s, and became a favorite pencil of various writers and artists such as Stephen Sondheim, Chuck Jones, John Steinbeck, and others. From the time of its discontinuation in the late 1990s to the re-release, enthusiasts were known to hoard boxes/grosses of the original pencil, paying hundreds of dollars for a dozen. Vintage Blackwings continue to sell for ridiculous premiums. Personally, I’ve never owned a vintage Blackwing 602, and regardless of how cool it would be to have one, even I can’t bring myself to shell out $50 for a single pencil. I’m primarily a user, not a collector, and that $50 will buy more than two dozen “modern Blackwings” that perform (for my purposes) just as well. You can read further on the history of the Blackwing pencil here. The 2010 relaunch was covered by media outlets such as the New Yorker and BoingBoing, and wasn’t without controversy.

Three Blackwings, Three Different Pencils

This review takes a look at one of the three “new” Blackwings, namely the original pencil that was released in 2010. Blackwing currently makes three versions as part of its standard lineup, each featuring a different graphite core. The original features extremely dark “soft” graphite, and is marketed towards artists. The Blackwing 602 - designed to more closely resemble the original vintage pencil, including the "Half The Pressure, Twice the Speed" slogan - features a firmer core supposedly geared towards writers, and the Blackwing Pearl is a white pencil with “balanced” graphite that sits between the other two on the hardness scale. (Note: Blackwing does not assign a “grade” to its pencils, such as “No. 2,” “No. 1”, “HB”, etc. I have found all Blackwing pencils, with the exception of the “extra firm” core released in certain special editions, to be softer than a standard HB/No.2.)  

As someone who’s primarily a writer - not an artist - why is the original my favorite of the three standard Blackwing cores? Because for whatever reason, despite the soft graphite, this pencil writes well and maintains a writeable point longer than the “harder” Blackwing 602 or the Pearl, which get pushed as the pencils “for writers.” Here’s what I mean by maintaining a “writeable point”: while the Blackwing won’t keep a super-sharp, KUM-Masterpiece-style point forever, you’re able to write with it longer both because of the darkness of the core and because with such soft graphite, you can fairly easily “sharpen” the point yourself by rotating the pencil as you write. Your personal mileage may vary, but I also experience very little smearing with this pencil - rare for graphite this dark.  

Note the improvements to the imprint from the 2010 original (top) to the present-day imprints from two Blackwing Volumes editions (bottom). 

My Blackwing pencils shipped as part of the original manufacturing run, and are seven years old! Therefore, they look a lot different than the pencils Blackwing sells today. For one thing,  as Blackwing has consolidated as it’s own brand under the CalCedar umbrella, the "Palomino" branding has changed, the pencil no longer has a gold stripe below the ferrule, and now sports a black eraser. The finish on the modern pencils has also improved. The standard Blackwing still features the matte black coating with gold imprint, but the original run had an issue with gold flecks spilling outside the lines a bit. While the core hasn’t changed, once I kill this box (less one pencil for posterity) it will be exciting to pick up a new batch and compare.  

Blackwing's distinctive ferrule and square eraser. 

A note on manufacturing and sourcing: While the modern Blackwing pencils are manufactured by CalCedar, an American Company, they aren’t entirely a “made-in-the-USA” pencil. CalCedar (sustainably) sources its pencil slats from California and Oregon,  and the graphite in the Blackwing pencils comes from Japan. This isn’t a knock against Blackwing - the graphite cores used in Japanese pencils are among the best in the world. CalCedar is one of the largest suppliers of pencil slats to the global pencil industry, so what you have is a quality pencil, made using the best available components, by people who know what they are doing. If you’re interested in learning more about the background of CalCedar and the development of the modern Blackwing pencils, I highly recommend that you listen to Episode 79 of the Erasable Podcast, The Pencil Man Cometh, featuring Charles Berolzheimer of CalCedar.   

Takeaways and Where to Buy

The original Blackwing is currently is my “go-to” woodcase pencil. I keep three or four of them sharpened at all times on my desk at work. They aren’t inexpensive (roughly $20 per dozen, and they hardly ever go on sale), but unless you’re one of those people who churn through a dozen pencils in a week, you should get a lot of mileage out of that $20.  

Blackwing original (center) with the Blackwing Volume 1138 (top) and Volume 73 (bottom).

One of the easiest ways to pick up a dozen Blackwings quickly is via Amazon, and the pencils are currently Prime eligible. If the matte-black finish or gold trim doesn’t do it for you, Blackwing periodically features the “soft” core in its limited-edition “Blackwing Volumes” pencils. The recent Volume 73, with a blue “Lake Tahoe” theme, is still available as of the time of publication from both Blackwing and retailers who still have the pencil in stock.

In the coming weeks I’ll be offering my thoughts on the other Blackwing pencils. In the meantime, you can check out my previous review of the Blackwing line of notebooks.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I purchased the pencils featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use.

Introducing the Pencil Crown, from Elegant Utility

Here's something for all you pencil fans out there. Elegant Utility, an Etsy seller based in Long Island, New York, has developed a neat product that adds better balance to uncapped pencils. The product is called the Pencil Crown, and it's a small piece of brass, slightly larger than your typical ferrule + eraser, that slides over the end of the pencil.

The Pencil Crown should fit most untipped pencils fairly easily. 

I'm one of those people that ordinarily prefers a pencil with an eraser because I think, in general, they are more comfortable to write with. The weight of the ferrule gives the pencil a more comfortable balance in your hand, and the Pencil Crown makes up for this on a pencil that otherwise lacks an eraser. Technically, you can use the Pencil Crown with any pencil, provided you first remove the ferrule or dipped end, but I think I'll end up using this more for uncapped pencils like the Caran d'Ache Grafik pictured here.

The Pencil Crown gives a nice weight to pencils that I would otherwise find too light. 

A huge thank you to Michael at Elegant Utility for sending this Pencil Crown over for review. If this product interests you, please visit the Elegant Utility Etsy store. In addition to the Pencil Crown, Elegant Utility also sells a version of the Pencil Crown with an eraser, the Pencil Pal (best described as their version of the bullet pencil), and the Pencil Companion (a pencil holder/extender), among other unique objects. 

Disclaimer: The Pencil Crown was sent to me free of charge by Elegant Utility for review purposes.