Hey guys! I happened to find this sub today and even though I have been really deliberate or kind of a maniac about stationery, this sub, in a single day has made me obsessed with pencils like never before. Now, I'm still a student so I can't really afford to buy pencils from other countries since they are quite expensive. But I happen to have a 20-dollar Amazon US gift card. These are region specific so I can only buy things from Amazon US which happen to ship to India.

About 75% of the budget is really being eaten by the customs and shipping lol, so I have very limited options on what I can buy. After much back and forth, I found a 30 pack of pencils by Ticonderoga, and a 12-pack of pens by Uniball. But I'm really confused as to which of them to get. Earlier I had decided on the former because those are 30 as opposed to 12, but I read some things on this sub and also in the reviews, that the quality of ticons has gone down. I don't want to be disappointed when I receive them, so I really want to ask some advice.

More context: Ticon pencils are available on Amazon India and those are cheaper to buy from Amazon India. But even if they are cheaper, since this is a gift card it's basically free money to me, and I don't think I would buy them out of my/my parent's pocket soon. Moreover, the Uniball onyx pens are only really available through a reseller, which is much more expensive.

More Japanese pencils for the collection. Currently using a Mitsubishi 9990 in F and a 9800 in B for writing atm.

What pencils do yall keep at your desk?

Added my new Volume 4 pencil to my cup at work. All the blackwings I have here.

Even a lovely Kitaboshi 9606

Volume 4
Eras
MoleskinexBlackwing
Volume 55
Volume 17
602
BlackwingxDeathrow Records

Hey hey

Just seeing if anyone is familiar with this brand ? I picked it up at CW pencils🥹 back 2021 and just keep it around . Love to know more or if anyone has a preference of these pencils . It’s alright to me for writing

Ordered a Musgrave’s Select 885 #3 for the vintage Musgrave collection I’m working on and the eBay seller really went above and beyond shipping this pencil 👀 🤯

Has this happened to anyone else here?

I got the Spirited Away pencils for funs. The doms i wanted to try for the darkness. They feel pretty smooth and they are dark. Can anyone tell me what the hb/2 grade means? Thanks.

These recently arrived from Japan along with some other vintage Japanese pencils. I had been looking for a pack of 12 of these for some time. Didn’t think I’d end up with a full half grosser!

Since I have so many I think it should be ok if I sharpen one or two ☺️.

I love finding pencils in the wild! Been wanting one of these weirdos!

Cool box and pencils. Added to my collection!

I've been rotating through my new and old Faber-Castells lately. I've always liked the look and feel of them.

My thoughts about Palomino Blackwing 602

TL;DR: beautiful distinct and well made B hardness pencil, priced well above what the core justifies

The hook

What fascinates me about wood-cased pencils is their simple and pragmatic design, yet the design is at the same time elegant and timeless -- I love the hexagon shape and how the boundary between the wood collar and lacquer curves.

I have been in this hobby for a while. I tried the basic Dixon Ticonderoga, and more premium choices from Mitsubishi Pencil and Tombow. The Japanese pencils are all joyful to write with and made with high standard of quality. I have also been seeing constant praise of Palomino Blackwing 602 online. Their flowery description of this apparently good-looking pencil enticed me to get my hands on one pack of Blacking 602, as I wanted to see if it really is different from other good pencils outside of its distinct look.

My thoughts

As you can see in my picture, I have other pencils tested against the Blackwing 602. I don't intend to do one to one comparison. Here is what I like and dislike about it:

Likes

• The build quality is on par with other Japanese pencils (Hi-Uni and Mono 100, except for the ferrule, which is not fixed securely on my copy). Wood used is cedar and lacquer is pretty -- shiny with metallic luster.
• Undoubtedly beautiful: the unique ferrule resemble the ones of paint brushes, which made me feel like writing with an art instrument. The color coordination of various parts is managed masterfully. The hot-stamped text is in the same gold color as the ferrule and the color of the eraser is classic pink and serves as accent. The hot-stamped text is carefully chosen; you don't find words that tell you "for office use" or "highest quality", which I resent for making the surface look crowded and is unnecessary.
• The graphite core is good, though I don't think it is better than most Japanese pencils I have. It is equivalent to a normal B pencil (harder than my Hi-Uni 2B and 8900 2B, softer than my HB). It is dark and smooth, albeit needs sharpening frequently (just like a normal B pencil).
• It is a cool idea that you can refill the eraser.

Dislikes

• The center of gravity is awkward, even more so than a fresh long normal pencil, because of the weight of the larger metal piece.
• The eraser is not good enough for a B hardness pencil, leaving a gray smear that won't come off no matter hard you rub with this eraser.
• The marketing leans more on people's craving for emotional connection rather than the pencil itself. The pitch is basically:"Our pencils have great heritage. Celebrity A, B and C swore by our pencils, and used them when working on their masterpieces." That sells a feeling, not a pencil.
• Other users' exaggerated claims: 1) "This is writing pencil, not comparable to pencils with given hardness" -- to me, they write like a normal B pencil, similar darkness and similar rate of blunting the tip. 2) "This is the best/smoothest pencil that I have used." I've seen this too many times, and I wonder if they have tried other good options and if they conducted blind tests to support their claims.

My Conclusion

It's a good pencil and I appreciate that CalCedar revived it. It's also overpriced which I hate and they can keep the same price as long as most people don't explore other good options.

Sorting 16 boxes of Musgrave Factory Seconds was a ton of fun. I grouped them by shape/color/style/label. The 4th picture are some white label pencils I liked and set aside. The last picture shows the Musgrave line pencils I received—some cool tipped Bugles 😎

Enjoying these pencils very much after doing some writing and sketching with them this morning. I picked up a handful of them from eBay. I just started collecting vintage pencils last year — any similar recommendations from this era or earlier?

Been looking to purchase these since December, but everytime I checked their online store, they appear as sold out.

Message them over IG, but received no reply whatsoever.

After seeing some pencil YouTubers talk about finding cool pencils at their local thrift stores, I thought I'd try the Goodwill Outlet nearby--it's the type of Goodwill where you dig through huge blue bins of bric-a-brac (or bins of clothing) and pay for your haul by the pound.

Right when I walked in I saw the antique pencil puzzle which felt like a sign there could be pencils buried in the bins under the heaps of plastic containers, old books, discarded toys. I dug through approx 10 bins and found these pencils, eraser, and crayon magnet.

I really love the eyeball pencils, but have no idea if they're very good. I haven't tried the other pencils yet, either, and I'm not sure I'd dig through bins again for pencils. I paid approx $4 and dug for 45 min.

Any idea what this mystery pencil (picture 2) might be? It has a similar ferrule to the USA titanium.