Everything You Need to Know About Blackwing Pencils
Starting from the top and moving clockwise, pictured here are the Volume 840 special edition, the 602, the Volume 3 special edition, a two-step long point sharpener, the Pearl, and the Matte.
Imagine loving a graphite pencil so much that you request to be buried with it — that’s the Blackwing graphite pencil! Shamus Culhane, a Disney animator, famously made this request about his Blackwing 602, a testament to the quality and virtuosity the pencil has.
Culhane was not alone in his adoration of his pencil of choice. Other notable names who exclusively used Blackwing pencils include John Steinbeck, Leonard Bernstein, and Looney Tunes creator Chuck Jones. Motiv Space Systems, a company that helped designed and build the 2020 Mars Rover, uses Blackwings for conceptualization. You can see them on the screen in All the President’s Men, Jaws, and Mad Men. Few brands can boast the same following, so it might surprise you to hear that Blackwing was discontinued in 1998. Luckily, the California Cedar Products Company started making the pencils again in 2010, and they’re just as beloved today as they were in the first years of production!
So how has Blackwing really perfected the pencil? How is Blackwing different from all the others? Well, to start, Blackwing’s pencils have a hexagonal design that prevents them from rolling around. The erasers are the pencil’s most distinct quality, as they are rectangular instead of the circle you might be used to. If you pinch both sides of the ferrule, the metal bit that holds the eraser on, and pull straight up, you’ll find that the erasers can be adjusted, swapped, and replaced! All the pencils are made with California genuine incense-cedar and premium Japanese graphite, meaning that every part of the pencil is made with quality in mind.
All the regular edition pencils feature the “iconic” gold ferrule and removable erasers.
The pencils come in boxes of 12, and a 2020 redesign of the boxes means that they are easy to store both horizontally and vertically. The new boxes also double as a pencil cup! On top of the wooden pencils, Blackwing makes other art and writing supplies as well. We carry their artist-quality pencil sharpeners, including the new one-step long point sharpener and the classic two-step long point sharpener. You can also find coloured pencils from the brand in our store, which feature the same California cedar wood with Japanese coloured wax cores.
With all of the big names in the arts world that use the pencils, from musicians to writers and illustrators, you’ll be happy to know that Blackwing also shows their support for this community as well. A portion of every product sold will go to the Blackwing Foundation, helping to provide arts and music education in schools throughout the United States at the kindergarten-grade 12 level.
Blackwing also makes iconic special edition pencils, which are released quarterly. Each volume of the special edition pencils has its own theme and number, matching a particular person, place, or important achievement. Once the special edition colours are sold out, they’re sold out for good, which makes them great for collectors! The latest release of the Blackwing Volumes is Volume 3, the Ravi Shankar pencil, which you can read all about in one of our previous blog posts.
As for the regular line, there are four varieties that will never be discontinued (and will never go out of style!):
Blackwing Matte
The Blackwing Matte pencils have a matte black body and a matching black eraser. The ferrule is gold, which Blackwing calls “iconic”, indicating that it is the standard colour. The matte pencils have soft graphite, the softest of the four varieties Blackwing produces. That makes these pencils the ideal choice for darker lines, great for drawing or writing music.
The Blackwing Pearl pencils have balanced graphite, making them the best all-around pen of the regular edition varieties.
Blackwing Pearl
The Blackwing Pearl pencils feature a semi-glossy white body and matching white eraser. The ferrule is the iconic Blackwing gold, and the imprint on the pencil is also gold. The Pearl has balanced graphite, which makes it the second softest graphite in the lineup. This is useful for its versatility, as you can write with it without having to sharpen too obnoxiously often, but you can also get some lovely colour variation for use with drawing.
Blackwing 602
The Blackwing 602 pencil is our bestseller! The 602 boasts that you can write with half the pressure and twice the speed of other pencil brands. It features a glossy grey body, a pink eraser, and the iconic gold ferrule. It has hard graphite, making it ideal for writing and taking on the go.
Blackwing Natural
The latest addition to the regular line of pencils is the Blackwing Natural. Like the name suggests, the pencil is the colour of the cedar on the inside, just with a glossy top coat. The ferrule is the iconic gold, and the eraser is a beautiful slate grey. It has extra-firm graphite, which makes it ideal for long writing sessions and light lines.
Have you used Blackwing pencils? What’s your experience? Let us know in the comments!