Galoots,

On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 4:39 AM, Michael Blair  wrote:
>> Well recently a company called Palomino is trading on the name:
>>
>> Writing or sketching with them was BLISS, not like the hard graphite
>> crap in pencils today.
>
> Hard graphite is not modern crap.  Graphite has come in different levels
> of hardness for many decades.

The Palomino Blackwings are very nice, as are their other premium
pencils.  The Blackwings are a bit soft for many uses, but I think
their premium HB variants strike a good balance and have excellent
lead, cases and finish.  What I find objectionable in a crap pencil is
a case that doesn't center the lead so it's difficult to get a good
point, and graphite that is uneven, which often feels like it's too
hard and scratchy whenever you hit a bad spot.  That might be what the
original poster meant by "hard graphite".

> http://www.dixonticonderoga.com/">http://www.dixonticonderoga.com/
>
> Ticonderoga is one of the premium pencils on the market, always has been.

I'd argue it is no longer.  Production has shifted to Mexico and China
(maybe elsewhere too), and I don't think the quality of the pencil is
as good as it was when it was produced in the United States.  I'm
partial to General (US) and Palomino (Japan, US) for premium pencils.

> Paying $40 to $50 each for a vintage pencil just for use is, well,
> ridiculous.  Office supply use pencils may have gone to inferior
> quality, but artists still demand quality.  There's no advantage to
> buying a 30 year old collector pencil when brand new pencils of the
> same quality are easily available.

To each his own.  Most people probably think it's crazy to spend $20
for a box of 12 pencils, but using them makes me happy so I'm not
going to feel bad about it.

Cheers,

Chris
-- 
Christopher Swingley
Fairbanks, Alaska
http://swingleydev.com/
cswingle@s...