Vintage Gem: The Dixon Ticonderoga Woodgrain Pencil

January 27, 2021

While the standard Ticonderoga sold in stores has been on and off my “favorites” list over the years, depending on quality control at any given time, recent iterations have been on the lower end of the quality spectrum and it’s fallen out of favor. Fortunately, I have a “healthy” stock of vintage pencils, including a few dozen of the coveted Ticonderoga “Woodgrain” pencils.

I took mainly pencils with me while I was away this week, including the Ticonderoga Woodgrain and Blackwing 10001. (As an aside, I’m not sure I’m digging the five sides on the latter. It’s weirdly uncomfortable.)

I’m not a pencil historian, so I don’t know exactly when these were sold, but since mine are marked “U.S.A.,” I’m going to assume they’re well over ten years old. (Dixon ceased production in the U.S. sometime in the 2000s.) If I had to guess, these pencils likely date from the late 1990s, early 2000s, and have aged well. The erasers remain soft, and the wood sharpens better than many of the more expensive pencils in my collection.

The Ticonderoga actually sharpens better than this particular Blackwing Volumes edition (maybe due to the odd shape of the latter?). Point here is done with a M+R Castor.

While the graphite on this pencil is a touch harder than I prefer, the finish is absolutely beautiful. To think that not so long ago, you could get a pencil like this in an office supply store for a few bucks a dozen makes me sad (and a little angry, honestly), given that the closest equivalent I have in my collection now costs more than $3 per pencil.

Both of these pencils felt oddly locale-appropriate.

Since the Ticonderoga Woodgrains are no more, you’ll need to resort to scouring eBay. While standard vintage U.S.A.-made Ticonderogas are fairly easy to find (you can still get a half gross for around $45 shipped), the Woodgrain variant is rare. I actually received these as a pleasant surprise, when I purchased a larger eBay lot and found that it included three dozen of the pencils shown here.

Ticonderoga Laddie: The Fat Pencil Review

October 3, 2014

Upon my return from my trip I had two packages waiting for me. One contained these:

A fresh dozen of Ticonderoga Laddie mini-jumbo pencils with erasers, plus my lone eraserless version.

The Laddie is Dixon's "mini-jumbo" pencil. It's slightly larger than the typical no. 2, with a thicker graphite core, but not nearly as big as the "My First Pencil" Ticonderogas. I haven't tried those out yet, but I think I'd probably find them too wide, as my handwriting can be on the small size.

I love the Laddie. It sits very comfortably in the hand, and Ticonderoga markets this product not only to school-age kids learning cursive, but to "those who like a slightly larger pencil." I'm not sure this would replace the other pencils I use on a daily basis, but yesterday at work it was the only pencil I used.

The core is extremely dark, sharpens to a nice point in my Carl CC-2000, and maintains that point, due to the thickness of the graphite. Of course, given how wide the core is, if you're one of those people who insists on having a super-sharp pencil point all the time, you may find yourself sharpening frequently. I didn't mind so much, as I made sure to rotate the pencil from time to time to maintain the point. It's somewhat unusual how smooth and dark these pencils are, given that they are made in Dixon's Mexico factory. My past experience with Mexican-made Ticonderogas have been mixed. The graphite typically is not as smooth and dark as the Chinese-made version. These pencils, however, are excellent.

Martin, one of the readers here, originally sent me a Laddie in a pencil trade. They come in two varieties: with eraser, and without. I enjoyed the eraserless version so much that I couldn't help but order a dozen with erasers included. The erasers are larger versions of the normal Ticonderoga eraser, and do a nice job. I have no complaints there.

My only knock on the Laddie is that they are somewhat difficult to find. Stores don't carry them, at least around me, and I had a heck of a time finding them on Amazon with Prime shipping included, but eventually I did. (Update - As of my last check, only the Laddie Tri-Write is Prime-eligible as a stand-alone item. You can still find good deals on the standard Laddie as an add-on item.) I hope Dixon is not going to quit making them, because if they are, I'm going to have to buy myself a gross.

A picture from one of my earlier "pencil comparison" reviews, which I think accurately demonstrates the size of the Laddie compared with a regular No. 2.

Pencils! Pick Five.

September 19, 2014

First of all, thank you to everyone who has participated so far in my giveaway here. I'd like to remind all readers that a winner will not be chosen until Tuesday, so you have until 11:59 p.m. on Monday to enter.

Second, for some reason pencils have been calling my name this past week or so. I've still been using my fountain pens for certain things, but the giant cup of pencils that sits crammed-full on my desk has been bothering me for a while, urging me to sharpen them up and use them. So I have. I'm not a pencil purist, meaning that I don't use them exclusively by any means, but I do love me some graphite.

Here are five of my current favorites:

Palomino "Classic" Eraser-tipped HB. If I was stranded on a desert island and could have one writing implement, I would choose this pencil. To me, it has the perfect combination of smoothness, darkness, and point retention. If I had one criticism, it's that the ferrule and eraser tend to loosen up, and eventually fall off, as the pencil is used, but that could just be a bad batch. Oh, and the cedar smells great when you sharpen this pencil. Theoretically, I know there's not much difference between this and Palomino's Blackwing 602, but I just like this pencil. A lot. (As of October 1, 2016, It looks like the Palomino HB is out of stock. I've been unable to find a source of them anywhere. Hopefully they aren't being discontinued.)
Palomino Blackwing 602. A close second. The point retention in this pencil is second to none, but I sometimes wish it was just a hair darker (but not as dark/soft as the original Palomino Blackwing or the Blackwing Pearl). The gunmetal finish on this pencil is gorgeous.
Dixon Ticonderoga #2 HB (Chinese Version). (Formerly) an American classic. This is still a decent quality pencil, the lead is smooth and very dark, and you can't beat the price. I docked this pencil some points because the QC is not what it used to be. Several of the pencils in the 30 pack I purchased were warped. Not to the point of being unusable, but still...when I spend $4.00 on a pack of 30, I want my money's worth. Oh, wait. In terms of smoothness and darkness, you can't really beat the combination of price and easy availability. (Don't order these online - Go to your nearest big-box store and pick up a pack that says "Made in China." The "Made in Mexico" versions aren't as good.)
Faber Castell American. There are better pencils, but I love these because they were, to me, the classic yellow #2 that I used growing up. I bought a half gross on Ebay for next to nothing, so I can use them freely. These pencils aren't as dark as any of those listed above, which doesn't put them at the top of my list, but they are dark enough and the point retention is excellent. They write more like a modern German HB pencil. They are also made of real cedar and the lacquer and ferrule have a quality you don't see much anymore in a budget pencil, other than Musgrave.
Field Notes Pencil. A great pencil in concept, but I've had some performance issues with the graphite core breaking as the pencil get's shorter. If you don't use a long-point sharpener, the problem isn't as pronounced, but what's the fun in that? Otherwise, the unfinished raw cedar smells amazing, the graphite is acceptably smooth and dark, and the green eraser is offbeat enough to be interesting and works well. I really want to like this pencil, but I'm going to use a few more before I make a bigger purchase.

From left:  Field Notes Pencil, Palomino Blackwing 602 (with replacement pink eraser), Classic Palomino HB, Dixon Ticonderoga, vintage Faber Castell American. — From left: Field Notes Pencil, Palomino Blackwing 602 (with replacement pink eraser), Classic Palomino HB, Dixon Ticonderoga, vintage Faber Castell American.

This is a pretty accurate depiction of the darkness of the lead.  In terms of darkness alone, I would rank them:  (1) Chinese Ticonderoga; (2) Palomino Blackwing 602; (3) Palomino HB; (4) Field Notes; (5) Faber Castell American.  In t… — This is a pretty accurate depiction of the darkness of the lead. In terms of darkness alone, I would rank them: (1) Chinese Ticonderoga; (2) Palomino Blackwing 602; (3) Palomino HB; (4) Field Notes; (5) Faber Castell American. In terms of smoothness, the rankings would be similar, thought the Palomino pencils would both trump the Chinese Ticonderoga, with the Blackwing 602 taking the prize.

By far, these are not the only pencils I use, simply those that I have been using recently. I'll be trying to get more woodcase pencil reviews up, since I know there's demand out there for more pencil-related content.

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