ORIGINAL POST DATE: February 22, 2006

Blackwing 602I have tried out a few new pencils lately, part of my continual search for the one pencil that seems just right to me. I have been very happy with the Palominos made by California Republic (as blogged about earlier HERE), and even though they have the best graphitei I have found since the Blackwing 602, they lack a certain, well, sense of style. The bright orange color, although definitely distinctive, is a little too loud for my liking. The design of the Blackwing 602 is as cool as it gets when it comes to pencils, and even though ultimately the important thing is how it writes, I find I'm still longing for a pencil that looks as good as it writes.

I have been piecing together the perfect pencil in my mind lately, exhuming the parts from the assortment of good pencils I regularly use to create the ultimate writing tool. In order to create the perfect all-around pencil I first need to harvest a few parts. My goal here is a pencil that would be highly functional for day-to-day use, comfortable for writing for longer periods of time, and not too specialized (i.e., it doesn't also have to be the best sketching pencil).

California Republic Palomino

The graphite core needs to be a California Republic Palomino HB grade. I would also keep the same Cal Cedar wood from the Palomino, but loose the orange lacquer. The Palominos have a very nice professionally done finish, but I find the high finish to be a bit slippery at times.