Blackwing Matte Pencils, Soft 3B Japanese Graphite, Red Finish, 12 Count

If I could date a pencil, I would date this pencil. Holy crap.. this is an amazing writing/drawing tool. A coworker first gave me one of the gray ones (602, I think) and I thought I was in love.. About 6 months later he gave me a natural one and I realized that I didn’t know what love really was until that moment. I swear these pencils are magic! Smooth and dark without hurting your hand. I like the extra firm over the softer ones because I tend to have a heavier hand when making marks so the tip seems to last longer. That being said, I wouldn’t cry if I was given the gray ones because there’s not a massive difference in performance…..but the natural are definitely my favorite.

These are the finest pencils I have used. I mark up sheet music which comes with frequent erasures. For my use I need a pencil that leaves clear dark markings, a controllable width, easy clear erasures and long point life. Although a bit pricier than most these pencils are worth every penny of it!

I used to swear by the black ones, but these are slightly harder yet just about as dark, and the lines are cleaner. Excellent for writing music, specifically, but also words, and drawing, which people are probably doing more often than writing music with them. Which is too bad. A lost art, writing music. People still do it! I do. To what end, I have no idea. But these are the pencils to waste your life with, if that's your plan! The quality is just spectacular, and the graphite is >chef's kiss<. You really do get what you pay for. Three dollars for a pencil? Worth every penny-cil.

These are beautiful pencils. They are a pleasure to write and draw with. Encountered them in a gift shop last Christmas and was so impressed with the one I picked up there - that I ordered a box here on Amazon. Delighted to add them to my art supplies!

These are hands down my favorite and potentially one of the best doodle/all around sketch pencil out there. While they are certainly pricier, they are worth it. I’ve had my original set for years and I still have 6 pencils I haven’t even touched yet. I knew these would be my go tos for years to come so I bought another set. Different style, but same lead quality as the previous ones I have with the black eraser. Reasons why I live these: 1 lead does not break easily in any sharpener. I only had the lead break once and that was because I really screwed up the angle of the blade to the pencil and was really rough with it. I have been able to sharpen these in electric, Long point, and metal sharpeners along with an X-Acto knife 2. They feel good to hold. Like seriously I feel my brain and hand are more in sync with these pencils and they just help with the work flow of my drawing getting it from my mind to the paper. Easy to hold and control the pressure. Not to mention the way the eraser end is made, it still allowed me to draw with a semi awkward grip even when it was a literal stub (ie no more pencil left and just the pointed part). This allowed me to use it until the last possible moment 3. The lead glides so nickels on all paper types. I’ve drawn in Bristol and papers with tougher textures and the pencil glides so well but still providing enough friction for control. A great all rounder based on the pressure you use allowing you to lightly doodle to drawing darker outlines to even basic shading. All with one pencil. Makes it great as a traveling tool when you want to practice or get tough ideas out. 4. It erases pretty cleanly. The erasers work reasonably well given not as well as my kneadable or vinyl erasers, but for use with just this pencil, they get the job done. The shake of the eraser allows for more control in the size of the area you want to erase and you don’t need to use a lot of pressure. Not to mention you can pull it out and extend the eraser when you have rubbed it down too much. Though depending on how much you erase, they don’t feel they will last the full life if the pencil itself.

If you are looking at the Palomino Blackwing series, my recommendation is that you just buy one of them and try it. I looked at these for a couple of years, tried other pencils, then tried these. This series of pencils is the best pencil, but perhaps not the best value. By series, I mean the whole Blackwing series: the 602, the Pearl, and the regular Blackwing. The Blackwing 602 has the hardest graphite lead of the bunch - close to a regular HB but a bit softer. The Pearl has an even softer lead. And the regular Blackwing itself is even softer than the Pearl. I use pencils to write and edit documents all day, and the 602 is the only one of the Blackwing series I can really use. The other two are too soft for my taste. They all produce a beautiful, even line. How do the 602s measure up against my other favorite pencils: the Palomino HB Palomino Graphite Pencils - HB Eraser Tipped Blue - 12 Count], the Mirado Black Warrior [[ASIN:B00443G2JC Mirado Black Warrior Pencils - HB #2, Black Matte Barrel, Dozen(sold in packs of 3) , the Palomino Forest Choice ForestChoice Graphite #2 Pencils - 36 Count and the Staedler Rally Graphite #2 Staedtler Rally Graphite #2 Pencil, 12-Each (9122-2B12) ? The Mirado Black Warrior has a harder feel to the lead than the other ones, closest to the HB pencils used in a school. All the others are a bit softer. The 602s are the easiest to write with and, even though I have to sharpen them frequently, the graphite holds up a bit better than any of the others - even better than the Black Warrior. I think the 602 just sharpens easier. The eraser on these pencils is also better than what I find on the other pencils. Is it worth the money? Ah-ha. It's up to you. The closest competitor for my tastes is the Palomino HB. It's half the price but 80% as good as the Blackwing 602. If I were buying a gift, I would go for something in the Blackwing series, but I would probably check out the entire selection of pencils and gift boxes available at pencils.com. The price is about the same but the shipping is more reliable. Whoever packed my recent Amazon shipment just threw the Pearls and the 602s in a bigger box with my other items with no extra wrapping. Come on - it's an expensive item, folks! A rubber band would have been nice, if not a piece of plastic wrap. The box for the Pearls was crushed by another item and every pencil was outside the box and somewhat damaged in the shipping. I'm sure Amazon would have graciously accepted a return, but it would be nice to just have it shipped properly to begin with to avoid the hassle. Since the Pearls were too soft for my taste anyway, I ended up passing them on to a starving artist friend who eagerly accepted them.

I did not believe the hype on this pencil. I mean, how great can a simple pencil be, right? Pencils are pencils. Then, on a lark, I tried it. And now I believe the hype on this pencil. Taking this thing top to bottom, first is the eraser. Now, I will say you can't pop an eraser top on this thing because of the odd shape. It will just split after a little use. However, you don't need to. These erasers are replaceable. You just pull the thing out and put in a new one. The eraser is pretty long -- most of it is inside the pencil -- and you can just pull more out to lengthen it until you need to replace it. For an exact length, the eraser fills the metal on top for as far as the metal is flattened to its shape, aka about 7/8 of an inch. I took it out and measured it. The only downside is the unusual shape of the eraser means it won't fit into a standard pencil extender. The barrel is faceted, which makes it easier to hold and less likely to roll off the table. It has a warm wood and feels nice in the hand. It has a good grip. No special care is needed in sharpening these, which is good because I can't seem to sharpen the ones that do need special care (6B and softer or soft charcoal) without loosing a good inch on them. These I just stick in a mechanical sharpener, a twist sharpener, whatever, and they come out fine. The lead is softer than a typical HB pencil, but not by much. The line is a smidgen darker, when exactly the same pressure is placed on both, but there is more difference from pressure than from pencil. That is, a standard #2 can make a darker line than this with a heavier hand and this can make a lighter line than a #2 with a lighter touch, but the lightest this makes isn't quite as light as the lightest a #2 can make and the darkest this makes is darker than the darkest a #2 can make, if that makes sense. I'd put it as a B maybe, just one darker than an HB. It matches my Faber Castel B for line anyway. But these designations vary brand to brand. The line erases well enough with a light hand, but is tricky to erase if you press hard, which is, I guess, typical of pencils. This is their premier writing pencil, but I use it as a sketch pencil to get the basic lines in before darkening with the Blackwing. Warning, these pencils are addictive. Once you start writing or drawing with them, you won't want to stop.

Very easy to write with and has a well balanced feel, for a pencil, in your hand; perhaps the "gold" eraser end is heavier than a typical pencil's eraser thus, whilst holding the Blackwing 602 in hand, it feels more substantial, or for the serious minded. The lead writes easily. Perhaps it is just knowing the history of the Blackwing 602 and all the brilliant artist of the 20th century who used the original Blackwing that makes the 602 seem special, or maybe its just the outrageous price for a pack of pencils that convinces the mind that this is a superior pencil in order to justify the cost. Note, these pencils do not last long as the soft lead transfer to the paper so quickly and you have to sharpen more often than you are accustomed to do with other pencils. Therefore it is suggested to buy their plastic sharpener that has two sharpeners for the 602: one to remove the wood; the other to hone and actually sharpen the lead as the first hole leaves the lead in tack, which is a thick end too awkward to utilize for your work. This seeming drawback of constantly sharpening not once but twice per sharpening is a corporate committee's nightmare of inefficiency and seemingly wasted time management, however, for the artistic type, the artists, composers, writers, or simply those brave enough to think outside the box of all the zombies of the world, that is, all the followers who never think for themselves and simply believe what they were told and never question their cherished and most likely outdated beliefs, this constant sharpening is the mother's milk of creativity because it becomes a ritual, the two times sharpening every time you sharpen, and this ritual makes the artist feel like a) he is doing something that must be done other than actually creating, b) whilst sharpening she gives her unconscious mind the rest and space that it needs to dredge up the new, the unconventional, the original ideas that creativity is all about, that is, the time spent sharpening is the time that the creative mind requires to do its work, c) every time the artist has to sharpen it means that he or she went through so much lead, that is, the artist is actually doing so much creative work, therefore the artist subconsciously knows that he is getting a lot of work done because the lead is constantly running low in its attempt to keep up with the artist creative productivity. Lastly, a pencil is a lost art and gives a quiet serenity and focus to a work that it is more difficult to achieve with the laptop simply because there is no email or facebook on the pencil where there is on the laptop/computer screen. The 602 is NOT the original Blackwing from yore, HOWEVER, the Blackwing 602 is designed almost identically to the originals so much so that you need not sift through ebay to pay $200 plus dollars per pack just so that you have bragging rights, the pencil itself is not art though it lends itself well to creating art. This is to say that the Blackwing 602 is the clone of the original out of production Blackwing. Note there are Blackwing pencils being sold but they are NOT clones of the original Blackwings, thus be sure to purchase the Blackwing 602. The now in production Blackwing have a harder lead and slightly different color. Again, there are three Blackwings: the original out of production Blackwing purchasable on ebay for $$$; the now in production Blackwing that is NOT a clone of the original; and finally the now in production Blackwing 602 that is a clone of the original with the soft lead and the benefits as described above.

602の書き心地は別格だと思います 本数が少なくなったので、注文しようと調べたら、5割増しの価格になっていたので 代替えはないかと、uni HI-uni mono と試したのですが、 目を瞑って書くと、何度やっても602を当てることができてしまう まだmono100を試していないので、それがだめなら・・・・・・ってところですね

Excelentes lápis.

They feel like silk when writing with them. The story regarding their usage by other important people has the inspiration role. They deliver what they state and from my perspective they inspire to chanel my thoughts from mind to paper. I would recommend this product for the experience that it provides

Is a pencil just a pencil? I have to say I used to think like that but I’ve been drawing for several years and tried a variety of pencil makes – Tombow, Derwent, woodless, mechanical. Loads of types and they’re all different. I attend a life drawing session every week and on one a friend gave me a Blackwing 602. She explained that she’d had to buy a box of 12 because she couldn’t find them sold anywhere individually. I liked it so much I bought a box of 12 myself. It’s a great sketching pencil and has the ability to draw lightly (like an H or HB) yet produce dark lines (like a 2B). It’s a real hybrid pencil, smooth to use and glides well over the paper. I use 170gsm Artway Studio Cartridge paper and it’s the perfect pencil. Another excellent feature is the rubber, which can be moved out as it wears and performs like a proper rubber, not like the rubber tips on those school HB pencils. It’s well shaped and a great asset to the pencil. It also stops it rolling off an uneven platform! The pencils are quite long at 20cm compared to others (Derwent are 18) so make sure they’ll fit in your pencil case and I like the fact that they come in a robust box with a nice design. I think I’ll stick with this brand for the foreseeable future. I like it a lot and I think that even at over £2.25 per pencil it’s worth the expense. Give it a try.

Ich mache Kunst beruflich und hab schon viel von den eistiften gehört. Es sind auf jeden Fall die teuersten Bleistifte die ich mir bisher gekauft habe aber wenn man mal sich selbst etwas besonderes holen will oder vielleicht jmd von dem man weiß das er künstlerisch ein schönes Geschenk machen will kann man sich die auf jedenfall gönnen. Habe direkt ein paar kleine Skizzen damit gemacht eine hab ich hier auch an gehangen. Die Mienen sind sehr weich und man kann super gut verschiedene Schattierungen damit machen. Der Radierer hinten am Stift ist mega und ich würde ihn mit den Künstler Radierer von Faber-Castell vergleichen gleiche Qualität lvl. Die Bleistifte fühlen sich eher an wie ein B bis 2B vom härtegead würde ich sagen. Ich bin super schnell durch meinen 1. Bleistift durch was aber auch einfach daran liegt das ich echt gern damit zeichne weil es ein angenehmes mal gefühl ist. Dennoch muss ich sagen sie brauchen sich sehr schnell auf da sie eben recht weich sind und ich sie daher öfters anspitzen muss. Der costumer service war super mir wurde direkt die Rechnung per Email zugeschickt und sie waren in kürzester Zeit geliefert. Alles in allem ein kleiner Luxus für das Künstlerherz und für mich das Geld wert aber kein essential :) dennoch mit die besten Bleistifte die ich besitze