Customer Reviews

THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT Palomino Blackwing pencils! This one (in matte black) is the first, which has a soft lead and writes with a dark line. Customers expecting a pencil more like the original EF Blackwing wanted the shiny not-quite-black finish, the Half the Pressure slogan, the pink eraser, and a harder lead that wouldn't dull so quickly. A year later, CalCedar issued the Palomino Blackwing 602, which is closer in appearance and performance to the 90's era EF Blackwings (40's era Blackwings reputedly had softer leads). The Palomino Blackwing 602 doesn't write as dark a line as the Palomino Blackwing, but it holds its point longer. In my opinion, both write better than the original late-era EF Blackwings I've purchased off of eBay. As penciltalk.org's admin wrote in his 7/22/09 EF Blackwing post, "...the past achievements are acknowledged and celebrated, but decades of engineering advancement just can't be overcome."

I can't relate to what kind of pencils they manufactured 60 years ago, but I can tell you that these ones are beautiful to work with, depending upon what your requirements are. The pencil quality itself is extremely good, and the eraser design pure simplistic genius.

So here are the pro's and con's:

Pro's: Beautiful quality pencil, smart (replaceable) eraser design, very rich, black stroke (pencil marks on paper)

Con's: Very soft lead, and as the other reveiwer noted, this requires frequent sharpening. Also, due to the lead being so soft, it also smudges a bit more easily.

I use them for making general notes when working at my desk and love them for that purpose. I've never owned or used a pencil that generated such a deep, rich, black line. They're unusual and I always get comments when people see them. If I'm drawing or sketching, I use mechanical clutch pencils that were traditionally used for drafting purposes, and in those I can use whatever range/grade of lead hardness I need to fit the purpose.

These are wonderful pencils - incredibly smooth. Like writing with butter!! They are great for both general writing and for sketching/drawing. Well worth the money.

I find the 602 to be harder and less dark than regular Palomino Blackwings. The 602 series are more faithful to the original Eberhart Faber Blackwings in lead content as well as design. I really like these for sketching where I use the darker Blackwing more for shading or life drawing they’re both very smooth pencils. I was surprised that the eraser works very well and is removable on a lot of pencils I find the erasers more of an afterthought and I need to carry a separate one. Over all there a great pencil all the ones I’ve tried had nicely centered lead cores.

Received this after reading much fanfare in the press and blogosphere. The 602 is a well-made quality pencil. Lead centering is near perfect, all pencils in a dozen are perfectly straight, the finish is fantastic and well done, and the erasers actually work well. Who would know you can extend them quite a bit over the life of the pencil. It's a surprise the balance is not affected with the big eraser on end, and the cores are smooth, dark, and hold a point well. Will definitely get more. The only problem is choosing amongst some pretty fantastic stuff like mono 100s and hi-uni's.

Awesome.
Update review. Ha ha, now that I've figured out the ferule and the eraser I actually would not change anything about it. It's perfect and unique. What helps is replaceble erasers which is nice to have.

5 stars.

Top pencil. Great wood that sharpens beautifully and the graphite is top notch that hold the point nicely. Nice grey paint also. Writing or drawing with this pencil reminds me of Hi-Uni F grade pencil. Excellent for writing or drawing.

One thing I do not like is the ferule and flat eraser which results in pencil being 20cm long. I would preferred a standard size of about 17cm long without eraser or with round standard eraser as this ferule and eraser that sticks out sideways kind of creates some extra weight and gets in my way.

I've been painting and drawing for nearly 35 years -- where has this DREAM pencil been hiding? I love both the regular Palomino Blackwing and the Palomino Blackwing 602. I tend to draw continuously on a piece of paper. I find both pencils very smooth and rarely if ever have they stopped my line flow with annoying snags along the pencils path. I have used some pencils in the past that have snagged ever few inches. I mean it when I call these DREAM pencils. Thanks for reintroducing them to the market. :)

When I bought these, I ideally wanted to use them for notes or homework. Keep this in mind, because I'm no artist.

I love how dark and smooth these pencils are, but they're a bit impractical for everyday use. I write extremely lightly, but the lead still loses its point pretty quickly. Even if I rotate the pencil at the end of every word, the line becomes thick very quickly. The only solution is to sharpen the pencil every couple minutes. Also, the unique design of the eraser doesn't really help, since you won't be able to use a pencil holder to make use of that last inch of precious lead.

I find that writing with my Rotring 600 with .5mm 4B lead works much better. It's just as smooth, if not smoother than the Blackwing, and there's no need to sharpen every 20 words.

Overall, I'm sure the Blackwings have their use for artists or the occasional bold word, but they're not the best for notes.

Superb pencils in every way... no ifs, no buts. Right up there and beyond with Tombow Mono 100 and Hi-uni. The eraser is a real sleeper...when I'm finished with a PB602 I remove the glued on ferrule and adapt it on to my other quality pencils that are otherwise eraserless. My Eagle Turquoise with a PB602 ferrule/eraser attached is a classy looking dude. Don't ever throw away your ferrules when the pencil is used up.

I find these are really nice for shading they are very dark compared to most other pencils I’ve tried but there also very soft so there not my first choice for sketching. The erasers actually pretty good and also removable so that comes in pretty handy. It’s a very well made pencil the lead cores been dead center all the ones I’ve tried. I’m definitely going to keep a few in my pencil box from now on.

I had a different experience with these... the graphite in mine was scritchy in places, the balance was awkward with the large eraser, and the graphite would smear as soon as you looked at it. It wasn't as dark as I expected from the hype, and I'm really glad I split the box with several people.

That said, it isn't a bad pencil, but compared to a leadholder and a nice B grade fill? It isn't the tool for me and seems really over-hyped.

Butter smooth, dark, and well centered. These sharpen up beautifully. I love the extra long eraser, and the way these sketch with ease and swiftness.

The ultimate luxurious crossword experience:
Scan the puzzle, laser print it on HP Premium Choice (32lb.) laser paper, use a quality clipboard and a Palomino Blackwing pencil, sharpened with a KUM or Palomino long point sharpener. Life is good!

Smooth gliding deliciousness and my cat liked them almost as much as catnip.