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The Legendary.... Pencil. The Blackwing 602.

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  1. Yes
By Scott Daniels


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$2,000 worth of pencils.

There are, among everyday possessions, those objects which are cherished by their devotees and described with the kind of prose generally reserved for particularly enthusiastic lovers or memorable bottles of scotch. Some may speak of the perfect glide of their favorite, now-obsolete razor. Or the perfect smartness of eyeglass frames sported by the jet setters of the 50s. There’s the fellow with the wristwatch he could not bear to be without, the woman who searches eternally for a certain pair of heels that have never let her down.

For writers, artists, and composers of the 20th century, that object was a pencil: The Blackwing 602. Made for some 80 years, their discontinuation in 1998 sent men and women scurrying to grab up the last boxes. Today, they’re reproduced in pretty much identical form by a firm other than their originator. But for the purist, a pre-1994 Blackwing 602 is a slender, cedar muse which they will literally insist be tucked into their coffins.

Eberhard Faber was once, at the time of the American Civil War and after, a world-renowned maker of cedar pencils, with a factory in New York where the United Nations complex now stands. In the early 1930s, the company risked bucking the Great Depression by introducing a new pencil aimed at the well-off. It was made of American Cedar, as had the company’s pencils from the beginning. The lead was especially creamy and responsive, the ferule flat and squared off, with a replaceable eraser which could be advanced for fresh corrections as it wore down. The design prevented it from rolling off the desk. The name was embossed in gold: Blackwing 602. It was a super premium product launched into the fog of the dust bowl, and it was a hit.

It was quickly taken up by anyone who had reason to scrawl something on paper. John Steinbeck was an early adopter and lifelong disciple. Everything written by Stephen Sondheim has begun in the barrel of a 602. Nabokov caressed his 602 as he scratched out drafts of “Lolita.” Truman Capote kept boxes of them by the bed. The animators of Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny… well, most every animator who used a pencil, used a Blackwing 602. Shamus Colhane was a Disney animator, and by God, when he died, he clutched his 602 in his cold hands and took it to his grave.

In a familiar story playing out, Eberhard Faber was bought up by this company and that, and the product line became just a marginal company asset for a bigger concern with little care for old pencils. When, in 1998, with little more than 1,000 boxes of 602s being sold annually, the ferule machine gave up the ghost, the line was discontinued.

Panic ensued.

Passionate doodlers rushed to buy up what was left, and the remaining supply dried up until the desperate began searching drawers at tag sales for stubs. Prices soared to $50-100 per pencil, if you could find one. eBay prices hit $2k per 20 pencils. People ponied up anyway.

Since the trademark was allowed to expire, the Blackwing brand was revived in 2010 under the name Palomino Blackwing, and you can now get a box of 12 602 pencils (along with the resurrected complete Blackwing line of varying leads and colors) at $27 per dozen. They’re quite excellent pencils and worth the cash—this writer has had the chance to try an original and has a stash of the new. One gets by with what one can find.

Though lavishing praise and coin on something as humble as a pencil may seem a bit silly, it is an instrument which really does inspire good work. On a basic level, it writes smoothly and quickly, living up to its old slogan, “half the pressure, twice the speed.” It sharpens to a long, sharp point, tends to wear slowly and resists the constant, off-pissing breakage common in cheap yellow No. 2s. More esoterically, it can sometimes be the thing that breaks a week of creative block. If Steinbeck used this thing, maybe some of the magic will pass to me, too.

Toss the Blackwing 602 in with the Tart Arnels, the Levis selvedge jeans, the Stratocaster, the original Gillette, the Gruen Curvex, all of them remarkable among the mundane.
About author
scotrace
Aside from helping manage things around The Fedora Lounge, I'm a freelance writer and award winning food columnist. The foodie Insta is @weatewellandcheaply.

Comments

Super cool to read this slice of cedar history. The new Palomino Blackwings are great writers coming in different lead densities and a few limited edition versions. If you actually scribe in graphite, why torture yourself looking for a box of vintage? Buy fresh utensils down at your local art supply store for $2 per stick. Still, I would kill a nymph for one of Nabokov's original pencils! My heirs would probably just throw it out with the porkpies.
 
I bought a box of the Palamino Blackwing 602s recently -- gave one to my wife, a writer like me. She loves it and has reserved several more from the box. Thanks for the review, Scott.
 
It is tremendous that they are back in production, even if by a different company. So many classic scrivners products have disappeared in the the past few decades. The worst part is that newer generations will not know the joy of writing with these superior products.
 
This is now on my list of things I must try! I can think of two people who would appreciate them that I could gift a few from the box too, making the purchase more fun. My family is forever amused at my snobbery over pens and pencils, and yet they seem to have inherited it unawares…they flock to the stash on my desk when they need something to write with…thank you for the article. It really is the simplest of things that can make or break our days! I miss more and more great, quality products.
 
Great article!! I learned about Blackwing 602 pencils a couple years ago. I was fascinated. I ended up purchasing a box of the newer 602's for an architect customer. She absolutely loved them!
 
Wound up getting introduced to these while visiting the Steinbeck house in Salinas. Picked some up mostly for the poops and giggles. I think I hoped they would inspire me to write more. While they haven’t totally accomplished that (yet), they have definetly proved themselves. They really are really great. I use them for taking notes and filling out order guides at work and I’ve nearly totally given up pens for them. The erasers aren’t as good as I hoped but other than that they’re a pure pleasure to use and offer some really satisfying scribbling.
 
Thanks for this well-written article and researched essay about such a humble and everyday object. It makes me reflect how few pencils I encounter daily.
 

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