Our choose
Palomino Golden Bear (Blue)
This pencil is fabricated from premium incense-cedar wooden, regardless of being one of many least costly pencils we examined. It’s comfy to carry and has a neatly painted exterior, and its eraser removes marks cleanly.
Shopping for Choices
*On the time of publishing, the value was $4.
The Golden Bear is fabricated from top-tier incense cedar, which has a uniform wooden grain and emits a faintly woodsy scent when sharpened. Its hexagonal form makes it comfy to grip and proof against rolling off a desktop floor. It has a shiny, blue-painted barrel and incorporates a No. 2/HB core that makes clean, darkish marks. Regardless that there are darkness and hardness variations amongst completely different manufacturers’ No. 2 and/or HB pencils, it’s extensively thought-about to be the best lead grade for writing (and it’s required for a lot of standardized exams), making the Golden Bear an ideal selection for elementary faculty and past. Apart from the rather more costly Blackwing 602, the azure-hued Golden Bear is the perfect total performer among the many pencils we examined; our panel of testers gave it principally good marks in writing and sharpening, and it was among the finest performers in consolation and erasing. It’s additionally a stable worth, particularly in the event you purchase in bulk.
Price range choose
Dixon Ticonderoga (Yellow)
High quality management for this iconic pencil appears to have gone downhill through the years, however it’s nonetheless the perfect low-cost pencil you should purchase. It has an honest eraser, it writes and sharpens easily, and it’s comfy to know and write with for lengthy durations of time.
The traditional Dixon Ticonderoga (Yellow) shouldn’t be fabricated from the identical high-quality wooden as our different picks—and now we have purpose to suppose it’s extra susceptible to breaking or having an off-center core—however it’s the greatest pencil we’ve seen within the price range worth vary (usually lower than 20¢ per pencil). In testing, it carried out nicely when it comes to writing skill, surpassed solely by the Arteza (which has the worst eraser we examined) and much pricier pencils just like the Palomino Blackwing 602. The yellow Ticonderoga’s eraser is simply okay, however the pencil scored nicely in consolation and sharpening skill.
Improve choose
Blackwing 602
This pencil has a buttery-soft exterior, a replaceable eraser, an incense-cedar barrel, and a clean, darkish core. Nevertheless it prices greater than twice as a lot as most writing pencils, and you may’t apply it to standardized exams.
Shopping for Choices
*On the time of publishing, the value was $25.
The Palomino Blackwing 602 is the most costly pencil we examined, however it’s just about unsurpassed in high quality. It’s fabricated from incense cedar, like our prime choose, and it’s the one pencil we examined with a replaceable eraser (which, in contrast to most pencil erasers, has an oblong form that permits extra detailed erasing). Its hexagonal physique has barely rounded corners, making it extra comfy to put in writing with than most pencils, and it’s glazed in a velvety, dark-silver paint. As with our prime choose, a few of our testers had bother sharpening the Blackwing 602 (particularly the primary time after they unboxed it), however in any other case its largest flaw is its price ticket—greater than $2 per pencil at this writing. Additionally it is more likely to be rejected by standardized-test proctors as a result of it doesn’t record a lead grade on the aspect (although its core is just like that of a No. 2/HB pencil).
Additionally nice
Faber-Castell Grip Graphite EcoPencils with Eraser
That is the one triangular pencil we advocate. It writes, sharpens, and erases about in addition to our different picks, and its uniquely textured grip space was beloved by a lot of our testers.
Shopping for Choices
*On the time of publishing, the value was $10.
If in case you have bother gripping hexagonal pencils, otherwise you simply desire a triangular barrel, look no additional than the Faber-Castell Grip Graphite EcoPencils with Eraser. It’s the one triangular pencil we’ve examined that we advocate—almost all of our testers, a lot of whom don’t usually use triangular pencils, loved utilizing it. It earned good marks in our writing, sharpening, and erasing exams, and its array of raised dots alongside the entrance finish of the barrel give it a extra comfy grip than most pencils. On the draw back, although, it’s not fabricated from incense cedar (as our prime and improve picks are), it’s on the pricier aspect (about 80¢ per pencil on the time of this writing), and it’s unavailable to purchase in bulk.
