The Mongol Reborn

Or, more accurately, simply rediscovered.  My apologies for the brevity of this post, but I'm headed back out on the road today and couldn't wait to show these off, as they came in the other day.  The finish on Papermate's Venezuelan Mongol pencils leaves a lot to be desired, especially in terms of the lacquer, but they are cool, and they are round.  It's next to impossible to find real vintage round Mongols (like Steinbeck used) these days, at least at a decent price.  As a cheap user pencil, the Papermate Mongol seems decent enough.  Full review soon.

From a distance, they look like fairly accurate reproductions.  They do have Pink Pearl Erasers, like the Papermate Mirado Black Warriors. 

Up close, however, you can start to make out the cheap lettering and the thin lacquer on the pencil.  I have a few original Mongols, so I'll do a side-by-side comparison after I have some more time with the pencil.

Ticonderoga Laddie: The Fat Pencil Review

Upon my return from my trip I had two packages waiting for me.  One contained these:

A fresh dozen of Ticonderoga Laddie mini-jumbo pencils with erasers, plus my lone eraserless version.

The Laddie is Dixon's "mini-jumbo" pencil.  It's slightly larger than the typical no. 2, with a thicker graphite core, but not nearly as big as the "My First Pencil" Ticonderogas.  I haven't tried those out yet, but I think I'd probably find them too wide, as my handwriting can be on the small size. 

I love the Laddie.  It sits very comfortably in the hand, and Ticonderoga markets this product not only to school-age kids learning cursive, but to "those who like a slightly larger pencil."  I'm not sure this would replace the other pencils I use on a daily basis, but yesterday at work it was the only pencil I used. 

The core is extremely dark, sharpens to a nice point in my Carl CC-2000, and maintains that point, due to the thickness of the graphite.  Of course, given how wide the core is, if you're one of those people who insists on having a super-sharp pencil point all the time, you may find yourself sharpening frequently.  I didn't mind so much, as I made sure to rotate the pencil from time to time to maintain the point.  It's somewhat unusual how smooth and dark these pencils are, given that they are made in Dixon's Mexico factory.  My past experience with Mexican-made Ticonderogas have been mixed.  The graphite typically is not as smooth and dark as the Chinese-made version.  These pencils, however, are excellent.

Ticonderoga Laddie writing sample. 

Martin, one of the readers here, originally sent me a Laddie in a pencil trade.  They come in two varieties:  with eraser, and without.  I enjoyed the eraserless version so much that I couldn't help but order a dozen with erasers included.  The erasers are larger versions of the normal Ticonderoga eraser, and do a nice job.  I have no complaints there.

My only knock on the Laddie is that they are somewhat difficult to find.  Stores don't carry them, at least around me, and I had a heck of a time finding them on Amazon with Prime shipping included, but eventually I did. (Update - As of my last check, only the Laddie Tri-Write is Prime-eligible as a stand-alone item. You can still find good deals on the standard Laddie as an add-on item.)  I hope Dixon is not going to quit making them, because if they are, I'm going to have to buy myself a gross. 

A picture from one of my earlier "pencil comparison" reviews, which I think accurately demonstrates the size of the Laddie compared with a regular No. 2. 

My Favorite Budget Pencil (This Week)...

And no, it's not the Chinese manufactured Dixon Ticonderogas, although those are nice, because the "warping" issue knocked them out of the top slot.  I've either purchased or been sent so many pencils over the past year or so that I haven't yet gotten around to testing all of them out.  This week, however, I sharpened up two Palomino Golden Bears, and I'm quite impressed. 

Two Palomino Golden Bears after at least a week of fairly heavy use.  Check out how much pencil's still left!

The Golden Bear is Cal-Cedar's mid-range pencil.  Setting aside Blackwing range, the "classic" Palomino is the more expensive offering (at $12.95 per dozen); the Golden Bear clocks in at a bargain $2.95 per dozen (or $30.09 for a gross!), and the "budget" Prospector sells for $1.95 or $2.25 per dozen, depending on whether or not you want them in green or unfinished.

I have not yet tried the Prospector, but the Golden Bears are quality.  They easily hold up to any office supply store pencil, and compare favorably to your standard Dixon Ticonderoga or General's Semi-Hex.  The graphite core is dark and fairly smooth (just a touch grittier than the Palomino, which is to be expected at this price point), and the wood is still genuine incense cedar.  My favorite things about these pencils is the point retention.  They don't dull easily, and the cedar is such good quality that they seemingly last forever.        

A quick writing sample.  The Golden Bear is roughly the same on the "darkness" scale as the original Palomino, perhaps a touch lighter.

To my understanding, these pencils are manufactured by Musgrave in Shelbyville, Tennessee (close to home), and have the telltale Musgrave "sharp edges."  To those of you who have not used a Musgrave pencil, the hexagonal edges are not "rounded" like most pencils, and therefore can cause some problems for those who grip the pencil either too tightly or in a way which causes the pencil to dig into their fingers.  I've not had this problem, however, and I like my Musgraves.

The Golden Bears are either blue or orange (the signature Palomino colors) and are fitted with the opposite color eraser on a brass ferrule with an orange stripe.  The erasers are excellent. 

Pencils! Five More.

First, a reminder to enter our giveaway, which closes tonight at midnight.  Link Here. 

Second, here are five more well-used woodcase pencils that I found myself enjoying this weekend on my pencil tear. 

Today's lineup, from left:  General's Cedar Pointe #2; Staedtler Wopex; Dixon Ticonderoga Laddie; Dixon Oriole 2.5F; and General's Semi-Hex #2.

  1. Dixon Ticonderoga Laddie.  I received this in a trade.  Currently I only have the eraserless version.  I really need to get some more of these pencils.  The wood case and the core are both slightly thicker than the typical Dixon #2, but just slightly.  The pencil sits comfortably in the hand, and works well for longer writing sessions.  The graphite is similar to General's Layout Pencil, if you've used that.

  2. Staedtler Wopex.  I never in a million years thought that I would like this pencil as much as I do.  The Wopex is an extruded (recycled) wood pencil that has a plasticky feel to it, and is HEAVY, making it your perfect pencil-fighting companion against people who don't know what they're doing and may not catch on until you've broken a half gross of their cheap Office Depot #2s.  The Wopex has much lighter graphite than a typical "woodcase" pencil, but it has one advantage--it doesn't smear.  I've read somewhere that the wopex graphite is "complastic," meaning that it's formulated like mechanical pencil lead, so there's very little ghosting and smearing if you want to use this pencil to write in your pocket notebooks on both sides of the page, as I do.  Hand sharpen, because crank or automatic sharpeners don't auto-stop with the Wopex and will eat your pencil in one sitting.

  3. General's Semi-Hex #2.  A great, classic yellow #2 pencil that's still made in the USA, and is fairly inexpensive to boot.  I only wish they sold them by the gross.  My one complaint is that the eraser is small, somewhat hard, and leaves something to be desired.  I have a couple #1's as well, but as of now the #2 strikes a great balance between darkness and point retention.  Sharpen one of these babies up with a long-point sharpener and you can write for a long time. 

  4. General's Cedar Pointe [Sic] #2.  Weird spelling is theirs, not mine.  An excellent #2 with graphite similar to the Semi-Hex that you can find at most Hobby Lobby stores.  Unvarnished cedar pencil smells great and develops a patina as you use it.  The black eraser on this pencil is much better than the Semi-Hex eraser, IMHO.  Again, I wish General's sold these by the gross.

  5. Dixon Oriole #2.5(F) (USA version):  I picked up three dozen of these pencils about 10 years ago at my law school bookstore because I needed them for exams.  I still have them today, and the quality of these things pretty much knocks any big-box store pencil out of the park.  The lettering doesn't rub off, the eraser and ferrule are quality, and the graphite is dark for a 2.5 pencil.  Knowing that these were Dixon's second-line pencil, after the Ticonderoga, pains me because I can only guess what I was missing when I failed to pick up the USA-made Ticonderoga when it was in circulation.

Sharpened up!

Another round of writing samples.

I'm not sure how long my pencil craze will last.  I tend to shift between obsessions on a weekly/bi-weekly basis, so stay tuned.  Also, I trade pencils semi-regularly, so if you have anything unusual you think I might like, drop me a line and I will be happy to send you some from my collection/hoard in return.