Blackwing Palomino 602-12 Count Pencils with Heritage, Gray, Unisex

I’ve bought these pencils before, and they are hands down the best I’ve ever used. My issue with this order was how they arrived. I’m not sure if the issue was from the manufacturer, or Amazon but the seal on the box was cut and all then pencils were loose in the mailing envelope. This caused some to be broken, and every pencil was damaged in some way, and now I have to get a refund and order another set. I don’t want a bad review to impact their product, as the quality is great. But, be aware of how they may come shipped.

Very nice set. Expensive but if you can avoid misplacing them they'll last a while.

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never think for themselves and simply believe what they were told and never question their cherished and most likely outdated beliefs, this constant sharpening is the mother's milk of creativity because it becomes a ritual, the two times sharpening every time you sharpen, and this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.

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.

I’m in no line, shape or form a professional artist. My opinion is that the Blackwing Pearl is the best balance between the 602’s lighter tones and the Matte’s darker tones and allows me to get Mid Tones, Shadows and Cast Shadows with slight pressure adjustments.I don’t think I ever reviewed a product on Amazon so that should tell you how good it is!

Excellent pencils! Only ones I like to use in my artwork!