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After a new round of testing, we’ve added several models to Other good pencils and The competition. Graphite Sheet Market
Whether you’re filling in multiple-choice bubbles on a standardized test or solving the Sunday crossword puzzle, you should have a great pencil in your hand.
We’re confident that the Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil (Blue) is the best pencil for writing and schoolwork thanks to its high-quality wooden barrel, a dark core that writes clearly and fluidly, and an eraser that removes marks cleanly with minimal tearing.
This inexpensive pencil is made of premium incense cedar. It is comfortable to hold, has a neatly painted exterior, and its eraser removes marks cleanly.
Quality control for this iconic pencil has gone downhill, but it’s still the best cheap pencil you can buy, with a decent eraser, smooth writing, and a comfortable grip.
This comfortable pencil has a replaceable eraser, an incense-cedar barrel, and a smooth, dark core. But it costs over twice as much as most writing pencils, and you can’t use it on standardized tests.
This is the only triangular pencil we recommend. It writes, sharpens, and erases about as well as our other picks, and its uniquely textured grip area was beloved by many of our testers.
This inexpensive pencil is made of premium incense cedar. It is comfortable to hold, has a neatly painted exterior, and its eraser removes marks cleanly.
The Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil (Blue) is made of top-tier incense cedar, which has a uniform wood grain and a faintly woodsy smell when sharpened. Its hexagonal shape makes it comfortable to grip and resistant to rolling off your desk. It has a glossy, blue-painted barrel and contains a No. 2/HB core that makes smooth, dark marks.
Even though darkness and hardness varies among brands, No. 2 and/or HB pencils are widely considered to be the ideal lead grade for writing (and they’re required for many standardized tests), which makes this Golden Bear pencil a perfect choice for elementary school and beyond.
Aside from the much more expensive Palomino Blackwing 602, the azure-hue Golden Bear pencil is the best overall performer among the pencils we tested. It’s also a solid value, especially if you buy in bulk.
Quality control for this iconic pencil has gone downhill, but it’s still the best cheap pencil you can buy, with a decent eraser, smooth writing, and a comfortable grip.
The Dixon Ticonderoga Classic Yellow Wood-Cased Pencil is not made of the same high-quality wood as our other picks—and we have reason to think it’s more prone to breaking or having an off-center core—but it is the best pencil we’ve seen in the budget price range (typically less than 20¢ per pencil).
In testing, it performed well in terms of writing ability, surpassed only by the Arteza #2 HB Wood Pencil (which is saddled with the worst eraser we tested) and far pricier pencils like the Palomino Blackwing 602.
The Dixon Ticonderoga Classic Yellow pencil’s eraser is just okay, but it scored well in comfort and sharpening ability.
This comfortable pencil has a replaceable eraser, an incense-cedar barrel, and a smooth, dark core. But it costs over twice as much as most writing pencils, and you can’t use it on standardized tests.
The Palomino Blackwing 602 is the most expensive pencil we tested, but it’s pretty much unsurpassed in quality.
It’s made of incense cedar, like our top pick, and it’s the only pencil we tested with a replaceable eraser (which, unlike most pencil erasers, has a rectangular shape that enables more detailed erasing). Its hexagonal body has slightly rounded corners, making it more comfortable to write with than most pencils, and it’s glazed in a velvety, dark silver paint.
Some of our testers had trouble sharpening the Palomino Blackwing 602, especially the first time after they unboxed it; the same happened with our top pick. But otherwise its biggest flaw is its price tag—more than $2 per pencil at the time of publication.
It is also likely to be rejected by standardized-test proctors because it doesn’t list a lead grade on the side (though its core is similar to that of a No. 2/HB pencil).
This is the only triangular pencil we recommend. It writes, sharpens, and erases about as well as our other picks, and its uniquely textured grip area was beloved by many of our testers.
If you have trouble gripping hexagonal pencils or you just prefer a triangular barrel, look no further than the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Graphite Pencil with Eraser.
It’s the only triangular pencil we’ve tested that we recommend; nearly all of our testers, many of whom don’t typically use triangular pencils, enjoyed using it.
It earned good marks in our writing, sharpening, and erasing tests, and its array of raised dots along the front end of the barrel give it a more comfortable grip than most pencils.
On the downside, it’s not made of incense cedar (as our top and upgrade picks are), it’s on the pricier side (about 80¢ per pencil at the time of publication), and it’s unavailable to buy in bulk.
For this guide, I spent hours writing in cursive and print, drawing, doodling, shading, sketching, erasing, sharpening, and filling in Scantron bubbles with various pencils. Furthermore, I asked five Wirecutter staffers to test pencils, all of whom are self-described stationery fanatics.
This guide focuses on wooden pencils designed for K–12 students to write, draw, doodle, take notes, and complete exams. But even if you’ve left school, you might like to have a few good pencils on hand to write letters or do a crossword puzzle.
Pencils that are specifically designed for certain activities, such as fine art or carpentry, are beyond the scope of this guide.
The Uni-ball Jetstream RT is the best pen for most people. It’s affordable and quick to dry. And it writes smoothly and won’t skip or bleed.
The Uni Kuru Toga Pipe Slide is the best mechanical pencil for most people, thanks to a unique rotating mechanism that keeps the lead at a sharp point.
After scanning the websites of major retailers, as well as smaller suppliers like Pencils.com, we narrowed our list based on the following criteria:
To test each pencil, we wrote the same phrases on the same type of paper, then ranked their writing ability from best (smooth and dark) to worst (grainy and faint). We also answered the following questions:
This inexpensive pencil is made of premium incense cedar. It is comfortable to hold, has a neatly painted exterior, and its eraser removes marks cleanly.
The Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil (Blue) has the best combination of writing, erasing, comfort, and sharpening abilities of any pencil we tested—aside from the pricier Palomino Blackwing 602, that is—and it’s made from our preferred incense cedar. It’s also fairly inexpensive and available for purchase in bulk.
It makes precise, clear marks. The core of the Palomino Golden Bear pencil is a medium-soft, dark lead with a No. 2 grade. It doesn’t take much pressure to write cleanly, avoiding the stickiness that sometimes plagues pencils in this price range (such as the Amazon Basics Woodcased #2 Pencil, the Madisi Wood-Cased #2 HB Pencil, and the Dixon Ticonderoga Black Wood-Cased Pencil).
Though it doesn’t write as fluidly as our upgrade pick (or even the cheaper Arteza #2 HB Wood Pencil), it was among the best performers in writing ability of those we tested.
The eraser works well. The Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil has a soft, orange eraser that cleanly removes marks without damaging the paper, and our testers generally enjoyed using it—though one tester said it felt a bit “grainy” in texture.
The eraser is firmly attached to the body of the pencil by a gold, crimped-aluminum ferrule with a decorative band of red paint.
It smells great, looks great, and feels nice. The incense-cedar wood of the Palomino Golden Bear pencil is a pale reddish color, and it emits a woodsy smell when sharpened.
It’s coated in a glossy, indigo paint with metallic-gold lettering neatly stamped into the barrel. It has a hexagonal shape that offers a good grip for your fingers while you’re writing and prevents it from easily rolling off of flat surfaces. The corners of its hexagon are fairly angular (like Dixon Ticonderoga’s Classic Yellow Wood-Cased Pencil), but they don’t dig into your fingertips as much as other pencils we tested (like the Musgrave Pencil Company Harvest 320 #2).
You probably won’t get any duds. The Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencils we tested had no noticeable defects—such as sloppy or flaking paint, a wiggly ferrule, or an off-center core—which can indicate lapses in quality control.
We also appreciate that this pencil is manufactured in a single facility, whereas others (like our budget pick, which is primarily made in either China or Mexico) can have slight differences in construction or materials depending on where they’re made.
It balances affordability and quality. This pencil has a midrange price compared with others we tested. At the time of publication, it costs 33¢ per pencil if you buy a 12-pack, or 24¢ per pencil if you buy a gross.
In contrast, the Palomino Blackwing 602 costs about $2.08 per pencil, the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Graphite Pencil with Eraser costs about 80¢ per pencil, and the Dixon Ticonderoga Classic Yellow Wood-Cased Pencil costs about 17¢ to 65¢ per pencil depending on how many you buy.
Quality control for this iconic pencil has gone downhill, but it’s still the best cheap pencil you can buy, with a decent eraser, smooth writing, and a comfortable grip.
We don’t think it’s “The World’s BEST PENCIL,” but the Dixon Ticonderoga Classic Yellow Wood-Cased Pencil is the best option we tested that costs less than 20¢ apiece. It performed well in our writing and sharpening tests, and it did decently well in erasing and comfort. And it’s one of the most widely available pencils, so it’s unlikely to ever go out of stock.
It writes well enough for everyday work. The iconic yellow Ticonderoga pencil contains a No. 2/HB core that makes dark, fluid marks. Our testers generally enjoyed writing with it, placing it just ahead of our top pick in their average rankings for writing ability.
The eraser isn’t a strong point. Our testers were ho-hum about this pencil’s eraser. It has a slightly gooey texture, a bubble-gum pink color, and a tendency to leave behind smudges and faint marks.
This result was disappointing, since its silver-and-black sibling had one of the best erasers of any pencil we tested. A leaf-green ferrule made of crimped aluminum firmly attaches the eraser to the barrel.
It doesn’t smell as nice as our other picks, but it feels good and sharpens just fine. Ticonderoga says this pencil is made of “premium wood,” though what kind is unclear—in our tests, it lacked the distinct redwood forest smell that our other picks gave off when sharpened.
The body of the pencil has a hexagonal shape, and it’s painted a sunny yellow color that has become synonymous with schoolwork. None of the testers remarked that it was especially comfortable or uncomfortable to write with, though I found it to have slightly softer corners than our top pick—almost a semi-hex shape.
The Dixon Ticonderoga Classic Yellow Wood-Cased Pencil usually comes pre-sharpened (though it’s hard to know what you’re going to get when you place an order—some of ours did and some didn’t), and it performed well in our sharpening tests. One tester said it had “relatively neat shavings,” and another wrote that it produced “nice curls” of wood.
Quality control is questionable. One strike against Ticonderoga’s pencils is something we couldn’t adequately assess in our testing: quality control. In the years since it was acquired by an Italian company in 2005 (subscription required), Caroline Weaver told us, the attention to detail has seemingly gone downhill. (Dixon Ticonderoga didn’t respond to our request for comment.)
But it’s the best of the budget options. Even with these caveats, Ticonderoga’s Classic Yellow Wood-Cased Pencils were standouts in our testing, as similarly priced competitors had crummy erasers, flaky paint, or a combination of various flaws that knocked them out of the running.
At the time of publication, you can get these Ticonderoga pencils for about 25¢ apiece if you buy a 12-pack or about 19¢ each if you buy a box of 144. If you’re on a tight budget, or if our other picks are unavailable, this is your best bet.
This comfortable pencil has a replaceable eraser, an incense-cedar barrel, and a smooth, dark core. But it costs over twice as much as most writing pencils, and you can’t use it on standardized tests.
The Palomino Blackwing 602 passed nearly all of our tests with distinction—but it doesn’t come cheap.
It’s a pencil, but it’s also a luxury item. Andy Welfle, a Wirecutter reader who co-hosts a podcast about pencils in his spare time, tweeted that “reviewing a Blackwing along with those others is like bringing a loaded-out Escalade into a review set of mid-level sedans.”
After testing them all, we tend to agree with this sentiment. However, it’s one of just a few high-end pencils we know of (our also-great pick is another) that has both a No. 2/HB-equivalent core and an eraser on the end.
Plenty of nice drawing pencils are probably just as great to write with, but they lack one or both of those qualities.
It’s made of the best wood. Like our top pick, the Palomino Blackwing 602 is made of incense cedar by California Cedar Products Company. It has a hexagonal body with soft, rounded edges, and it’s covered in a buttery-smooth, dark-silver, and glossy paint.
After putting it up against cheaper pencils and several other Blackwing models, one tester called it “very enjoyable” to grasp, another praised its “luxe, soft coating that feels fantastic,” and I thought it was unparalleled in comfort.
It writes beautifully. Our testers scored the Blackwing 602’s writing ability as high as any other pencil we tested in terms of clarity and fluidity, too.
Other experts agree: It’s “smoother than a typical writing pencil” and it “uses firm graphite, ideal for writing,” according to JetPens’s comprehensive guide to Palomino Blackwing pencils. JetPens also noted that it’s “the pencil that is closest to the original Eberhard Faber Blackwing” that was beloved by John Steinbeck and other celebrated pencil-wielders.
Proctors might toss it from standardized tests. A major downside of the Blackwing 602, however, is that it’s not advertised as a No. 2 or HB pencil. No Blackwing pencil has any kind of lead grade printed on its box or barrel.
Its core is roughly akin to a typical No. 2/HB in its darkness and hardness, but it isn’t graded as such. So if you were to show up to take the ACT, the SAT, or an AP test with one, you’d likely be turned away or loaned a different pencil.
The replaceable eraser is a great touch. The Blackwing 602 is the only pencil we tested with a replaceable eraser, which is helpful if the eraser wears down to an unusable nub before the rest of the pencil does (replacement erasers cost about 30¢ apiece).
Tiny clasps on either side of its curvaceous, gold-hue ferrule allow you to move the eraser up a few millimeters at a time as it starts to wear down.
I prefer this eraser’s shape (flat and rectangular like a book, unlike most pencils’ cylindrical erasers) because you can apply either a single corner for precision erasing or the full top edge for tackling large areas.
It doesn’t sharpen as smoothly as some less expensive pencils. Like our top pick, the Blackwing 602 does not come pre-sharpened. And though most of our testers found that it sharpened smoothly, one noted that it “had small shavings during sharpening,” and another said that it was “a little difficult to sharpen.”
In my experience, the Blackwing 602—much like our top pick—was tougher to sharpen on the first go-around but silky smooth after that—producing long, zig-zaggy tendrils of wood.
Did we mention it’s not cheap? The Blackwing 602 is the most expensive pencil we tested by far—about $2.08 per pencil at the time of publication. It also only comes in a pack of 12, so unlike with our other picks you can’t save by buying in bulk.
This is the only triangular pencil we recommend. It writes, sharpens, and erases about as well as our other picks, and its uniquely textured grip area was beloved by many of our testers.
If you have trouble gripping the hexagonal pencils we recommend or you simply prefer a triangular barrel, you should get the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Graphite Pencil with Eraser.
It’s uniquely grippy. This is the only triangular pencil that we recommend, and it embodies most of the same qualities we prize in our other picks.
In general, triangular pencils are even more averse to rolling off an inclined desk than hexagonal pencils, as their flat sides provide a more stable base with more surface area.
Just as notable as the shape are the small, raised dots covering most of the barrel. These dots—acting like bumps on the sole of a no-slip sock—reduce rubbing and add cushioning to create a more comfortable grip than most pencils offer. They’re soft, shallow, and well spaced, and they didn’t impede writing or sharpening abilities in our testing.
It writes smoothly and erases cleanly. The core of this Faber-Castell pencil has a No. 2/HB grade and makes smooth, moderately dark marks that can be erased cleanly.
Its black eraser performed well in our testing, and it’s attached to the body of the pencil with a black, crimped-aluminum ferrule. Three testers said it was their favorite eraser, and one noted that it “left the most eraser material behind, though was fairly thorough in removing the marks.”
Its mystery wood is sustainably harvested but shaggier than our other picks. The Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Graphite Pencil is coated in a matte-silver paint, which contrasts nicely with the pencil’s black details. Its wood type isn’t listed, and it has a rougher look than our other picks when sharpened.
But, it’s certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means the wood has been sustainably harvested from well-managed forests. It’s also made in a single location (Germany), whereas some pencils, such as our budget pick, are made in various facilities and tend to have more inconsistencies.
It’s a little pricey but worth it if you prefer the shape. Compared with most pencils we tested, this Faber-Castell model is on the pricier side (about 77¢ apiece at the time of publication), and it’s not available to buy in bulk. However, these are reasonable tradeoffs given its specialty shape, upscale look, and good overall performance.
If you like our top pick, but it’s unavailable and you don’t need to buy in bulk: The Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil (Orange; USA), Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil (Orange; TH), Palomino Blue Eraser-Tipped HB Pencil, and Palomino Orange Eraser-Tipped HB Pencil are all solid alternatives.
They’re not picks because they aren’t available to buy in bulk, but other than slight variations in their paint and eraser colors, they’re practically indistinguishable from our top pick.
If you like our top pick but prefer an unpainted barrel with slightly rounded corners: The Palomino ForestChoice #2 Graphite Pencil is your best bet.
It used to be our top pick, and like the Palomino Golden Bear #2 Pencil (Blue), it’s made of incense cedar, contains a No. 2/HB core, and has a great eraser. It was one of the best performers in terms of writing ability in our testing, though it got so-so reviews in sharpening and comfort.
It is often out of stock at popular retailers and is almost impossible to find in bulk. But if you can get it for a reasonable price—at the time of publication, for instance, you can buy it in a pack of 12 for about $14 or by the gross for $50—it’s a great pencil.
If you like our upgrade pick but prefer an unpainted barrel and extra-firm core: The Blackwing Natural is the one to get.
It’s nearly identical to the Palomino Blackwing 602 but with an unpainted, lightly varnished finish that feels slightly less luxurious than the 602’s. It also has an extra-firm graphite core, whereas the 602’s firm core is a bit softer and darker, but both are in the general realm of a No. 2/HB-grade core.
If you’re prepared to pay nearly twice as much as our top pick for a high-performing pencil, and you don’t care about buying in bulk: The Mitsubishi 9850 is a delight.
All of our panelists praised its jet-black, fluid marks. The hexagonal, incense-cedar wood pencil is coated in a glossy, maroon paint. It has fairly sharp corners, but it’s about as comfortable to write with as our top pick. It has a white eraser—one of the best we tested—fastened firmly to the body of the pencil. And it sharpens cleanly. You can’t really ask for more.
However, it’s not available in bulk, and the per-pencil price (around 69¢ at the time of publication) is hard to justify when our top pick costs half that and is just as good.
If you’re willing to pay more than twice as much as our top pick for a high-performing pencil and you don’t mind a barrel with slightly sharper corners: Try the Musgrave Pencil Company Harvest 320 Professional #2.
Just like our top pick, it’s made of incense cedar and has a No. 2/HB core, and it’s made by one of the oldest pencil makers in the US.
In our testing, its sharpening and erasing capabilities were on par with our top pick, and despite its slightly more angular shape, it offers an excellent overall writing experience.
It’s not available to buy by the gross like our top pick is, but it comes in either a standard 12-pack or a 24-pack in a hand-joined, cherry-wood box (which is also sold separately).
This is not a comprehensive list of all the pencils we’ve tested. We’ve culled any pencils that are discontinued or do not meet our latest requirements.
The Amazon Basics Woodcased #2 Pencil was one of the cheapest we considered, but its lead was hard and grainy (it tied with the blue Staedtler Norica for the penultimate place in our testers’ averaged rankings for writing ability), and it performed poorly in comfort, erasing, and sharpening, as well.
The Arteza #2 HB Wood Pencil was on the cheaper side, and it also fared pretty well overall in our testing—ranking just after the Palomino Blackwing 602 in writing ability and middling in comfort and sharpening. Unfortunately, its eraser performed worse than that of every other pencil we tested: One tester wrote “didn’t erase” and “felt rubbery” in their feedback, and another wrote “doesn’t erase much and also sheds.”
The Blackwing Lab 11.25.22 performed well in our writing and sharpening tests, but its eraser—a smaller version of Blackwing’s soft handheld eraser—didn’t deliver. The eraser is identical to our upgrade pick’s replaceable erasers in size and shape, but due to its softer texture it shreds far too easily.
The Dixon Ticonderoga Black Wood-Cased Pencil has one of the best erasers of any pencil we tested, but it performed much worse than its yellow twin in writing ability. One tester said this pencil’s “lead was too hard and sticky, causing me to have to use more force to write.”
The Dixon Ticonderoga Tri-Write Wood-Cased Pencils is one of just two triangular pencils we tried in our latest round of testing—the other being our also-great pick, the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Graphite Pencil with Eraser. This model lacks the Faber-Castell pencil’s grippiness, though, and three panelists called it out as the least comfortable pencil to hold and write with among those tested.
The General Pencil Company General’s Semi-Hex Pencil is made of incense cedar, and it’s one of the most comfortable pencils we tested. However, it’s more expensive than pencils that performed just as well or better, and some of our testers noted paint flaking off the sides of its barrel.
The General Pencil Company General’s Cedar Pointe #2 Graphite Pencil was a top performer in all areas of our testing. However, even if you buy it by the gross, it costs about 83¢ per pencil at the time of publication. Though it’s still a great pencil, it doesn’t have any features that would justify paying more for it than our top pick—or our favorite unfinished wood pencil, the Palomino ForestChoice #2 Graphite Pencil.
The Madisi Wood-Cased #2 HB Pencil is one of the cheapest pencils we considered, but it’s also the absolute worst pencil we tested in pretty much every way. Our testers found it to be lightweight and unwieldy, making it difficult and uncomfortable to write with.
The Musgrave Pencil Company Harvest 320 #2 was a good all-around performer in our testing, but it’s typically a little pricier than our top pick, and since it’s made of basswood instead of incense cedar it’s more prone to splintering and other imperfections.
The Musgrave Pencil Company Tennessee Red has an unpainted, lightly varnished barrel made of red cedar wood—which has a warmer color than incense cedar and emits an even more camphoraceous smell when sharpened—and it performed well in all areas of our testing. However, at the time of publication, it costs more than a dollar per pencil, and it’s unavailable to buy in bulk.
The Staedtler Norica (Blue) is one of the most expensive pencils we tested as well as one of the worst performers. It scored just as badly as the Amazon Basics Woodcased #2 Pencil and only slightly ahead of the Madisi Wood-Cased #2 HB Pencil in writing ability.
The USA Gold Classic Wood Pencil gave the classic yellow Ticonderoga pencil a run for its money—it was slightly more comfortable to grasp and write with, and it’s usually a few cents cheaper. However, our testers didn’t rank it quite as highly in their writing-ability comparisons, and the paint on its barrel was really flaky.
This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
Sarah Witman has researched, tested, and reviewed all manner of products—from massage chairs and mousetraps to pencils and power banks—since joining Wirecutter in 2017. Before that, she worked as a science writer and fact checker for numerous publications, and she studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin. In her spare time, she eats as much cheese as her body will tolerate.
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Graphite Sheet Market Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).