Dixon Ticonderoga

The classic American Yellow pencil. But, as it happens, I have the Ticonderoga in both yellow and black. I happened to use these in consequtive weeks, and didn’t get to write up the yellow version in time, so will combine the two into a single review here.

An interesting point is the name ‘Ticonderoga’, derived from the place where the graphite was originally processed..

The company

Dixon Ticonderoga is probably the most well known American pencil manufacturer. I think when somebody talks about the classic ‘yellow’ pencil, then this is probably the one they mean.

The pencil itself

As noted, here we have two variants of the pencil. The classic yellow:

And the less usual Black version:

One thing that struck me as I took the fresh black version out of the packaging was the very blunt and short point it came wth:

That is, frankly, amazingly short. So short I didn’t even try to use the pencil before I sharpened it.

How does it write

Obviously, with the two different versions of the pencil, we get to compare and contrast.

The first week I used the yellow version. I found it a little hard for my liking, and the line was not very dark.

The second week I used the black version. This I actually found much better, being just slightly softer, but with a much darker line. I actually fairly enjoyed using this pencil..

So, one might imagine that the only difference in these pencils would be the paint, but it didn’t feel that way to me. It occurs to me that maybe they could be manufactured in different places. I have some vague recollection that maybe some are manufactured in America (United States`), and maybe others are made in Mexico. This could just be my fuzzy memory though, or maybe I am thinking of a different brand of pencils. I think therefore we should check the packaging.

After checking, it seems both sets of pencils are manufactured in Mexico. Maybe it was just my perception that was differnet, or maybe there is a difference between batches, or dates of manufacture, or even an intentional difference between the yellow and black. Anyway, for me with the pencils to hand, I preffered the black ones.

Sourcing

Sourcing one for or another is pretty easy, especially if you are Stateside. Even in the U.K. they are pretty easy to source off the internet. I’m pretty sure I picked up mine in some general supermarkets in the States whilst there.

You can get 96 yellows for £14 - that’s down to like 14p per pencil - pretty cheap.

If you want an OK funcional pencil at an OK price, then these will work fine for you. Would I instantly choose them over some common European brands?, maybe not - but that is probably more to do with tradition and familiarity than it is to do with performance.