Blackwing Eras Pencil Review

This is the one.

Over the past decade, Blackwing has turned a pencil revival into a lifestyle, and I’m happy to say that they have played a large role in my newfound appreciation of wooden pencils.

The Blackwing 602 was my first love. It was built to represent the style of the original Blackwings from the mid-1900’s, with its metallic grey barrel, smooth, dark, and firm core, gold ferrule, and pink eraser. If they stopped there, I would have been a happy pencil fan. I’m glad they didn’t.

The introduction of the Blackwing Volumes series introduced me to different graphite core grades, and different barrel colors, designs, and features. Many of these individual editions usurped my love of the 602 - Volume 56 and 16.2 for starters - but it remained my most used Blackwing.

Then the extra-firm cores arrived.

Blackwing teased this core several times throughout the years in Volumes releases, finally making it a permanent part of the standard lineup in the Natural. While I appreciate it’s clean, raw look, I prefer painted barrels, and not even the superior-for-me core could tempt me.

That all changed with the release of the Blackwing Eras. Not only did the style intrigue me more than the classic 602, it uses the extra-firm core. This homage to the past is my version of the canonical Blackwing, taking that title away from the 602.

The dark grey barrel, gold stamping, grey ferrule, gold ferrule stripe, and red eraser were inspired by some of the earliest Blackwings. All of this, combined with the best Blackwing core, make it the one Blackwing I reach for over all of the rest. Even some of my favorite Volumes editions.

My one complaint - and using that word is a stretch - is that this is a limited edition. To me, the execution of this pencil, and the story behind it, are so good that if I were Blackwing, I would want to hang my hat on it as a regular offering for years to come. But then again, having it disappear into the pencil shavings bin of life gives them the opportunity to delight me again with a future release.

After writing a full page, left, vs. freshly sharpened.

Until then, I’ll be happily using my Eras down to the nub.

The Blackwing Eras are still available online at Vanness Pens for $29.95 per dozen. Expensive? Yes. But they do not disappoint in the slightest.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Lamy Safari Mechanical Pencil Review

For the first time in my life, the famed Lamy Safari design cues have jumped up to bite me.

There are many things that make a Safari noticeable from a mile away. The often bright ABS plastic used for the barrel. The molded grip section that thousands of children have learned proper writing form from. The unique turned-up wire clip that is often imitated, but never duplicated. And that’s just a start.

As much as it pains me, only one of those things works well with the Lamy Safari Mechanical Pencil.

Let’s start with the good: It looks fantastic. Sure, this is traditionally a love/hate design, with not much middle ground on whether you like the style of any Lamy Safari product. And Lamy has never been one to shy away from bright colors either. Yes, you can always choose a more subdued Black or Blue barrel, but I promise your eye was initially drawn to that Bright Yellow, Red, or even White barrel.

In fact, this Pink Body is the sole reason I chose this pencil. It is absolutely, 100% my aesthetic. And as fun as it is, that’s where the fun ends I’m sad to say.

Molded grips don’t belong on a mechanical pencil. I knew that going in, but that still didn’t stop me for some reason. I love it in the Safari fountain pen, rollerball, and ballpoint, so why not in the pencil? Because you rotate pencils in your hand when you write, silly! How else can you keep a sharp point on the graphite? Unfortunately, having a molded grip section works against that rotation, leaving you with an awkward, uncomfortable grip much of the time.

On top of that, the famed Lamy clip bumps into your hand as you rotate, making for a double dose of awkwardness when it lands in the wrong spot. Which it will.

So, what to do with the Lamy Safari Mechanical Pencil? Lamy will never change the Safari design cues that make it a Safari, so we are stuck with the molded grip section as long as they make this pencil. And I’m pretty sure we will never see a Uni Kuru Toga lead rotation mechanism on the inside, which would make this design workable. That means for anyone using this to write in more than sentence chunks at a time I would never recommend it.

If you pick up and put down the pencil a lot, I could maybe see it. Say for math/science work, or for an artist. But then, we run right into the issue of price. This is a $20 pencil, which is fine if it is great. The Lamy Safari Mechanical Pencil is not great, which means I would be well into double-digits on a ranking list before getting to it, if I would at all.

Hire me Lamy.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Traveler's Company Brass Pencil Factory Green Limited Edition Review

As I was discovering Japanese stationery in the early days of this blog, I remember being fascinated by the Midori Brass Bullet Pencil Holder. It would show up in the hands of friends, and in all types of stationery marketing. I knew Patrick Ng was a huge fan, and still is, after all of these years. And so am I.

While the brand naming convention has changed, dropping both Midori and Bullet (for different reasons, I’m sure,) the Traveler’s Company Brass Pencil is still alive and thriving, so much so that the brand has decided to include various limited editions over the year, including this beautiful Factory Green model.

Let’s get the main talking point of this pencil out of the way up front: This is a clear style over substance product. Despite how amazing it looks, and how much I will fawn over it for the rest of this review, things like an average eraser, huge clip that gets in the way, and some fidgeting to fit in your favorite pencil refills, make it hard to recommend from a pure functionality perspective.

And I’m completely fine with that. There are some products for some people where the style and the story rate higher than performance. The Traveler’s Co. Brass Pencil is one such product for me. Also, it is easier to feel this way about a $30 product than a $300 product.

The out of the box writing experience with the included Traveler’s HB pencil is a good one. The core is dark and soft for an HB, and feels exactly like the quality I would expect from parent company Midori. If this were the pencil I kept in the Factory Green holder, I’d be sure to keep a pencil sharpener at the ready. But swapping out pencils to make them even more perfect for you? That’s where the fun of this product comes in.

I’m surprised at how many pencils fit naturally into the bullet tip of this pencil. I didn’t perform exhaustive testing, but in grabbing some of my favorite Uni Mitsubishi, Tombow, Blackwing, General’s, and Midori pencils, I was surprised at how many fit in without modification. In fact, a few of the Mitsubishi pencils fit so well it’s almost as they were tailor-made for it. Others were slightly looser, but usable. And the ones that didn’t would work fine if you shaved down the end of the pencil to fit better.

I chose the eraser-less Mitsubishi 9800 for my first swap out, measuring two lengths of pencil to match the existing Traveler’s pencil length. I scored around the barrel of the pencil, carefully, with a pocket knife, and then snapped the pencil to the appropriate length. Boom - perfect inserts!

The Traveler’s Company Brass Pencil is one of those products that I hope never goes away. Is it a best in class product for price or performance? No. But it doesn’t need to be to be an absolute joy to own and use.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!