Pencil Revolution

Review of California Republic Palomino.

About a month ago, I tried a pencil that I had not seen before and with whose brand I was unfamiliar. It came in a hard plastic box, with five others like it. The paint looked so thick and perfect that I almost didn’t want to open the box. Ever since I did, some other pencils that I used to love seem poor and have fallen by the wayside.

Before I gush more, the technical information:
Shape: Hexagonal.
Finish: Extremely thick, highly pigmented lacquer.
End cap: Matching cap with a gold band perpendicular to the pencil core.
Core: HB (#2) graphite.
Markings: Gold Foil. “California Republic PALOMINO”
Packaging: Half-dozen, hard plastic clear packages.
Origin: Premium quality California Incense Cedar; manufactured in Japan by a highly-respected pencil maker.
Availability: In the US, only through the Pencil World Creativity Store presently.

The first thing that you will notice about the Palomino is the finish. The lacquer is so thick that you can see the multiple layers around the sharpened end where the painted wood and naked wood meet. The color intensity and smoothness equal those of a brand new Mustang. To boot, it’s a durable finish. Rattling around in a wooden pencil box with two metal sharpeners and some German pencils, it shows no marks at all, while some of the other pencils are scratched up from the sharpeners. The paint is thick, buttery and flawless.

Next, you might notice the smell. Yup, that’s premium quality Incense Cedar, the finest grade of the finest pencil wood you are going to find. Period.

Maybe the nicely shaped factory sharpening is not to your liking. Maybe you want a longer or shorter point. Sharpening is a breeze, because premium cedar means the straightest grain, for one thing. But be careful not to melt away your precious pencil! I never sharpen these with anything whose blade I can’t carefully see, lest I sharpen away these treasures.

Writing with this pencil would convert a hard-core pen user. My wife uses gel pens often, and she remarked that the Palomino was as smooth to use as a pen, even a gel pen. The line this pencil produces glides onto the paper like cake icing. Smearing is totally non-existent, but erasing is still easy and complete. While the core is already in a class by itself, the darkness of the line is the real pinnacle of the core, and it matches the intensity of the lacquer. I wrote a note to myself recently with one of these pencils, and I mistook it for ink, from the density of the lines. In fact, the cores are soft enough and dark enough to do some sketching with them, even if you are accustomed to a softer lead than HB. I rarely ever use anything harder than a 4B, but sketching is possible with the HB Palomino. (See Palomino sketches here and here.)

The lack of eraser might discourage some American users, but the perfectly rounded end cap more than makes up for having to carry a separate eraser. And you can easily chew on it, if you are a recent pen convert and new to the Revolution.

The only downside of this pencil was the non-availability of it in the United States.

So we are extremely pleased to herald the opening of the Pencil World Creativity Store! From the people who brought us the Forest Choice pencil, we have the line of California Republic Stationers. I have been wanting to review these fine pencils for a few weeks now, but I could not do it in good conscience without knowing that the good people of the Revolution could get their hands on some of these wonderful instruments. How exceptional the Palomino pencils are is good enough news — that some people still care about making quality pencils.

The equally good news is that the People can purchase the Palominos online, along with other pencils in the California Republic line, such as the extremely choice Golden Bear and artist quality colored pencils. We plan on reviewing the other California Republic products in the future.

And we would be very very happy to hear what folks who try the Palominos think.

20 Comments so far
Leave a comment

As a note, while you’re there, you might like to pick up some Golden Bear or Prospector pencils, too. Very nice!

I picked up the Palominos on ebay after reading the review. Great job again!

Great, Frank! Please let us know what you think of them!

The Palominos arrived in the mail yesterday. They’re great looking, and more importantly, they’re great writers. I now have a new favorite pencil, replacing the Faber-Castell Grip. It also comes close to the Blackwing, something that I never thought I would hear myself say.

Great review. I’m going to be placing my order. I’m curious, how do these stack up against the Tombow mono 100?

Well, aren’t they available to europe?

California Republic only Ships to US

Regards,
Simao

I am not certain to where PWCS ships, but they might be willing to work something out with you if you contact them through the eBay store:)

i just got my Palominos yesterday and I’m totally in love with them. The lead is dark and wonderfully smooth. My only qualm is that i will have to continually buy a new batch every few months at the rate that I’m using them!
Also kudos to pencilthings for I recieved them within a week of ordering. Being an international shipment, i was fully expecting them only after 3 weeks..

I LOVE THESE!

read this entry:

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/06/can_any_pencil_repla.html

Just ordered my second batch from Pencil Things. I also use the Dixon pencil top erasers, which I think are better than erasers that are usually crimped onto pencil ends. The pencil top erasers are about $.08 each in quantities of 12.

Love the pencils!

I love pencils and I’m constantly on the search for new additions.While I was shopping recently in a bookstore, I noticed the “red” Palomino on display. I had heard of that brand, and out of curiousity I purchased a pack of six.
I’m hooked on it, and will place an order for more. The lack of an eraser is a small drawback, but this pencil’s other stellar qualities more than compensates for this–”flaw” ?

The palominos are nice writers and have a nice look for sure. My only negative and it is a strong oneis that they are not triangular. I don’t want the golden bear or another substitue. Is california republic thinking about making a TRAINGULAR palomino? Does anyone know.
John

Thanks for the review! I purchased 5 packs of the 2B Palominos.

(NOTE: I looked and looked for a 2B 6-Pack but noticed the darkest they had was the HB in that kind of pack. To others who are looking for the darker grades, scroll on down for the “Variety Pack”. There you can specify what grade you’d like.)

So. This may be similar KOH-I-NOOR pencil
retro collector

I remembered when I was in school we used pencils that were of a much finer grade than any “store-bought” pencil. They were “Mainco 57 pencils” produced outside of Boston, MA. Unfortunately, the company went out of business in the early 80’s. I am not a pencil conosseur, but I would like to hear from anybody able to objectively compare writing with a Palomino verses, let’s say a Dixon Ticonderoga.

Ii just ordered my first pack of Palomino’s after reading your review. i’m left-handed and am looking for a dark line w/out too much smudging. i’m so excited about these pencils and i absolutely ADORE this blog! i feel at home here…i can read about pencils and writing implements w/my head held high! thanks for the super reviews.

I just got my first pack of HB blue Palominos from PencilThings.Com today. I had discovered their wonderful online store this Sunday, and ordered a rather large assortment of woodcase pencils. This order included Tombow Mono HB, Golden Bear, Helix Oxford, Forest Choice, Lyra Osiris, Musgraves, and several colors of Mongol. I had no idea there were still so many varieties of woodcases being manufactured. I figured the mechanical pencil and/or pen had killed them off by now.

I had already switched to using mechanical pencils (instead of pens) at work two or three years ago. I have very recently become “re-interested” in the good ol’ woodcase pencil. You see, when I was 19 or 20, I used to by Dixon Ticonderoga #2’s by the gross at Costco, when they still sold them. I don’t know why I stopped using them, to tell the truth.

I was directed to Pencil Revolution from a link on the PencilThings website, and am very glad I found this blog. I also like the one at PencilTalk.Org a lot. Who would have thought there were so many fellow pencil nerds out there in the world!

After reading the PRev review of the Palomino, I was a bit skeptical that a pencil could be so good. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the fortune of using a Blackwing, so I have no way to compare them. I guess I’ve led a pencil quality deprived life up until now.

But I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised when I laid the Palomino’s freshly sharpened point to my Miquelrius notebook. It really does “glide on the paper like cake icing!” And the luxurious paint job and well-fitted ferrule are added bonuses.

I found Woodchuck’s eBay store and ordered a couple packs of Palomino 2B’s — cannot wait to try those out. I bet they are even smoother than these HB’s.

Excellent job on these Palominos, Woodchuck!!! And thanks a million Pencil Revolution!

I haven’t tried these yet, but I ordered some!

The Palominos and balance of the California Republic line are now also available at our redesigned Pencils.com website.

Ride the Palomino!

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Review of California Republic Palomino.

The People

Comrades at Arms

Revolutionize Yourself

Spread the Revolution

Search

Categories

Archives

Best With

Stats