Larger circumference was unexpected. Not unpleasant, but adjustmentworthy. Free pencil sharpener, which is good because they don’t fit into my standard one. Their blackness makes me feel dangerous. They’re not as squishy in my hand as I expected.

The real reason to buy these wonderful pencils is that their triangularity creates WICKEDLY BEAUTIFUL SHAVINGS!!

About the picture:
The black flowers are from our beloved Tri-Conderoga.
The yellow flower was created by the Ticonderoga Tri-Write, a triangular pencil with the same diameter as the 1388. The red flower in the back was created by the Ticonderoga Checking pencil (a red lead, hexagonal pencil - the “teacher’s preferred choice” - with, oddly, the same green and yellow ferrule as the others).

Note the smaller and more frequent dips in the ridges of the red flower as the result of the hexagonal shaft. The yellow flower has shallower and more frequent dips than the black, owing to the smaller diameter of the yellow Tri-Write. But most importantly, look at those beautiful shavings!

I want to see some artwork created from these shavings.

[Image and text courtesy of our friend Mark at MungBeing. Used with kind permission.]