Blackwing Pencils

A good pencil has all the answers. Always use the same pencil. The more you use it, the smarter it gets. It’s like A.I.

Wow, the original Which Pencil for the JMT backpackinglight thread happened 13 years ago. It is the best BPL community-involved topic of all time, in my humble opinion, except for a fellow who struggled with the concept of satire.

We need more threads like that one. Too many people are too serious and OCD about backpacking gear. They need to “lighten up” and enjoy an occasional laugh.

13 years later I am still using Blackwing pencils. In fact, just yesterday I used one to mark some spots in the garage rafters to drill some pilot holes so I could hang some LED shop light fixtures. I’m retired now, so I don’t need a pencil for work, or more precisely I don’t need to work. However the Blackwing pencils is excellent for marginalia — doesn’t indent or damage the pages — it just glides across the paper quickly with little pressure. So I am using Blackwing pencils more than when i had a job. I am using the Blackwing 602 pencils.

A couple years after I started the JMT Pencil thread, Blackwing came out with a Blackwing 211 in honor of the JMT. I am sure my post and the contributions of the BPL inspired this new model. Although I feel used since Blackwing did not acknowledge my contribution to the Blackwing-JMT connection, nor did I receive any monetary compensation. I wrote about this turn of events 11 years ago in this post on my blog.

Using the same pencil to jog your memory is a classic, powerful way to trigger state-dependent memory. When you use the same tool, your brain recreates the exact environment where you first learned the information. (A.I.)

A black wing pencil sells for $2.83 for a single pencil on Amazon. I would guess all that machinery is pretty well amortized by now.  Thank you for posting the video.