At the start of every school year, parents inevitably find themselves standing in the pencil aisle, seething at the fact that the No. 2 Ticonderoga yellow pre-sharpened pencils are again out of stock. It leaves them wondering if they really need to hunt down those elusive ultra-specific pencils, or can they get away with one of the off-brand pencils that are always well-stocked. A pencil is a pencil, right? Wrong! According to teachers, the No. 2 Ticonderoga pencils are the best. So, what makes them the best? Dixon Ticonderoga, the company behind the favored pencils, say their pencils are produced with premium wood from certified sustainable wood sources. Product Manager Becky Trudeau added, “Exacting standards are used to produce pencils that write smoothly, without the scratchy feel of other pencil brands, and deliver consistent results.” Making a good pencil is not as easy as it may seem. The graphite mix inside a pencil (it’s not lead) also makes the difference between a good experience and a bad one. “It takes days sometimes to get a real fine mix of the graphite and clay in order to extrude a really good graphite core,” said Henry Hulan of the Musgrave Pencil Company. Finally, cheaper pencils are outfitted with erasers that do little more than smear the paper, rather than rubbing out any markings. Ticonderoga pencil erasers are soft, latex-free, and able to clearly remove black pencil marks. So, if you’re one of those parents who want your little darlings to have the best of the best, you’d better get busy tracking down some Ticonderoga pencils online.
