As a student out there, you always appreciate a good pen with a steady ink flow to help you with taking notes during the lectures with your professors. When you consider purchasing a pen, you usually pay attention to its ink color, handle grip, paper glide as well as price. What if you need to mark something accurately on the margins of your copybook or even in the textbook? You definitely need a pencil to do it! So what do you need to consider when you are thinking of buying a good pencil and what is the best wood pencil for studying?

The pencil’s features are often overlooked. We are used to thinking that it comes in a uniform shape and color, and we do not need to think about its options. This opinion is very common, as in the past, super-cheap office superstore pencils were widespread. Hardly the best wooden pencils for writing, they were priced around $3 per pack of 36 pencils and offered a terrible writing experience. The wood was too soft and could easily chip off, the eraser was brittle and never cleaned anything, and the graphite broke down every single time you applied a slightly larger force.

These days are gone. Although the shape of the pencil and its wooden outer core stayed the same, the quality of the materials and the experience they offer have evolved a lot since then. Using pencils has always been convenient because you can erase what you have written! This customizable writing experience provides a lot of creativity! You do not need to worry anymore about making a mistake or misspelling something. It’s a good way of fighting writer’s block—you can just scribble whatever comes to your mind without worrying about writing something “set in stone.” It’s also possible to make notes with a pencil on the margins of your book—it is crucial for the “question”-method of learning from textbooks. You can do it without worrying you won’t be able to sell your textbooks back! Everything you have written with a pencil is erasable! If you take into account smooth writing, handy rubber-tip, and affordable prices, then pencil note-making is absolutely enjoyable and accessible for any college student! Check below our selection of the best wooden pencils for writing:

Palomino Golden Bear

Golden Bear Blue #2 comes at a handy price of $2.95 per pack of 12 items. It is made and sold in the USA and is a good bargain for the quality you get with it. These Golden Bear pencils are made of Genuine Incense-cedar, which grows in California, ensuring its pencils’ durable features. The high-quality graphite core offers the best writing experience with its smooth lines. It comes in 2 colors—orange and blue—and is perfectly suitable for use in the office, at college and at home. One of the best pencils for writing, it has a stylish design, and its rubber-tip will let you amend anything you have written before with no need to search for a separate eraser in your bag. 

 Dixon Ticonderoga

This model of a pencil—Dixon Ticonderoga— is rated as the world’s best pencil. It has a smooth finish that ensures absolute comfort when you are writing with it. Its special graphite core formula gives the lines a particular satin feel. The pencil’s outer core is produced out of premium wood from sustainable forests. There is a latex-free eraser on the tip of the pencil for easy and clean corrections. All the materials used for the production of this pencil are PM certified as non-toxic.

Staedtler Wopex

This Staedtler pencil is eco-friendly and is made out of a proprietary wood-based extrusion. Its green color reminds you of the sustainable practices with PEFC certified forests that Staedtler company is involved in, ensuring that you have the safest and the most substantial writing experience with their pencils. The good quality of both the wooden outer body as well as of the graphite core lets you sharpen the pencil very easily. There is a latex +PVC eraser tip on the pencil, and it writes up to 2x times longer than a traditional Staedtler Norica pencil.

Musgrave Test Scoring 100

As the best test companion, the Musgrave Test Scoring pencil has been specifically developed to ensure that test scanners pick up its electro graphite core writing. It is a good combination of price and quality when you can submit your test results written in a dark pencil line. The pencil retains its point for quite a long time which makes it ideal to accompany you during long writing sessions or tests. One of the best writing pencils, for sure.

Palomino Blackwing 602

This fancy model of a pencil Palomino Blackwing 602 is rather iconic despite the price of $21.95 per pack of 12 pencils. The Blackwing 602 pencils were particularly favored by such famous writers as John Steinbeck back in the day when a single pencil had to be ordered for a price of up to $40. It is known for its firm and smooth graphite lines and for its ability to retain a point for quite a long time. These features make the Blackwing 602 pencil an ideal writing instrument for writers and everyday users who tend to write a lot during the day and do not want to sharpen it very often. One of the best pencils for college, you will definitely find it worth its price. Among the pencil’s recognized qualities is its pink extendable eraser. Each pencil is crafted out of Genuine Incense-cedar and is our all-time favorite!

When Was the Pencil Invented?

The first-ever pencil was invented in ancient Rome and was called a stylus. Some of the styluses were made of thin metal pieces that left light readable marks on papyrus (an early form of paper). There were other styluses as well; their cores were made of lead—those pencils survived until the 16th century. Mass production of pencils started in Nuremberg, Germany was in 1662. Later on, popular names in the industry such as Faber-Castell, Lyra, Staedtler, and others started to appear.

Do Pencils Have Lead Nowadays?

No. We no longer use pencils with lead cores; they are made of non-toxic graphite now. But the name remained. The usage of graphite has become widespread after a large graphite deposit in Borrowdale, England, was discovered in 1564. The first graphite sticks were wrapped in string, and only a while later, graphite was inserted into wooden sticks.

What Wood Is Used for Pencils?

Most commonly, pencils are made from softwoods, such as pines or spruces. Budget pencils can be made of basswood or poplar. Cedarwood is also very common, as it encases the graphite and makes it easier to hold. The best pencils are made out of Genuine Incense-cedar.