This may be the most lyrical slogan ever printed on a lowly pencil. In this case, it graces the side of the legendary Blackwing 602, a pencil beloved by artists and writers for its beautiful line, but discontinued and unavailable since 1998. 

I love both the act and the tools of handwriting, so I was honored recently to meet Charles Berolzheimer of the California Cedar Company. They’re one of the largest producers in the world of the wood “slats” used to make pencils, and it was from Berolzheimer that I learned about the Blackwing. The model was manufactured by Eberhard-Faber for somewhere over a half century, and used by writer John Steinbeck and animator Chuck Jones, among many others. It has a great smoothness to it, and a unique ferrule. (“What is a ‘ferrule’,” you might ask, as I did of Berolzheimer. It’s the metal bit on top that holds the eraser on.) The Blackwing’s eraser isn’t cylindrical, but rectangular, with a metal clip to hold it in the ferrule. So these pencils are unusually good and pretty cool looking, too. But waning demand, combined with 1990s corporate takeovers and (amazingly) an unrepairable breakdown of the special-ferrule-making machine meant the end of the Blackwing.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? So do lots of people: die-hards who refuse to abandon the Blackwing will pay $20-40 for a single unsharpened pencil on eBay. Like a foolish moth to a hipster flame, I found one selling at the low end of that scale—Only $18! Not collector quality!—and grabbed it. It is definitely a thing of weirdo beauty, and it does make a lovely line. The slogan is my favorite part, though: “Half the pressure, twice the speed” would sound vaguely dirty out of context, but stamped on this writing instrument it recalls an earnest industriousness of the early twentieth century.

Berolzheimer brought good news with him. Although his company mainly provides the wood for other manufacturers, he has started overseeing small production runs of high-quality finished pencils. And they’ve created a tribute to the Blackwing. It’s part of their Palomino line, and although the Palomino Blackwing has a softer lead and different styling than the original 602, it’s got the cool eraser, it is a great pencil, and it’s more affordable. More recently, they’ve announced that they’re working on an even more faithful recreation, with more similar lead and the famous slogan stamped on the side. I’m looking forward to trying one of those out.

Meanwhile, if you’re intrigued, there are people out on the internet who take Blackwings and their history very seriously. Some even think they’re better than iPads (!). I’d just say it’s important to have the right tool for the job, and it’s a bonus if that tool has a great story behind it.