The American made Dixon Ticonderoga pencil was a good general purpose pencil. I say was, because like so many once-U.S. made pencils– it’s no longer made. Modern (2014) Dixons are made in China or Mexico. I own these but won’t be reviewing them here. Suffice to say, they are not the same — and Dixon knows it, which is I’m sure a reason why the foreign made pencils have a different design and don’t even have the country of origin stamped on them.
Here are some key attributes of the American-made Dixon Ticonderoga:
- classic look
- beautiful yellow color
- well crimped ferrule
- excellent eraser — even old pencils retain a soft eraser
- sharpen well
- write well
- sturdy construction
Growing up, my father used Dixon Ticonderogas at his carpentry shop. These pencils were a constant over the many years that I visited his work, and of course they were in the car and in our house. My father sharpened them with a pocket knife against the palm of his hand, blade pressing into his tough skin. I never tried this trick. If I sharpened a Ticonderoga with a knife, usually a utility knife, I would twist the knife into the wood and swipe the blade away from me. I’m pretty good at making a point this way.
Sharpening with a knife is a good test to see how well a pencil is constructed. Inferior pencils can’t handle the pressure of being whittled — the lead will crack or crumble. The Dixon had a good graphite core — strong, not brittle and the wood bonded well enough to the lead that even in a rough environment where a pencil would be dropped, tossed, and in one’s back pocket, it remained a reliable tool. On the other hand, a cheap pencil–not well bonded to the wood and of inferior lead chemistry, would shatter easily. A quality pencil is indispensable for many occupations.
As a homeowner with wood working tools, I continued to use Dixon Ticonderogas, but have since gathered them all up from my tool boxes. They now occupy a place on my desk, next to my more expensive art pencils. I’ve replenished the Dixons with New Old Stock (NOS) from eBay. I now have about 60 American made Dixons, which I will continue to treasure, and I’ll buy more if I feel the need. They were never the world’s best pencil — in spite of the claim on the box — but they were inexpensive, iconic, and well made.
Here are some sections on Roald Dahl’s love for the Dixon Ticonderogas — rooted, I believe, in the needful utility of a quality tool — from Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl By Donald Sturrock:
More on Dixon Ticonderogas:
The American made Dixon Ticonderoga Medium 2 5/10
Perfect Pencil 