Berol – Blaisdell Ben Franklin 500 pencil

First of all, this pencil’s no longer made. However,  through the magic of the Internet, you can buy them online from auction sites like eBay. Amazing. In the pictures below, any warping is a result of my elite photography skills and high-end equipment –or lack thereof. I bought them new (NOS – New Old Stock) but couldn’t help myself and sharpened them all.

  

So far, I’ve purchased two grades of the Berol – Blaisdell Ben Franklin 500, the Medium Hard (3) and the Medium (3/6). In my pictures, the No 3 is more orange-yellow and has a plain brass colored ferule; the 3/6 is a lighter yellow and has a white stripe around the ferule. I’ve seen different styles, different lettering, color, No 3s with white stripes. There are pre-Berol Blaisdells… Here’s my review of the Blaisdell No. 3. You get the point. Your experience will vary.

I discovered that my pencils with the white paint on the ferule have only a golden/brass paint job. Rub off the bright yellow with an eraser and underneath there’s a dull, oxidized brown. I’m sure the metal was fine when they were new. I get it. No one’s fault. The yellow of the solid yellow ferule is yellow all the way — whatever the metal is. I have no clue. So sometimes beauty is only surface deep, after all. That’s the lesson for today, folks. I do like that white on the ferule, though…so disappointing.

Both grades have a thick lacquer coat of paint. The paint shines and, on most of the pencils I have, completely conceals the grain underneath. On pencils with thinner coats of paint, you can see the roughness of a cut or the contours of the grain.The thicker paint on the Ben Franklins gives the pencil a rounder feel along the edges of each face of the pencil. One of the Ben Franklins had a mean-rough cutting, though, and no amount of paint — short of a pouring a can of paint — would hide its raised ridges.

I would regard the 3/6 and the No. 3, both, as excellent writing pencils. In fact, I’m having a hard time using up the lead, it’s so long-lasting. Both pencils sharpen very nicely and have a nice cedar smell to them. Overall, an excellent pencil. I’ll definitely be picking up more Bens as they become available on eBay — and a gross would make my day.

I was surprised to not find any reviews or kinds words on the Internet for the Ben Franklins — plenty of quotes for some jolly, bald, white guy…but nothing on the pencils. It’s a shame, really, that such a nice product should go so quietly into the sunset of writing tools with nary a eulogy.

Here’s someone marking your passage, Ben Franklin 500. May you live forever is New Old Stock (NOS). And I’ll be seeing more of you in my future, I guarantee you. You were a fine pencil and you have a life-long admirer over here.