I’m not a fan of the Kimberly artist pencil made by General’s. Those are not properly graded — the hardness scale is not well maintained, so I just don’t use them.
I did, however, decide to try out the Cedar Pointe pencil. It’s a general purpose pencil – No. 2/HB — cased in cedar, with a black furule and black eraser. There’s no coating on the pencil. It’s just the wood, which is it’s main selling point. Each pencil is unique, since there’s no paint to cover up the wood or imperfections in cutting, of which there were none in any of the pencils I handled — the shaft is uniformly well cut and the edges are semi-hex (rounded at the corners). The cedar picks up dirt, water, and oils from your hands and whatever it comes in contact with. The pencils are easily nicked — that paint does make a difference, after all. As you handle the pencil, the wood will become darker and pick up character. I’ll repeat: the lack of paint is a feature. Cedar’s a nice wood, and there’s nothing wrong with getting in touch with natural materials.
As far as No. 2s are concerned, there’s no universal standard for hardness, and this is one of the darkest HBs I’ve ever used, but in spite of that retains a point remarkably well and they sharpen nicely. The graphite has an interesting scratch that you can hear very distinctly. The eraser does its job and lasts long. In every respect, an excellent pencil and made in America!
Perfect Pencil 