When you open the box you are met by the gentle scent of cedar wood or to be precise, in this case, Eastern Red Cedar, from which the box and the pencils are made. The box is smooth but as far as I can tell the wood is unfinished whilst the pencils within have a lacquer finish which helps to bring out the depth of colour in the wood. Buyer's Note: Because of the nature of the wood - the delightfully aromatic Eastern Red Cedar - some cores may be slightly off-center and wood may have modest visible wear. The Musgrave Pencil Company, like the General Pencil Company, is one of the last independent American pencil makers. Headquartered in Shelbyville, Tennessee, the famous “Pencil City”, Musgrave has been in business since 1916.

From another perspective, Import Genius says that Musgrave’s top international suppliers (ranked by number of containers imported) are: Round pencils, they have gold coloured ferrules, with white erasers. All have dyed wood – red, green, or yellow, with corresponding varnish. In late 2019 Musgrave announced some new releases, including three new pencils. This was an unexpected treat, and all three of the new pencils have been roundly welcomed. Musgrave Harvest 320 Pro Musgrave Harvest 320 Pro Musgrave is a family-owned, 100-year-old pencil factory located in Tennessee that prides itself on making a pencil that is simple, utilitarian, and yet the starting point for creativity, education, and human connection.To summarize, there are some challenges, but I really like the story of this pencil. Telling me that the slat is 90 years old grants a lot of forgiveness. I suppose a review of these can’t be made without mentioning the centered-ness of the cores. There are a few off center cores, only one or two of mine were badly off center. The rest were fine and in what I would think of as well within usability limits. More on this point in a minute. Let’s talk about that delicious core. It’s dark. It’s smooth. With my long point sharpeners it’s perfect. It’s also great for sketching. I’d say this is a good multi use pencil, you can get some decent gradation out of it and as such wouldn’t need to carry a full pencil case for writing or sketching. The Tennessee Red™ pencil was born after Musgrave found a fantastic source for pencil-ready Eastern Red Cedar slats. This delicious-smelling pencil is sure to be your new favorite. Its simple matte clear coat showcases the gorgeous cedar, and a bright red foil makes the Tennessee Red imprint pop. The 3-star circle emblem comes from the Tennessee flag, celebrating Musgrave's home state, but you Tennessee lovers already knew that. It comes with a quality #2 core that provides a perfect mix of a just soft enough but not too hard feel that is perfect for even the most astute pencil lovers. On the scale, a couple of dozen pencils ranged from 5.3g to 6.3g, with a mean weight of 5.8g. Compare this with the Castell 9000 (3.9g) or the reference Mars Lumograph (3.8g). This pencil weighs 50% more than the European competitors! The distance between the sides is the same as a Lumograph (maybe a hair larger) – about 7.47mm. So where is the weight? Some must be in the ferrule and eraser. I’m also comparing unsharpened to sharpened pencils. Shelbyville Times-Gazette article on Musgrave Search 17 years of pencil talk: Search for: Search Latest Posts

The HB pencils have a beautiful natural finish, and have a white eraser attached with a gold and maroon ferrule. They are sold unsharpened. The pencils are reminiscent of the old Musgrave HB in presentation, though the wood and lead are different. I found the Tennessee Red challenging to sharpen in a handheld sharpener like the M+R Pollux, with the lead snapping. Fortunately it is easily handled with the standard Grenade or a desktop sharpener. Still, the wood seems just a bit too tough for a pencil. I suspect this isn’t the fault of the timber – it is more that the slats just haven’t received the conditioning treatments to which we’ve become accustomed. Musgrave Pencil is a family-owned and operated pencil maker in Shelbyville, Tennessee that’s been making pencils since 1916. The Musgraves began by selling Tennessee Red Cedar slats to European pencil makers; remember that, it’ll be important later. Musgrave’s Heritage Collection

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American heritage pencil maker Musgrave introduced a very interesting product in 2019: The Tennessee Red pencil. The pencil’s notable feature is the use of Eastern Red Cedar ( Juniperus virginiana), the original American pencil wood. The pencil is very fragrant and visually interesting – each pencil is different, and many contain both cedar sapwood (pale colour) and cedar heartwood (dark colour). Private companies of course don’t reveal their internal business, but in some countries (including the US), there are public customs records that show import activity. Records from Import Genius show that in the last two years, Musgrave’s imports include: Item

The graphite on these pencils is just right in terms of hardness and color, and the eraser works well enough too. They don’t erase that well and the eraser isn’t particularly good, but it’s a great all-round pencil.

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The Mitsubishi 9800 is an everyday writing pencil, similar to the 9852 but without an eraser. The 9800 is a really good looking pencil that sells in a great green paint color with high quality HB or B lead. Other hardnesses are sold but they aren’t as readily available in the US. I really like the printing on these pencils as well as the thought that they use “Matured” wood, which is noted on the side. State of the Art: Filling a Sketchbook | Comfortable Shoes Studio on Review: Handbook Trav-e-logue Series The cores are hard and write nicely. They sharpen well and aren’t prone to breaking. When they do break, there is little dust or smearing. Musgrave doesn’t specify who makes them, but they seem to be a very high quality.