Comments on: General’s Cedar Pointe 333 pencil

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:17:27 +0000

I just purchased 3 dozen General Semi-Hex No, 1 and 3 dozen no. 2 Semi-Hex directly from General. I spoke with Ingrid about their Supreme pencil which they had sent to me earlier in a set of samples. I liked the Supreme but they are supposedly only available in college bookstores, or I could buy a gross directly from General. Alas, that won’t be happening.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:38:24 +0000

I’d love to support them as well, but General’s don’t ship overseas. They do sell a fair deal of General’s in their various sketching kits, but thats not what I want.

By: acoustic59

acoustic59 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:07:16 +0000

Order up these pencils folks! General Pencil is the last major pencil manufacturer still making all parts of the pencil in the USA. And they are fine pencils for the price. Maybe the best natural wood pencil made here…I especially like how they become a deeper color from use.

If we don’t support them, they will go the way of Dixon, Eberhard Faber, Venus, and all the rest….

I think I read recently they were giving up the yellow #2 school pencil because they are not able to compete with China due to unfair tariff regulations. May need fact checking on this….but they are focusing on specialty drawing pencils to keep going. Musgrave is also making pencils here, but one look at their website shows which way they went to keep afloat (silly foil kids pencils, etc….). We can keep General from that fate. :-)

By: Carl L. Williams

Carl L. Williams — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:39:53 +0000

My fellow pencil aficionados:

For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, I happy to report that I purchased four of the “Cedar Pointe” at Flax’s Art and Supply store on Market Street in San Francisco. This is a delightful pencil and I plan to return to Flax’s soon to purchase a larger quantity for my collection.
I have also used the General’s “Semi-Hex” and found it to be very good on each of my “preference index.”
I’m very pleased to learn that General Pencil Company is the last-standing U.S. manufacturer of pencils—that fact further attracts me to their products.

Carl L. Williams

By: Adair

Adair — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:45:19 +0000

I want to love these pencils, they look terrific, and they are certainly not bad tools, but the lead is a bit scratchy. I do however buy them when I find them at places like Utrech’s. A pity that General’s doesn’t have wider distribution.

By: S. P. Colfer

S. P. Colfer — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:33:09 +0000

Greetings all,

General is the LAST U.S. pencil company still manufacturing in the U.S. That is why I have decided to swing them all my pencil business, such as it is. I know what Brian means about buying them online and paying the shipping- that is a drag- but I think it’s important that we support the last American pencil company the best way we can… buy their pencils before they go the way of Eberhard Faber and Dixon.

Best wishes,

Sean

PS: I have no affiliation with the General Pencil Co., I just don’t want to lose another American product to China.

By: bob charron

bob charron — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:11:11 +0000

I found them at a store in Burlington Vt. Other than the old Venus Velvet #2′s, which I do not believe are made anymore, these are the best pencils!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:04:25 +0000

Brian – If you have a Pearl art & paint supplies store in Washington (I know we have one in Chicago) – you MAY (please note may in caps) find the Semi Hex there. Give it a shot.

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:41:46 +0000

Thanks for the comments and tips! This “Utrect” sounds like an interesting store.

Brian – Musgrave, an even smaller company than General, still makes pencils, as do Sanford and MegaBrands. These latter two are large conglomerates, not just “pencil companies”.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:41:03 +0000

Just yesterday (11/19/08), I bought 1 of these for 39 cents at the Utrecht at 13th & I Streets, NW, Washington, DC. They only sold them individually, but had a couple dozen or so in stock.

What I really would like to find the General Semi-Hex 2HB school pencils for sale at a brick-and-mortar. Online, after shipping, they are a bit pricey and you have to buy 3 dozen, which is more than I can reasonably use.

Isn’t it true that General is the last U.S. pencil company still manufacturing in the US? I wish they sold them more places. Chinese-made Ticonderogas are a disappointment.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:34:17 +0000

I like General’s but I hate these natural finished pencils. I bought pack of Megabrands Green pencils, and I just don’t like the way they feel. I probably would still buy these anyway if I saw them in the store. Just to support General’s, I like that company. I still hope this natural finish trend goes away however.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:46:17 +0000

For all the readers in Chicago, you can buy the Cedar Pointe from Utretch Art Supplies in Chicago. They are about 30-40 cents a pencil, I purchased about 18 of them 6 months ago.