Sunstainability & Renewability

We think it’s important to know where the wood in your pencils comes from.

Blackwing pencils are made with high quality Incense-cedar that only grows in the forests of northern California and southern Oregon. It is strictly regulated and sustainability harvested, unlike the rainforest and other unsustainable woods used in other pencils. In fact, there are more Incense-cedar trees in the forests today than there were over 100 years ago.

To ensure the continued availability of Incense-cedar, forest workers carefully manage the stands of trees, and timber companies are committed to harvesting Incense-cedar on a sustained-yield basis. “Sustained-yield” means that the annual growth of the forest is greater than the amount harvested from the forest.

During the manufacturing process that transforms the Incense-cedar into a pencil, the sawdust created by the machine is compressed in bricks that can be used as a natural fire-starter or added to compost.

During our final assembly and QC process, any pencil that does not meet our standards is either donated or recycled, further reducing our waste while providing much needed tools to underserved schools.

Blackwing pencils are sustainably and responsibly manufactured from the highest quality renewable resources. Hit the button below to see all of our Genuine Incense-cedar pencils.