Tombow 2558 review

Tombow 2558 Wooden Pencil Review

12 November 2015 By ian

Tombow 2558 review

The Tombow 2558 is a simple yellow pencil for, in Tombow’s own words, “general writing”.

Price: $1 to $1.20 each
Lead grade options: H, HB, B
Barrel colours: Only yellow
Barrel shape: Hexagonal
Eraser?: Yes

I love how this pencil looks. It’s a very classy shade of yellow with very crisp dark burgundy printing (except for the as always ugly barcode and serial number, which is in black). The ferrule is a purplish gun metal colour and the eraser is a simple (classic?) pink. It’s simple and elegant.

Tombow 2558 for general writing

It sharpens easily and cleaning, giving a good strong point.

Tombow 2558 sharpening

In use, the lead is smooth and keeps its point. It is a very lovely pencil to write with. It hardly smudges.

Tombow 2558 pointy bit

The eraser isn’t at all gritty and it lifts the graphite efficiently without crumbling away before your eyes.

Tombow 2558 eraser

Now the Mitsu-Bishi 9850 is better than the Tombow 2558 in every way, technically. The eraser is a little better. The printing is a little sharper. The lead is a little smoother. But only just. And the thing is, there’s more to this hobby of ours than simple technical specs. I enjoy this Tombow more, possibly because of the joyful sunny yellow colour, which I adore.

Tombow 2558 full length

Tombow make my favourite drawing pencil, one of my favourite fountain pens and now, it seems, they also make my favourite writing pencil.

Pros

Good looking
Smooth lead
Keeps a good point
Sharpens cleanly
Efficient eraser

Cons

A little tricky to get hold of outside Japan (especially the H)

You can find some more reviews of the Tombow 2558 on Pennaquod.