How pencils are made

Wet-mix the core paste

Finely ground graphite and clay powder are cleaned, dried and combined with water. The recipe sets the grade. More clay gives a harder, paler line, and less clay gives a softer, blacker one.

grades from 9H to 9B

Squeeze out thin strings

The paste is forced through a narrow die and comes out looking like spaghetti. The strings are straightened, dried and cut to length while they are still fragile.

Fire the strings

A kiln tempers the dried strings so the clay fuses around the graphite. They go in crumbly and come out hard enough to survive a sharpener.

Soak them in wax

Firing leaves tiny pores. Dipping the strings in oil or molten wax fills those pores, and that filling is why a good pencil glides over paper instead of scratching.

Groove the cedar slats

Planks of incense-cedar or juniper get a row of long parallel grooves. Each groove is half of the channel that will hold one core.

Sandwich and glue

Strings drop into the grooves of one slat. A second grooved slat is glued on top, closing every channel around its core.

Slice into separate sticks

Cutters run through the glued sandwich along the lines between the cores. One block falls apart into a row of individual pencils.

Paint and add the eraser

The pencils are painted or varnished, and a shoulder is cut at one end. A metal ferrule grips that shoulder and holds a rubber plug.