Wednesday, September 1, 2010

How Pencils Are Made

Have you ever wondered how they get the lead inside of a pencil? Well, wonder no longer! Image and text from this awesome website.


"The picture [...] illustrates the steps involved in the manufacture of a wood pencil.
It starts with a block of cedar (1) which is then cut into slats (2).
The slats are then stained (3) and grooves are cut into one surface (4).
Prepared leads are placed into the grooves (5) and a second slat is placed on top and bonded with the first (6).
This 'pencil sandwich' is then passed through a milling process (7) to separate the individual pencils (8).
The pencil is painted and finished (9 & 10), a ferrule crimped onto the end (11), and finally, an eraser is crimped into the ferrule (12)."

 

2 comments:

Kathy Haynie said...

By golly, yes I HAVE often wondered how pencils are made. I was picturing a long skinny drill, and then someone poking the lead down the hole??? Thanks, Bryan!

Katie Lewis said...

This is the second time today that I have read about ferrules. No joke.