How are Pencils Made (History Behind Pencils)

Pencils are writing instruments used for text, drawing and shading. Everyone is familiar with pencils and has used one. But how did the pencil we’re all familiar with started?

Pencils date back to the 16th century after the discovery of graphite which is a dark (grey) crystalline form of carbon. Graphite was first discovered in Borrowdale, Cumbria, UK in the mid 16th century. The substance was then used to make lead, the black stick in a pencil.

Graphite; img src roskill

Lead sticks

The sticks were first held together by strings before the use of hollowed out wood. However, a more intuitive way was discovered which involved halving a hollowed wood, placing the stick in one of the halved wood and then gluing it with the other half.

How a pencil is made

In the late 18th century new lead sticks were made from the mixture of clay and graphite. These sticks were first made by Koh-I-Noor founder Joseph Hardtmuth. He mixed damp clay with graphite and baked them in a kiln (large oven). More clay ratio in the mixture results in a more lighter and hard pencil and the more graphite results in a dark and soft pencil.

Pencil Types

They’re many types of pencils. However, some do not contain graphite.

• Graphite pencils; the common ones
• Solid pencils containing sticks only; no casing
• Liquid Graphite pencils which write like pens
• Charcoal pencils mainly used for drawing and shading
• Grease pencils which can write on any surface

Other types of pencils include coloured pencils, carbon pencils and many others. Other pencil types are used for applying makeup. These are called eyeliner pencils.

Classification & Intensity

Pencils are classified according to hardness (H)) and blackness (B). Hard (H) pencils are light in colour and used mainly in technical drawings. Conversely, B pencils are dark and mostly used in drawing and shading. The intensity of each class is ranged from 1 to 9. The common HB pencils are balanced in both darkness and lightness (hardness). There’s also another class of pencils called F (finest) pencils.