Pencil

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A pencil
 (/ˈpɛnsəl/
46 min read( listen)) is a writing or drawing implement with a solid
pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage,
and keeps it from marking the user's hand.

Pencil
Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of solid core
material that adheres to a sheet of paper or other surface. They are distinct
from pens, which dispense liquid or gel ink onto the marked surface.

Most pencil cores are made of graphite powder mixed with a clay binder.
HB graphite pencils
Graphite pencils (traditionally known as "lead pencils") produce grey or black
marks that are easily erased, but otherwise resistant to moisture, most
chemicals, ultraviolet radiation and natural aging. Other types of pencil
cores, such as those of charcoal, are mainly used for drawing and sketching.
Coloured pencils are sometimes used by teachers or editors to correct
submitted texts, but are typically regarded as art supplies, especially those
with cores made from wax-based binders that tend to smear when erasers are
applied to them. Grease pencils have a softer, oily core that can leave marks
HB graphite
on smooth surfaces pencils
such as glass or porcelain.
Coloured pencils (Caran d'Ache)
The most common pencil casing is thin wood, usually hexagonal in section
but sometimes cylindrical or triangular, permanently bonded to the core.
Casings may be of other materials, such as plastic or paper. To use the pencil,
the casing must be carved or peeled off to expose the working end of the core
as a sharp point. Mechanical pencils have more elaborate casings which are
not bonded to the core; instead, they support separate, mobile pigment cores
that can be extended or retracted (usually through the casing's tip) as needed.
These casings can be reloaded with new cores (usually graphite) as the
A typical modern-day pencil.
previous ones are exhausted.
Coloured pencils (Caran d'Ache) 1. Solid pigment core
History (typically graphite,
commonly called pencil
lead)
Camel's hair 2. Wood
3. Painted body
Pencil, from Old French pincel, from Latin penicillus a "little tail" (see penis; 4. Ferrule
pincellus is Latin from the post-classical period[1]) originally referred to an 5. Eraser
artist's fine brush of camel hair, also used for writing before modern lead or
chalk pencils. [2]
A typical modern-day pencil.
Though the archetypal pencil was an artist's brush, the stylus, a thin metal
stick used for scratching
A pencil in papyrus
() is a writing or wax
or drawing tablets,with
implement wasaused
solid extensively
pigment corebyin a protective casing that
[3]
the Romans and for palm-leaf manuscripts.
reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand.

Graphite deposit discoveries

Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of solid core material that adheres
Old Soviet to a with box
colored pencils
(circa 1959)
sheet of paper or other surface. They are distinct from pens, which dispense liquid or gel ink
As a technique for drawing, the closest predecessor to the pencil was silverpoint or leadpoint until in 1565 (some
sources say as early as 1500), a large deposit of graphite was discovered on the approach to Grey Knotts from the
hamlet of Seathwaite in Borrowdale parish, Cumbria, England.[4][5][6][7] This particular deposit of graphite was
extremely pure and solid, and it could easily be sawn into sticks. It remains the only large-scale deposit of
graphite ever found in this solid form.[8] Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a
form of lead. Consequently, it was called plumbago (Latin for "lead ore").[9][10] Because the pencil core is still
referred to as "lead", or "a lead", many people have the misconception that the graphite in the pencil is lead,[11]
and the black core of pencils is still referred to as lead, even though it never contained the element
lead.[12][13][14][15][16] The words for pencil in German (Bleistift), Irish (peann luaidhe), Arabic (‫ قلم رصاص‬qalam
raṣāṣ), and some other languages literally mean lead pen.

The value of graphite would soon be realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds
for cannonballs; the mines were taken over by the Crown and were guarded. When sufficient stores of graphite
had been accumulated, the mines were flooded to prevent theft until more was required.

The usefulness of graphite for pencils was discovered as well, but graphite for pencils had to be smuggled.
Because graphite is soft, it requires some form of encasement. Graphite sticks were initially wrapped in string or
sheepskin for stability. England would enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils until a method of
reconstituting the graphite powder was found in 1662 in Germany. However, the distinctively square English
pencils continued to be made with sticks cut from natural graphite into the 1860s. The town of Keswick, near the
original findings of block graphite, still manufactures pencils, the factory also being the location of the Derwent
Pencil Museum.[17] The meaning of "graphite writing implement" apparently evolved late in the 16th century.[18]

Wood encasement

Around 1560,[19] an Italian couple named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti

made what are likely the first blueprints for the modern, wood-encased
carpentry pencil. Their version was a flat, oval, more compact type of pencil.
Their concept involved the hollowing out of a stick of juniper wood. Shortly
thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were
carved, a graphite stick inserted, and the halves then glued together—
essentially the same method in use to this day.[20]

Palomino Blackwing 602 pencils

Graphite powder and clay

The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite was in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1662.
It used a mixture of graphite, sulphur, and antimony.[21][22][23]

English and German pencils were not available to the French during the Napoleonic Wars; France, under naval
blockade imposed by Great Britain, was unable to import the pure graphite sticks from the British Grey Knotts
mines – the only known source in the world. France was also unable to import the inferior German graphite
pencil substitute. It took the efforts of an officer in Napoleon's army to change this. In 1795, Nicolas-Jacques
Conté discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with clay and forming the mixture into rods that were
then fired in a kiln. By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied.
This method of manufacture, which had been earlier discovered by the Austrian Joseph Hardtmuth, the founder
of the Koh-I-Noor in 1790, remains in use. In 1802, the production of graphite leads from graphite and clay was
patented by the Koh-I-Noor company in Vienna.[24]
In England, pencils continued to be made from whole sawn graphite. Henry Bessemer's first successful invention
(1838) was a method of compressing graphite powder into solid graphite thus allowing the waste from sawing to
be reused.[25]

United States

American colonists imported pencils from Europe until after the American
Revolution. Benjamin Franklin advertised pencils for sale in his
Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729, and George Washington used a three inches
(7.5  cm) pencil when he surveyed the Ohio Country in 1762.[26] William
Munroe, a cabinetmaker in Concord, Massachusetts, made the first American Pencil, perhaps made by Henry
wood pencils in 1812. This was not the only pencil-making occurring in David Thoreau, in the Concord
Concord. According to Henry Petroski, transcendentalist philosopher Henry Museum
David Thoreau discovered how to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite
using clay as the binder; this invention was prompted by his father's pencil
factory in Concord, which employed graphite found in New Hampshire in
1821 by Charles Dunbar.[7]

Munroe's method of making pencils was painstakingly slow, and in the

neighbouring town of Acton, a pencil mill owner named Ebenezer Wood set
out to automate the process at his own pencil mill located at Nashoba Brook.
He used the first circular saw in pencil production. He constructed the first of
the hexagon- and octagon-shaped wooden casings. Ebenezer did not patent
his invention and shared his techniques with anyone. One of those was Pencil manufacturing. The top
Eberhard Faber, which built a factory in New York and became the leader in sequence shows the old method
pencil production.[27] that required pieces of graphite to
be cut to size; the lower sequence
Joseph Dixon, an inventor and entrepreneur involved with the Tantiusques is the new, current method using
graphite mine in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, developed a means to mass- rods of graphite and clay.
produce pencils. By 1870, The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company was the
world's largest dealer and consumer of graphite and later became the
contemporary Dixon Ticonderoga pencil and art supplies company.[28][29]

By the end of the 19th century, over 240,000 pencils were used each day in the US. The favoured timber for
pencils was Red Cedar as it was aromatic and did not splinter when sharpened. In the early 20th century
supplies of Red Cedar were dwindling so that pencil manufacturers were forced to recycle the wood from cedar
fences and barns to maintain supply.

One effect of this was that "during World War II rotary pencil sharpeners were outlawed in Britain because they
wasted so much scarce lead and wood, and pencils had to be sharpened in the more conservative manner – with
knives."[30]

It was soon discovered that incense cedar, when dyed and perfumed to resemble Red Cedar, was a suitable
alternative. Most pencils today are made from this timber, which is grown in managed forests. Over 14 billion
pencils are manufactured worldwide annually.[31] Less popular alternatives to cedar include basswood and
alder.[30]

In Southeast Asia, the wood Jelutong may be used to create pencils (though the use of this rainforest species is
controversial).[32] Environmentalists prefer the use of Pulai – another wood native to the region in pencil
manufacturing.[33][34]

Eraser attachment
On March 30, 1858, Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an
eraser to the end of a pencil.[35] In 1862, Lipman sold his patent to Joseph
Reckendorfer for $100,000, who went on to sue pencil manufacturer Faber-
Castell for infringement.[36] In Reckendorfer v. Faber (1875), the Supreme
Court of the United States ruled against Reckendorfer, declaring the patent
invalid.[37]
Attached eraser on the left; Pencil
lead on the right
Extenders

Historian Henry Petroski notes that while ever more efficient means of mass production of pencils has driven the
replacement cost of a pencil down, before this people would continue to use even the stub of a pencil. For those
who did not feel comfortable using a stub, pencil extenders were sold. These devices function something like a
porte-crayon...the pencil stub can be inserted into the end of a shaft...Extenders were especially common among
engineers and draftsmen, whose favorite pencils were priced dearly. The use of an extender also has the
advantage that the pencil does not appreciably change its heft as it wears down."[30] Artists use extenders to
maximize the use of their colored pencils.

Types

By marking material

Graphite

Graphite pencils are the most common types of pencil, and are encased in
wood. They are made of a mixture of clay and graphite and their darkness
varies from light grey to black. Their composition allows for the smoothest
strokes.

Solid Two solid, or "woodless", graphite

pencils, two charcoal pencils, and
Solid graphite pencils are solid sticks of graphite and clay composite (as two grease pencils
found in a 'graphite pencil'), about the diameter of a common pencil, which
have no casing other than a wrapper or label. They are often called
"woodless" pencils. They are used primarily for art purposes as the lack of
casing allows for covering larger spaces more easily, creating different effects,
and providing greater economy as the entirety of the pencil is used. They are
available in the same darkness range as wood-encased graphite pencils.

Liquid
Coloured pencils
Liquid graphite pencils are pencils that write like pens. The technology was
first invented in 1955 by Scripto and Parker Pens. Scripto's liquid graphite
formula came out about three months before Parker's liquid lead formula. To
avoid a lengthy patent fight the two companies agreed to share their
formulas.[38]

Charcoal

Promotional pencils
Charcoal pencils are made of charcoal and provide fuller blacks than graphite pencils, but tend to smudge easily
and are more abrasive than graphite. Sepia-toned and white pencils are also available for duotone techniques.

Carbon pencils

Carbon pencils are generally made of a mixture of clay and lamp black, but are sometimes blended with charcoal
or graphite depending on the darkness and manufacturer. They produce a fuller black than graphite pencils, are
smoother than charcoal, and have minimal dust and smudging. They also blend very well, much like charcoal.

Colored

Colored pencils, or pencil crayons, have wax-like cores with pigment and other fillers. Several colors are
sometimes blended together.[39]

Grease

Grease pencils can write on virtually any surface (including glass, plastic, metal and photographs). The most
commonly found grease pencils are encased in paper (Berol and Sanford Peel-off), but they can also be encased
in wood (Staedtler Omnichrom).[39]

Watercolor

Watercolor pencils are designed for use with watercolor techniques. Their cores can be diluted by water. The
pencils can be used by themselves for sharp, bold lines. Strokes made by the pencil can also be saturated with
water and spread with brushes.[39]

By use

Carpentry

Carpenter's pencils are pencils that have two main properties: their shape prevents them from rolling, and their
graphite is strong.[40] The oldest surviving pencil is a German carpenter's pencil dating from the 17th Century
and now in the Faber-Castell collection.[41][42]

Copying

Copying pencils (or indelible pencils) are graphite pencils with an added dye
that creates an indelible mark. They were invented in the late 19th century for
press copying and as a practical substitute for fountain pens. Their markings
are often visually indistinguishable from those of standard graphite pencils,
but when moistened their markings dissolve into a coloured ink, which is
then pressed into another piece of paper. They were widely used until the
mid-20th century when ball pens slowly replaced them. In Italy their use is
still mandated by law for voting paper ballots in elections and Obliteration by indelible pencil to
referendums.[43] censor mail in 1943

Eyeliner
Eye liner pencils are used for make-up. Unlike traditional copying pencils, eyeliner pencils usually contain non-
toxic dyes.[44]

Erasable coloring

Unlike wax-based colored pencils, the erasable variants can be easily erased. Their main use is in sketching,
where the objective is to create an outline using the same color that other media (such as wax pencils, or
watercolor paints) would fill[45] or when the objective is to scan the color sketch.[46] Some animators prefer
erasable color pencils as opposed to graphite pencils because they do not smudge as easily, and the different
colors allow for better separation of objects in the sketch.[47] Copy-editors find them useful too as markings
stand out more than those of graphite, but can be erased.

Non-reproduction

Also known as non-photo blue pencils, the non-reproducing types make marks that are not reproducible by
photocopiers[48] (examples include "Copy-not" by Sanford and "Mars Non-photo" by Staedtler) or by whiteprint
copiers (such as "Mars Non-Print" by Staedtler).

Stenography

Stenographer's pencils, also known as a steno pencil, are expected to be very reliable, and their lead is break-
proof. Nevertheless, steno pencils are sometimes sharpened at both ends to enhance reliability. They are round
to avoid pressure pain during long texts.[49]

Golf

Golf pencils are usually short (a common length is 9  cm or 3.5  in) and very cheap. They are also known as
library pencils, as many libraries offer them as disposable, leak-proof – if it doesn't have ink, it can't leak –
writing instruments.

By shape
Triangular (more accurately a Reuleaux triangle)
Hexagonal
Round
Bendable (flexible plastic)

By size

Typical

A standard, hexagonal, "#2 pencil" is cut to a hexagonal height of 6 mm (1⁄4 in), but the outer diameter is slightly
larger (about 7 mm or 9⁄32 in) A standard, "#2", hexagonal pencil is 19 cm (7.5 in) long.

Biggest

On 3 September 2007, Ashrita Furman unveiled his giant US$20,000 pencil – 23 metres (76  ft) long, 8,200
kilograms (18,000  lb) with over 2,000 kilograms (4,500  lb) for the graphite centre – after three weeks of
creation in August 2007 as a birthday gift for teacher Sri Chinmoy. It is longer than the 20-metre (65 ft) pencil
outside the Malaysia HQ of stationers Faber-Castell.[50][51][52]

By manufacture

Mechanical

Mechanical pencils use mechanical methods to push lead through a hole at

the end. These can be divided into two groups: with propelling pencils an
internal mechanism is employed to push the lead out from an internal
compartment, while clutch pencils merely hold the lead in place (the lead is
extended by releasing it and allowing some external force, usually gravity, to
pull it out of the body). The erasers (sometimes replaced by a sharpener on
pencils with larger lead sizes) are also removable (and thus replaceable), and
usually cover a place to store replacement leads. Mechanical pencils are
popular for their longevity and the fact that they may never need sharpening. Lead for mechanical pencils
Lead types are based on grade and size; with standard sizes being 2.00 mm
(0.079  in), 1.40  mm (0.055  in), 1.00  mm (0.039  in), 0.70  mm (0.028  in),
0.50  mm (0.020  in), 0.35  mm (0.014  in), 0.25  mm (0.0098  in), 0.18  mm
(0.0071 in), and 0.13 mm (0.0051 in) (ISO 9175-1 (http://www.iso.org/iso/is
o_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=16778))—the
0.90  mm (0.035  in) size is available, but is not considered a standard ISO
size.

Pop a Point

Pioneered by Taiwanese stationery manufacturer Bensia Pioneer Industrial

Flexible pencils
Corporation in the early 1970s, Pop a Point Pencils are also known as Bensia
Pencils, stackable pencils or non-sharpening pencils. It is a type of pencil
where many short pencil tips are housed in a cartridge-style plastic holder. A blunt tip is removed by pulling it
from the writing end of the body and re-inserting it into the open-ended bottom of the body, thereby pushing a
new tip to the top.

Plastic

Invented by Harold Grossman[53] for the Empire Pencil Company in 1967, plastic pencils were subsequently
improved upon by Arthur D. Little for Empire from 1969 through the early 1970s; the plastic pencil was
commercialised by Empire as the "EPCON" Pencil. These pencils were co-extruded, extruding a plasticised
graphite mix within a wood-composite core.[54]

Other aspects
By factory state: sharpened, unsharpened
By casing material: wood, paper, plastic

Health
Residual graphite from a pencil stick is not poisonous, and graphite is harmless if consumed.
Although lead has not been used for writing since antiquity, such as in Roman styli, lead poisoning from pencils
was not uncommon. Until the middle of the 20th century the paint used for the outer coating could contain high
concentrations of lead, and this could be ingested when the pencil was sucked or chewed.[55]

Manufacture
The lead of the pencil is a mix of finely ground graphite and clay powders. Before the two substances are mixed,
they are separately cleaned of foreign matter and dried in a manner that creates large square cakes. Once the
cakes have fully dried, the graphite and the clay squares are mixed together using water. The amount of clay
content added to the graphite depends on the intended pencil hardness (lower proportions of clay makes the
core softer),[56] and the amount of time spent on grinding the mixture determines the quality of the lead. The
mixture is then shaped into long spaghetti-like strings, straightened, dried, cut, and then tempered in a kiln. The
resulting strings are dipped in oil or molten wax, which seeps into the tiny holes of the material and allows for
the smooth writing ability of the pencil. A juniper or incense-cedar plank with several long parallel grooves is cut
to fashion a "slat," and the graphite/clay strings are inserted into the grooves. Another grooved plank is glued on
top, and the whole assembly is then cut into individual pencils, which are then varnished or painted. Many
pencils feature an eraser on the top and so the process is usually still considered incomplete at this point. Each
pencil has a shoulder cut on one end of the pencil to allow for a metal ferrule to be secured onto the wood. A
rubber plug is then inserted into the ferrule for a functioning eraser on the end of the pencil.[57]

Grading and classification

Graphite pencils are made of a mixture of clay and graphite and their
darkness varies from light grey to black: the more clay the harder the
pencil.[58][59][60] There is a wide range of grades available, mainly for artists
who are interested in creating a full range of tones from light grey to black.
Engineers prefer harder pencils which allow for a greater control in the shape
of the lead.

Manufacturers distinguish their pencils by grading them, but there is no

common standard.[61] Two pencils of the same grade but different Two graphite pencils. Both are
manufacturers will not necessarily make a mark of identical tone nor have the labelled "HB", but the numeric label
same hardness.[a] differs between "2" and "21⁄2".

Most manufacturers, and almost all in Europe, designate their pencils with
the letters H (commonly interpreted as "hardness") to B (commonly
"blackness"), as well as F (usually taken to mean "fineness", although F
pencils are no more fine or more easily sharpened than any other grade. Also
known as "firm" in Japan[62]). The standard writing pencil is graded
HB.[63][b] This designation, in the form "H. B.", was in use at least as early as
1814.[64] Softer or harder pencil grades were described by a sequence or
successive Bs or Hs such as BB and BBB for successively softer leads, and HH
and HHH for successively harder ones.[65] The Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth pencil
manufacturers claim to have first used the HB designations, with H standing
for Hardtmuth, B for the company's location of Budějovice, and F for Franz
Hardtmuth, who was responsible for technological improvements in pencil
manufacture.[66][67]

As of 2021, a set of pencils ranging from a very soft, black-marking pencil to a A grading chart ranging from 9B to
very hard, light-marking pencil usually ranges from softest to hardest as 9H
follows:
 Graphite pencil hardness grading and typical applications
Tone and grade designations
Character Application examples
Europe USA RUS

9B – –
8B – –
for artistic purposes:
7B – – extremely soft, sketches
6B – – black studies
drafts
5B – –

4B – –

3B – 3M
2B #0 2М soft freehand drawing
writing (restricted)
B #1 M

HB #2 TM
medium writing
F * – linear drawing
#2½

H #3 T
hard technical drawing
2H #4 2T mathematical drawing

3H – 3T

4H – – very hard technical detailed plans

graphical representations
5H – –

6H – – for special purposes:

7H – – extremely hard, lithography
8H – – light grey cartography
xylography
9H – –
* 2 4 5
Also seen as 2 4 , 2 8 , 2.5, 2 10

Koh-i-noor offers twenty grades from 10H to 8B for its 1500 series.[68] Mitsubishi Pencil offers twenty-two
grades from 10H to 10B for its Hi-uni range.[69] Derwent produces twenty grades from 9H to 9B for its graphic
pencils.[70] Staedtler produces 24 from 10H to 12B for its Mars Lumograph pencils.[71]

Numbers as designation were first used by Conté and later by John Thoreau, father of Henry David Thoreau, in
the 19th century.[c] Although Conté/Thoreau's equivalence table is widely accepted, not all manufacturers follow
it; for example, Faber-Castell uses a different equivalence table in its Grip 2001 pencils: 1 = 2B, 2 = B, 2½ = HB,
3 = H, 4 = 2H.

Hardness test

Graded pencils can be used for a rapid test that provides relative ratings for a series of coated panels but can't be
used to compare the pencil hardness of different coatings. This test defines a "pencil hardness" of a coating as
the grade of the hardest pencil that does not permanently mark the coating when pressed firmly against it at a 45
degree angle.[d][72] For standardized measurements, there are Mohs hardness testing pencils on the market.

External colour and shape

 The majority of pencils made in the US are painted yellow.[e] According to
Henry Petroski,[73] this tradition began in 1890 when the L. & C. Hardtmuth
Company of Austria-Hungary introduced their Koh-I-Noor brand, named
after the famous diamond. It was intended to be the world's best and most
A typical yellow no. 2 pencil
expensive pencil, as the ends of the pencil was dipped in 14-carat gold, [74]
and at a time when most pencils were either painted in dark colours or not at
all, the Koh-I-Noor was yellow. As well as simply being distinctive, the colour
may have been inspired by the Austro-Hungarian flag; it was also suggestive of the Orient at a time when the
best-quality graphite came from Siberia. Other companies then copied the yellow colour so that their pencils
would be associated with this high-quality brand, and chose brand names with explicit Oriental references, such
as Mikado (renamed Mirado)[f][g] and Mongol.[75][h]

Not all countries use yellow pencils. German and Brazilian pencils, for example, are often green, blue or black,
based on the trademark colours of Faber-Castell, a major German stationery company which has plants in those
countries. In southern European countries, pencils tend to be dark red or black with yellow lines, while in
Australia, they are red with black bands at one end.[76] In India, the most common pencil colour scheme was
dark red with black lines, and pencils with a large number of colour schemes are produced.

Pencils are commonly round, hexagonal, or sometimes triangular in section. Carpenters' pencils are typically
oval or rectangular, so they cannot easily roll away during work.

Notable users
Thomas Edison had his pencils specially made by Eagle Pencil. Each pencil was three inches (7.6 cm) long,
was thicker than standard pencils and had softer graphite than was normally available.[31]
Charles Fraser-Smith During World War II, Fraser-Smith worked for the Ministry of Supply, fabricating
equipment nicknamed "Q-devices" (after Q-ships) for SOE agents operating in occupied Europe. In 1942,
Charles Fraser-Smith, who worked in MI9, arrived at the Cumberland pencil factory, he had an idea to create
a pencil with a secret map and compass. These were given to Lancaster Bomber airmen and were made
secretly under the Official Secrets Act, in Keswick.[77]
Vladimir Nabokov rewrote everything he had ever published, usually several times, in pencil.[31]
John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and is said to have used as many as 60 a day. His novel East
of Eden took more than 300 pencils to write.[31]
Vincent van Gogh used only Faber pencils as they were "superior to Carpenters pencils, a capital black and
most agreeable".[31][78]
Johnny Carson regularly played with pencils at his Tonight Show desk. These pencils were specially made
with erasers at both ends to avoid on-set accidents.[79]
Roald Dahl used only pencils with yellow casing to write his books. He had 6 sharpened pencils ready at the
beginning of each day and only when all 6 pencils became unusable did he resharpen them.[80]

Manufacturers
Prominent global manufacturers of wood-cased (including wood-free) pencils:
 Country of
Manufacturer Remark
origin

Caran d'Ache Switzerland

"Chung hwa" and "Great Wall"

China First Pencil Co. China
brands
Cretacolor Bleistiftfabrik Austria

Derwent Cumberland Pencil

UK Derwent brand
Company

Dixon, Oriole, Ticonderoga brands

Dixon Ticonderoga USA
(manufactured in Mexico, China)
Plants in Germany, India,Indonesia,
Faber-Castell AG Germany
Costa Rica, Brazil

Temagraph, Lyra, Dixon,

FILA Group Italy
Ticonderoga, DOMS brands

General Pencil Co. USA General's, Kimberly brands

Hindustan Pencils India Apsara, Nataraj brands
A collection of pencils (12) by
Czech Bohemia Works Czech Republic
Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth Koh-i-Noor brand
Republic from the Ministry of Construction of
Lyra Bleistift-Fabrik Germany Parent: FILA Group the GDR in the stock of the MEK

Mitsubishi Pencil Company Japan Mitsu-Bishi, Uni brands

Musgrave Pencil Company (http

USA
s://musgravepencil.com/)

Newell Brands USA Paper Mate brand

Division of California Cedar
Palomino USA
Products, USA;

Staedtler Mars GmbH & Co. Germany Staedtler brand

Tombow Pencil Co. Japan includes MONO brand

Viarco Portugal

See also
Blackwing 602
IKEA pencil
Pencil drawing
Plumbago drawing
Tortillon
I, Pencil

Notes
a. Pencil grades vary "depending upon the manufacturer, when the pencils are made, and the source of
graphite and clay. One analyst found that graphitic carbon content, for example, to vary from about 30 to
about 65 in a variety of different pencils bearing the same designation." Petroski 1990, p. 229
b. This is not related to the Brinell scale hardness unit HB.
c. Conté used integer numbers that started at 1, with higher numbers indicating softer leads, while Thoreau
used higher numbers to designate harder leads (Petroski 1990, p. 157). It is believed that Thoreau
developed independently his method of mixing clay and graphite, and his use of numbers to designate
 grades is evidence that he was at least aware of Conté methods and tried to reverse engineer them.
Thoreau offered pencils graduated from 1 to 4 in the mid-1800s (Petroski 1990, p. 119), see also John H.
Lienhard (1989). "Thoreau's Pencils". The Engines of Our Ingenuity. Episode 339. NPR. KUHF-FM Houston.
Transcript (http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi339.htm). uh.edu
d. This testing method is approved by the ISO as standard ISO 15184:1998 Paints and varnishes –
Determination of film hardness by pencil test ISO.org (https://www.iso.org/standard/55329.html?browse=tc)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20171026111219/https://www.iso.org/standard/55329.html?browse=tc)
26 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. See pra-world.com (http://www.pra-world.com/technical/testingph
ysicalhardness.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070929224302/http://www.pra-world.com/techn
ical/testingphysicalhardness.htm) 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine for a description of the test.
Unfortunately the hardness of pencils is not standardised. For this reason the standard specifies various
brands of pencils that are to be used in this test.
e. 75% of the 2.8 billion pencils made in the US are painted yellow (Steve Ritter "Pencils & Pencil Lead",
Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 79, Number 42 page 35, 15 October 2001). Pubs.acs.org (http://pub
s.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7942sci4.html)
f. Eagle Pencil Company applied for the trademark Mirado in 1947 (US Trademark 71515261). It is common
belief that this was an attempt to disassociate the pencil brand from Japan, as one of the meanings of
Mikado is emperor of Japan. Petroski states that Eagle Pencil Company changed the name after the Attack
on Pearl Harbor.
g. Mikado/Mirado pencils were originally made by Eagle Pencil Company – today Berol – but can also be found
today under the trademark Papermate and Sanford as Sanford owns Berol and the trademark Papermate
Brandnamepencils.com (http://www.brandnamepencils.com/brands/eagle/mikado174.shtml) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20070929081527/http://www.brandnamepencils.com/brands/eagle/mikado174.shtm
l) 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Mirado Pencil
h. Originally made by Eberhard Faber the Mongol trademark is now owned by Sanford
Timberlines.blogspot.com (http://timberlines.blogspot.com/2005/08/mongolized.html) Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20160304030943/http://timberlines.blogspot.com/2005/08/mongolized.html) 4 March 2016 at
the Wayback Machine Timberlines Blog "Mongolized" 31 August 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2007.

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Bibliography
Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance (https://archive.org/details/pencilhi
storyofd00petr_0). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57422-2.

Further reading
Petroski, Henry (1991). "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer" (https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/h-d-thoreau-e
ngineer-1). American Heritage of Invention and Technology. 5 (2): 8–16. doi:10.1215/00382876-90-1-39 (http
s://doi.org/10.1215%2F00382876-90-1-39). S2CID 257782890 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:25
7782890). Retrieved 3 June 2023.

External links
How A Pencil Is Made (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHp1fGdAWE) on YouTube
Payne, Christopher; Anderson, Sam (12 January 2018). "Inside one of America's last pencil factories" (http
s://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/magazine/inside-one-of-americas-last-pencil-factories.html?action=click&c
ontentCollection=Politics&module=Trending&version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article). The New
York Times.

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