Forbes ranked the “20 Most Important Tools” recently, and the pencil scored #4!
“Writing may be one of the most important discoveries in human history. But it was easy-to-use writing implements–including the pencil, pen and brush–that made mass education and literacy possible. Cheap, reliable and convenient, the pencil represents these tools at their best. And because the sword came in at No. 8 on our list (more about the sword), we can now say for sure that the pen is mightier than the sword…
….In 1662, the first mass-produced pencils were made in Nuremberg, Germany, and in 1795, a French Chemist named Nicolas Conté invented a technique to make pencil leads out of powdered graphite and clay. In 1770, Edward Naime, an English engineer, created and began selling the first rubber erasers. The practice of painting pencils yellow began in the 1890s. Pencil manufacturers wanted to advertise that they were using high-quality Chinese graphite, so they painted them a color associated with Chinese royalty. Today, 75% of the pencils sold in the U.S. are still painted yellow. “
Thanks for the link, Doug!
[Image Dave Klug.]
hi, can you please help me with this problem? I’ve got this pencil made out of a stick (I got it in the philippines). it’s got the lead in the center, and I don’t know how they got it in there. the only thing I can imagine is that they drilled a hole through the stick, poured melted graphite/clay into it, and then let it harden. can you shine some light on this mystery? thanks! -john a.
Hmmm, is the lead all the way in there? I’ve heard of “twig pencils” that only have an inch or two of the lead in there, so the hole is easily drilled. Or it could be a polymer-based lead like in mechanical pencils and plastic pencils.
Any ideas, Woodchuck?
:)
Without seeing photo it’s tough to say for sure. Normally such twig novelty pencils are simply drilled out with the finished leads inserted in after adding some glue as PRevo implies. The only leads that are ever poured into a drilled hole are certain types of soft cosmetic pencil cores. All other cores besides extruced plastic pencils are prehardened before hand.