How A Pencil is Made. Chunks of graphite (a soft, dark mineral) and clay are placed inside a huge rotating drum. Huge wheels grind the dried sludge into another fine powder, and water is blended in again to make a soft paste.
Background. One of the oldest and most widely used writing utensils, the pencil originated in pre-historic times when chalky rocks and charred sticks were used .
Pencil is a writing instrument that has a solid core made of clay and graphite, and wooden casing. We started using pencils when a vast deposit of graphite was .
The core of a pencil is made of graphite, clay, and water. During the 17th century, the graphite and clay were grounded down by hand, put into a cylindrical mold, .
The picture at left 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 .
