How a Pencil Is Made
1A pencil looks like a simple tool. It is just a stick of wood with a gray core in the middle. But making a pencil takes many careful steps, and most pencils today are made in factories with large machines. Here is how a few plain materials are turned into a pencil you can write with.
2First, workers make the core. Many people call it the "lead," but pencil lead is not made of the metal lead at all. It is made of graphite, a soft gray material, mixed with clay and water. The amount of clay matters. More clay makes a harder pencil that draws lighter lines, and more graphite makes a softer pencil that draws darker lines.
3Next, the gray mix is pressed into long, thin rods. The rods are cut to the length of a pencil and dried. Then they are baked in a very hot oven called a kiln. Baking makes the rods strong and smooth, so they glide across paper.
4While the cores bake, other machines get the wood ready. The wood is often cedar, because it is soft enough to sharpen easily. The wood is cut into thin, flat boards called slats. Each slat is about as long as one pencil but wide enough for several pencils. A machine then cuts long grooves into each slat. The grooves are just the right size to hold the cores.
5Now the parts come together. A core is laid in each groove, and glue is spread over the slat. A second grooved slat is pressed on top, like the top slice of bread on a sandwich. When the glue dries, a machine cuts the sandwich into separate pencils and shapes them. Many pencils have six sides, and others are round. Last, the pencils are painted, and many get a metal band that holds an eraser on one end.