How a Pencil is Made - A Behind the Scenes Look at the Faber-Castell Pencil Production Process

Producing 2.3 billion pencils a year and being in the business for over 257 years, Faber-Castell has a sound know-how of how quality pencils are made. Have a look behind the scenes of our manufacturing. There are 14 steps to the process of making pencils: Pressing and drying the leads - The soft graphite mixture is extruded through a nozzle to form long strings. These are cut to length and dried in perforated tins. The cylindrical baskets turn during the drying process preventing the leads from sticking together. Wax bath - To enhance the writing experience, the leads are immersed in a bath of liquid wax to allow for a smooth colour lay down on paper. We could listen to that bubbling sound for ages. Milling the grooves and applying glue - Have you ever wondered how the lead gets into the pencil? It’s not by drilling a hole into a piece of wood 😉 Grooves are milled into two slats of wood and to make the lead break resistant, glue is applied evenly over the entire length. Ins