how pencils are made
by Ethan Lyons
1. Site
1.1. How Pencils Are Made
1.2. How Its Made - 246 Cardboard Boxes
1.3. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pen-Gear-No-2-Wood-Pencils-Sharpened-48-Count/489882644
1.4. How Its Made - 246 Cardboard Boxes
1.5. Western Red Cedar Lumber | Clear, Rough and Surfaced
2. combinations
2.1. step 1. slats are cut in the wood that will become the channel for the graphite/lead.
2.2. step 2. then a machine puts slightly elastic glue inside the channel that makes it harder for lead to break and keeps the lead to fall out
2.3. step 3. a machine lays the lead into the slots created earlier.
2.4. step 4. another conveyor of wood is flipped on to its side and is placed on toplike a sandwich.
2.5. step 5. after this a plunger pushes the lead sandwiches together with a force of 1 ton to help it dry, it is like this for one hour.
2.6. step 6. the sandwiches of lead are sliced into individual pencils.
2.7. step 7. the pencils are the shot into a lacquering head which covers them in paint.
2.8. step 8. it goes down the final conveyor belt and gets a metal piece with an eraser on it.
2.9. step 9. it then goes across a grinding drum for sharpening.
3. The box
3.1. cardboard is made of layers of paper. in this case 2 layers of paper. they add color and labels which the company for the pencils pays for, then it is shipped to the pencil factory by plane.
4. Raw materials
4.1. graphite
4.1.1. made of a mixture of graphite and clay boiled at almost 1500 degrees fahrenheit.
4.1.1.1. this is shipped by boat in large amounts
4.2. wood
4.2.1. cedar wood from california is pre-cut into 0.2 inches thick and 7 inches wide.
4.2.1.1. this is shipped by plane