pencil
ILLUSTRATES David Augustus
1) Where it all starts
The main raw material is wood, generallyPine trees. Some companies, such as Faber-Castell, have their own forest. The harvest is done after 14 long years, but a single pine tree yields up to 9,000 pencils! In addition, the thinnest logs (known as briquettes) are used in the production of energy, feeding the factory’s boilers.
2) Cut and hollowed out
The wood is cut into small rectangular pieces called tablets. In them, cylindrical grooves are demarcated, in the exact format to fit the “little core” of the pencil. After this stage, the tablets receive a dyeing treatment and are stored for 60 days to dry naturally. Each yields up to ten pencils
3) The soul of the pencil
The colored core is called color mine. It is nothing more than a mixture of kaolin (a type of ground ore), wax, water and pigment in the desired tone. All these ingredients are created in the laboratory and mixed in large vats individual (one for each color) until they become a cob. This paste is pressed and cut in the right shape
4) Gold mines
Drying for 20 minutes, the mines begin to set, thicken and release color. Afterwards, they are manually transported in small round compartments to a cylindrical equipment that fits into every slot of the tablet. Another board is glued on top and this “sandwich” is kept in the machine for 20 minutes until the glue dries.
5) Surviving the guillotine
Automatically, the sandwich goes on a conveyor belt to the lapping machine. Equipped with steel blades at the top and bottom, the mechanism cuts the wood to give the desired shape to the pencil – circular, triangular, hexagonal… Afterwards, the raw and molded pieces of wood are taken to the sector in large boxes (separated by color). of dyeing
6) Beauty bath
To gain the outer finish, each pencil is dipped twice in ink and then varnished. Another series of conveyor belts takes you to the stamper, a machine fed with rolls of golden paper that “prints”, on the side of the wooden cylinder, that little text with the manufacturer’s mark, the name and number of the color. At the end, there is an automatic pointer that, from there, already releases the product for evaluation
7) Each in its own package
In the final phase, individual quality control takes place. Employees (assigned to review single-color pencils) examine each product’s tip, size, appearance, and color potency. If they are approved, they go on conveyor belts that automatically separate a pencil from each shade to fall straight into the box (which was opened by suction cups). Sealing is also mechanical
READ MORE
How are tires manufactured?
How is an Oscar statuette made?
How is long life milk made?
How is wine produced?
CONSULTANCYMirella Gutierrez, from Agência Ideal, and the Faber Castell support team
SOURCESFaber Castell, Viarco, Discovery Channel and EXAME