THE HISTORY OF THE PENCIL

-KIRAN RAVEENDRAN

For 400 years, pencils have been used to record and note. The history of pencils is quite interesting and rich.
When we think of a pencil,we often remember our childhood of using a pencil,dialy before getting into the pen.yet writing with a pencil is a unexpressed joy,and pleasure.enjoyed by both kids as well as adults.
The pencils have a great role in building our creativity and handwriting. The famous drawings, artworks,etc all begins with this simple instrument pencil. Pencils have even been used in space by astronauts!
So there's more to know about pencils.we would like to show the exact history behind the pencils.

Before the invention of pencil,artists used Silverpoint method for the drawing.

In this method,they used silver rods or wires and used to draw on the surface ,coated with primer. Different type of metals where also used for this method of drawing,among one of them is copper.
This drawings where also called metal-point drawings.

In 1565,a pure graphite deposit was found in Cumbria in England. That was the first outbreak to the world of graphites
The sheepherders of that time used the graphite strips for marking there's sheep's counts.

later this graphite rods transformed from the strips to rods,inorder for the easy handling of the graphite strips. Then they faced the next problem,that it was slippery and that was a menace,so they gave a paper,leaves,clothes coverings for it,and after a long time,and undergoing a drastic changes they give a wooden outfit for the graphite rods. This is how the pencils got it's shapes that we today.

Mainly the pencil contains 2 parts,

1.A wooden part.

Pencils are more often made from wood.
A single tree is able to produce about 2000-2500 pencils. The most common woods used for pencils are cedar and basswood.

Once the trees are cut down for the production purpose,which looks like a block which is much longer than the length of a pencil. It is available in different sizes,shapes,ect in the market today.

2.A graphite core.

At the begining of 1565,after the discover of graphite ores, people found that it left a dark mark,making it ideal for writing.
Graphite was also soft and brittle. People sawed this graphite into thin rods and sandwiched them between pieces of wood to make the first 'lead' pencil.

FACT:
The word graphite stems from the ancient Greek word graphein, meaning to write or draw.

You may be surprised to know that,a pencil is not made up of a lead,and it never has been.it is a non-toxic mineral :graphite.

Graphite core is a mixture of clay and graphite powder,which is mixed in water and pressed under high pressure.
This mixture is then made into another fine powder and water is blended in to make a soft paste. The paste is then pushed through a metal tube and comes out in the shape of thin rods,and are cut in to pencil-length Pieces and dried. They are then soaked in an oil or wax to add smoothness.

In 1795,a French chemist, Nicholas Jacques Conté was the first person to develop this method of making graphite core. Now all the pencil manufacturers are using this method for there production.

Pencils are not differentiated by it's shape,size or nothing,only by it's lead classifications.
When we observe the outer covering of a pencil,we can see that there are 2 prints.
One is the manufacturers name and the other is the lead type.
There we can see a number like 2,4,6,8,10...and 2 alphabets the 'H' and 'B'.
In a pencil we can see either H or B or even both.let us look what they mean.

Here,H represents the hardness of the graphite lead and  the B represents the blackness.
We commonly use HB pencils for our dialy purpose,like for record,create and share.
In HB pencils the hardness and blackness are equal in proportion.

We can say that the blackness and hardness are inversely proportional , because if the hardness of the lead increase,the black decreases and vis-versa.

On the base of this grades chart,we can understand that, heading to left side,the hardness of the pencil is increasing and towards the right side,the blackness of the graphite rod or lead increases as well as the softness.

When we are prefer a pencil for a writings,it's recommend to use HB pencil for effective output and if it is for drawings,
The choosing of pencil grades wisely will give the drawing's its life.
If we are drawing a portrait,the B series pencils are advised to the parts of hair and eyebrows,which will provide with darker lines and H series for the fair skins and it will provides the light shades.
The pencil can be divided into 2, wooden pencils and mechanical pencils.
The difference between them is just,we can change the leads of the mechanical pencils,which are available with different varieties of thickness.

Unless this graphite pencils ,we are also available with charcoal pencil,they are much darker and softer than the graphite pencils.
Next time when you visit a shop to purchase the pencils,just note the lead classifications and thickness. Use different pencils for different purposes,and get the pleasure of it.

"Sharpen your life always,even though it will come to an end like a pencil nd we have to keep on writting"
Stay creative!

Hope you all liked it.stay tuned for interesting topics in our Blog.
Thank you.