I suggest we have become complacent in expecting industry to produce exceptional products that cost very little. I recently received a message about the production of pencils. I predict anyone who decides to read the link for “I, Pencil” by Leonard E. Read will be introduced to the complexity that is involved in producing products that we accept as simple instruments we expect to be available whenever we need them. I also suggest you will be astonished that such a complicated product can be placed on the retail market at such a low cost.
The creation of a “simple” pencil is remarkable. The wood for the pencil is harvested from cedar trees in Northern California and Oregon. An army of workers harvest the logs and deliver them to the railroad siding. The ore has to be mined and processed to make saws. Rope has to be manufactured to control the logs. Others provide the meals and lodging for the people involved. That doesn’t even consider the coffee that is expected to be available to the loggers and others involved in the supply chain.
The “lead” (finely ground graphite) for the pencils is mined in Ceylon and mixed with chemically and heat-treated clay from Mississippi. The various ratings of “lead” are created by addition of various waxes and fats. Another paper explains how the “lead is encased in the cedar…(Most) wooden pencils are mass produced from large blocks of cedar cut into slats. A machine cuts eight grooves, half as deep as the graphite-clay rod is thick, into the slats, and then places rods in each groove. Once the rods are in place, a second grooved slat is glued on top of the first. When the glue dries, the slats are fed through a cutting machine that cuts the wood into various shapes and divides the slats into eight separate pencils. The seams where the two slats are joined are sanded down and several coats of paint are applied to the pencil, giving it the appearance of a solid structure.”
The pencil is capped with a metal ferrule that connects the pencil with the crucial eraser and originates from people who mine zinc and copper. The eraser is called in the industry the “factice,” and it is made by reacting rapeseed oil from the Dutch East Indies with sulfur chloride and pumice from Italy.
A brilliant article by Marni Jameson titled “The genius of everyday design,” mentions all manner of items we use daily without thinking of brilliance involved in their invention. The paper clip, zipper, light switch, egg carton, door knob, tin can, rubber band, cork screw, adhesive bandage, and bubble wrap are all mentioned. However, there is a quote from Laura Flusche that of her favorite “hidden heroes,” “I like the pencil…It actually democratized writing. Until then, the masses didn’t have access to writing utensils, so the written word was reserved for the elite.”
Take the time to admire your pencil the next time you lay down your smart phone to scribble yourself a note (with a pencil, and not a ball point, or course). Reflect on the genius it took to make such a remarkable instrument. Take a few seconds to think about the remarkable things that had to happen to get it into your hands. It makes me want to buy more pencils!