1
00:00:00,198 --> 00:00:03,563
The sound is a really big part, I think,
of the experience of using a pencil,

2
00:00:03,588 --> 00:00:07,064
and it has this really
audible scratchiness.

3
00:00:07,088 --> 00:00:09,290
(Scratching)

4
00:00:10,286 --> 00:00:12,806
[Small thing. Big idea.]

5
00:00:13,985 --> 00:00:16,313
[Caroline Weaver on
the Pencil]

6
00:00:16,556 --> 00:00:18,926
The pencil is a very simple object.

7
00:00:18,950 --> 00:00:21,435
It's made of wood
with some layers of paint

8
00:00:21,459 --> 00:00:22,975
an eraser and a core,

9
00:00:22,999 --> 00:00:25,395
which is made out of graphite,
clay and water.

10
00:00:25,419 --> 00:00:27,951
Yeah, it took hundreds
of people over centuries

11
00:00:27,975 --> 00:00:29,651
to come to this design.

12
00:00:29,675 --> 00:00:32,956
And it's that long history
of collaboration

13
00:00:32,980 --> 00:00:35,638
that, to me, makes it
a very perfect object.

14
00:00:36,075 --> 00:00:38,349
The story of the pencil
starts with graphite.

15
00:00:38,373 --> 00:00:41,290
People started finding
really useful applications

16
00:00:41,314 --> 00:00:42,925
for this new substance.

17
00:00:42,949 --> 00:00:45,107
They cut it into small sticks

18
00:00:45,131 --> 00:00:47,599
and wrapped it in string
or sheepskin or paper

19
00:00:47,623 --> 00:00:49,617
and sold it on the streets of London

20
00:00:49,641 --> 00:00:51,797
to be used for writing or for drawing

21
00:00:51,821 --> 00:00:54,313
or, a lot of times,
by farmers and shepherds,

22
00:00:54,337 --> 00:00:55,996
who used it to mark their animals.

23
00:00:56,020 --> 00:00:57,263
Over in France,

24
00:00:57,287 --> 00:01:01,441
Nicolas-Jacques Conté figured out a method
of grinding the graphite,

25
00:01:01,465 --> 00:01:04,584
mixing it with powdered clay
and water to make a paste.

26
00:01:04,608 --> 00:01:07,777
From there, this paste was filled
into a mold and fired in a kiln,

27
00:01:07,801 --> 00:01:10,751
and the result was
a really strong graphite core

28
00:01:10,775 --> 00:01:13,894
that wasn't breakable,
that was smooth, usable --

29
00:01:13,918 --> 00:01:17,014
it was so much better than anything else
that existed at the time,

30
00:01:17,038 --> 00:01:20,848
and to this day, that's the method
that's still used in making pencils.

31
00:01:21,461 --> 00:01:24,588
Meanwhile, over in America,
in Concord, Massachusetts,

32
00:01:24,612 --> 00:01:27,660
it was Henry David Thoreau
who came up with the grading scale

33
00:01:27,684 --> 00:01:29,770
for different hardnesses of pencil.

34
00:01:29,794 --> 00:01:31,717
It was graded one through four,

35
00:01:31,741 --> 00:01:35,392
number two being the ideal
hardness for general use.

36
00:01:35,416 --> 00:01:37,966
The softer the pencil,
the more graphite it had in it,

37
00:01:37,990 --> 00:01:40,355
and the darker and smoother
the line will be.

38
00:01:41,495 --> 00:01:43,782
The firmer the pencil,
the more clay it had in it

39
00:01:43,806 --> 00:01:45,816
and the lighter and finer it will be.

40
00:01:46,607 --> 00:01:49,774
Originally, when pencils were handmade,
they were made round.

41
00:01:49,798 --> 00:01:51,472
There was no easy way to make them,

42
00:01:51,496 --> 00:01:54,758
and it was the Americans
who really mechanized the craft.

43
00:01:54,782 --> 00:01:56,728
A lot of people credit Joseph Dixon

44
00:01:56,752 --> 00:02:00,440
for being one of the first people
to start developing actual machines

45
00:02:00,464 --> 00:02:04,371
to do things like cut wood slats,
cut grooves into the wood,

46
00:02:04,395 --> 00:02:05,604
apply glue to them ...

47
00:02:05,628 --> 00:02:08,439
And they figured out
it was easier and less wasteful

48
00:02:08,463 --> 00:02:10,091
to do a hexagonal pencil,

49
00:02:10,115 --> 00:02:11,973
and so that became the standard.

50
00:02:12,558 --> 00:02:14,121
Since the early days of pencils,

51
00:02:14,145 --> 00:02:16,210
people have loved that they can be erased.

52
00:02:17,942 --> 00:02:19,510
Originally, it was bread crumbs

53
00:02:19,534 --> 00:02:21,617
that were used
to scratch away pencil marks

54
00:02:21,641 --> 00:02:23,210
and later, rubber and pumice.

55
00:02:23,675 --> 00:02:26,967
The attached eraser happened in 1858,

56
00:02:26,991 --> 00:02:30,948
when American stationer
Hymen Lipman patented the first pencil

57
00:02:30,972 --> 00:02:32,354
with an attached eraser,

58
00:02:32,378 --> 00:02:34,250
which really changed the pencil game.

59
00:02:34,965 --> 00:02:38,359
The world's first yellow pencil
was the KOH-I-NOOR 1500.

60
00:02:38,383 --> 00:02:39,888
KOH-I-NOOR did this crazy thing

61
00:02:39,912 --> 00:02:42,825
where they painted this pencil
with 14 coats of yellow paint

62
00:02:42,849 --> 00:02:44,782
and dipped the end in 14-carat gold.

63
00:02:45,442 --> 00:02:47,016
There is a pencil for everyone,

64
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,447
and every pencil has a story.

65
00:02:50,046 --> 00:02:54,425
The Blackwing 602 is famous
for being used by a lot of writers,

66
00:02:54,449 --> 00:02:57,409
especially John Steinbeck
and Vladimir Nabokov.

67
00:02:57,433 --> 00:03:00,037
And then, you have
the Dixon pencil company.

68
00:03:00,061 --> 00:03:02,998
They're responsible
for the Dixon Ticonderoga.

69
00:03:03,022 --> 00:03:04,173
It's an icon,

70
00:03:04,197 --> 00:03:06,724
it's what people think of
when they think of a pencil

71
00:03:06,748 --> 00:03:09,171
and what they think of
when they think of school.

72
00:03:09,195 --> 00:03:11,409
And the pencil's really
a thing that, I think,

73
00:03:11,433 --> 00:03:13,910
the average user
has never thought twice about,

74
00:03:13,934 --> 00:03:16,079
how it's made or why it's made
the way it is,

75
00:03:16,103 --> 00:03:18,047
because it's just always been that way.

76
00:03:19,050 --> 00:03:21,284
In my opinion, there's nothing
that can be done

77
00:03:21,308 --> 00:03:23,172
to make the pencil better than it is.

78
00:03:24,267 --> 00:03:25,417
It's perfect.