People often wonder — how is America’s pencil made? Well, we are here to provide all the knitty-gritty details behind the making of USA Gold pencils.
We start with high-quality, incense cedar wood harvested right here in the USA. Why cedar you ask? Cedar is widely recognized as the finest wood species available for manufacturing pencils. Its reddish-brown color, fine grain and low resin content allow us to manufacture pencils with a smooth surface that sharpen easily and evenly. You will find that most artist-quality colored and graphite pencils are made from Incense Cedar. Did we mention that the manufacturing magic happens at our factory right here in Lewisburg, Tennessee? Over the last 50+ years, we have earned the reputation of being the largest and finest pencil manufacturer in the USA and we are mighty proud of it!
Here is the breakdown of how our pencils our made. It’s really quite an interesting 10 step process:
1. Incense Cedar logs are cut into pencil blocks.
2. Pencil blocks are cut into pencil slats.
3. Pencil slats are treated with wax and stain.
4. A machine cuts grooves into the slats to accept the writing core.
5. The writing core – made from a mixture of graphite and clay – is placed into the grooves.
6. A second grooved slat is glued on to the first, making a 'slat sandwich'.
7. The slat sandwich is machined into the pencil shape.
8. Individual pencils are cut from the sandwich and are sanded down for smoothness.
9. Each pencil is painted. Then, a recess is cut to accept the ferrule (the metal ring that holds the eraser to the pencil).
10. A ferrule and eraser are crimped into place on each pencil.
That’s how America’s Favorite USA made #2 pencil is made!