By the late 1700s, French pencil manufacturers were happily paying to import high-quality Borrowdale graphite. But then war broke out, and England's government sensibly decided not to make it easy ...

A batch of graphite has just been delivered to this pencil factory in Germany. Once it’s been thoroughly mixed with clay, it’s ready to go into production, with around 550 pounds of the stuff ...

Best graphite pencils: Staedtler Pencil Mars Lumograph ... basic Crayola ones you used in elementary school. — they're high-quality, soft lead pencils with rich colors. You can create ...