Sometime between 1500 and 1565 a large graphite deposit was discovered in Cumbria, England. Because the graphite was extremely pure and solid it could easily be sawed into sticks. The graphite was ...

But black marketers managed to smuggle out the graphite for continued use in pencils. Artists from all over the known world quickly learned to appreciate the qualities of Cumbria's graphite but it ...

For simplicity, I tend to use a #2 graphite pencil for most of my deep-sky drawings. After all, a pencil and paper are all that’s really needed to record an observation. Is a minimalist approach the ...

From sticks of graphite wrapped in string to mechanical pencils made of gold, centuries of innovation went into crafting the perfect writing utensil. The pencil isn't just for the SATs. It is the ...

A class of fifth-graders from Green Acres Elementary in Lebanon, Ore., asked us to find out how pencil lead is made. That quest took us all the way back to the dawn of the universe and then all the ...

The Graphite Pencil was discovered before 1565, when a deposit of graphite was discovered near Grey Knotts of Seathwaite in Cumbria, England. The locals being traditional farmers found that it was ...