GrafitBleistiftfabrik / Nürnberg

Pencil works / Nuremberg / since 1868

Nine Hto nine B.

Seventeen grades, one wood, one graphite, and a recipe we have changed twice in a hundred and fifty-eight years.

The scale
9H
8H
7H
6H
5H
4H
3H
2H
H
F
HB
B
2B
3B
4B
6B
9B

A pencil is clay and graphite in a ratio, wrapped in a wood that sharpens cleanly. Everything else — the lacquer, the ferrule, the name on the side — is decoration, and we would rather spend the money on the clay.

Grafit has made pencils on the Pegnitz since 1868. Eighty-one people work in the building, the extruder is two years old and the mill it feeds is from 1954.

Every grade is matched by hand against a reference card that lives in a drawer in the laboratory. When the recipe changed in 2007 it took eleven months to match all seventeen again.

17

Grades, 9H to 9B

1 100°

Firing temperature, °C

60 h

Milling, per batch

2

Recipe changes since 1868

Five lines

The year is when the line was introduced. None has ever been withdrawn.

  1. 01

    Zeichner

    The drawing pencil. Seventeen grades, hexagonal, unlacquered cedarSince 1868€ 2.40
  2. 02

    Kontor

    The office pencil. HB only, round, ochre lacquer, red-dipped endSince 1904€ 1.60
  3. 03

    Zimmermann

    The carpenter. Flat, 2H core, will not roll off a joistSince 1931€ 2.10
  4. 04

    Karton

    The layout pencil. Four grades, thick core, for people who draw fastSince 1978€ 3.20
  5. 05

    Neun

    The soft one. 9B only, 5.6 mm core, sold singly and in threesSince 2011€ 4.80

Four operations

Slats, core, glue, finish. Nine days from cedar board to a pencil in a sleeve.

I

Slats

Incense cedar, quarter-sawn, from one forest in California and no other. It is the only wood that sharpens without splintering and it has been the only wood since 1868.

II

Core

Graphite and clay, milled for sixty hours, extruded and fired at 1 100 °C. The ratio of clay to graphite is the grade, and it is the only thing that makes a 4H a 4H.

III

Glue and cut

Two slats, grooved, glued around the core under a tonne of pressure, then milled into hexagons. A pencil that has been rushed at this stage will break in the sharpener forever after.

IV

Finish

Eight coats on the lacquered lines and none at all on the Zeichner, because a drawing pencil should show its own grain and take a name stamped into the wood.

Dimensions, published

The whole specification. If a pencil of ours is out by more than a tenth, send it back.

  1. Core diameter2.0 mmZeichner, all gradesExtruded
  2. Core diameter2.2 mmKontor, ZimmermannExtruded
  3. Core diameter3.8 mmKartonExtruded
  4. Core diameter5.6 mmNeunExtruded
  5. Length175 mmAll lines except ZimmermannBefore sharpening
  6. Length245 mmZimmermannBefore sharpening
  7. SectionHexagon, 7.4 mmZeichner, Karton, NeunAcross flats
  8. SectionRound, 7.0 mmKontorDiameter
  9. SectionOval, 12 × 7 mmZimmermannAcross axes
  10. WoodIncense cedarAll linesFSC, single source
  11. Firing1 100 °CAll cores9 hours
  12. Milling60 hoursAll coresWet, ball mill

Nobody has ever asked us for a harder pencil. They ask for a blacker one, and then they buy an H.

Renate Föhr, laboratory

A hundred and fifty-eight years

Everything that changed. It is a short list on purpose.

  1. 1868Founded on the PegnitzSix workers, one water wheelZeichner, nine grades
  2. 1904Kontor introducedThe office pencil, ochre lacquerTwo lines
  3. 1919Grades extended to seventeenThe range as it stands todayTwo lines
  4. 1931Zimmermann introducedFor the building tradeThree lines
  5. 1954Recipe changed, first timeClay source moved to BavariaThree lines
  6. 1978Karton introducedFor studios and layout artistsFour lines
  7. 1993Lacquer changed to water-basedThe building smelled different for a yearFour lines
  8. 2007Recipe changed, second timeBinder reformulated, grades re-matched by handFour lines
  9. 2011Neun introducedOne grade, 5.6 mm, for charcoal refugeesFive lines
  10. 2024New extruderThe first machine replaced since 1978Five lines

The factory shop

Singly
Any grade, any line, over the counter or by post.
By the dozen
In the paper sleeve the factory has used since 1919.
Seconds
Cosmetic faults only, half price, Thursdays, no post.
Tours
Fridays at 14:00. Closed shoes. It is loud and it is dusty.

Orders, grades, complaints about a 6B

kern@grafit.example

Pegnitzstrasse 22, 90429 Nürnberg. The shop is open Tuesday to Friday; the works are shut for two weeks in August.