Conté pencil
Graphite mixed with clay and fired – the 1795 method still used in almost every pencil.
The best graphite came from the Borrowdale mine in England. When France was at war with Britain in the 1790s, Nicolas-Jacques Conté developed a way of making leads from poorer graphite mixed with clay.
The method also made it possible to control how hard the leads were. It is still used, and the name Conté lives on in drawing crayons.
Materials: Graphite, clay and wood
Manufacture: Graphite powder was mixed with clay, formed into leads and fired in a kiln; more clay made a harder lead.
An even, round lead rather than a sawn piece of graphite.
Hardness grades, which later became H, B and HB.
Cedar or juniper wood; the hexagonal shape stops the pencil rolling.