Extremely epic video shows how pencils are made

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/16/extremely-epic-video-shows-how.html

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For all of the automation, there sure is a lot of human intervention.

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God bless unions.

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For literal pencil pushers.

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I missed the part where they installed the DRM chip… is that in the eraser assembly?

Clearly, they need to restrict use to Faber-Castell paper… otherwise who knows what kind of unauthorized use might occur!

[Lovely video… and great pencils!]

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Wow, I had no idea making pencils was so dramatic!

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When the thing came up about “drying” the formed graphite and the bloke puts it into some kind of oven, I whispered to myself…

it’s raw.

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It might just be e, but I found this to be a bit too… frantic? I would have loved an extra few seconds on each of those clips to get a better chance to see what’s happening. It felt like it was rushing me thru the process, rather than showing it off.

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At least it’s a brand you could actually mark a paper Scantron sheet with.

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“I only use organic small-batch raw artisinal graphite”
– Hipster millenial art student in 2019

edit: those same art students would only watch the Georgian version, cause that is a damn fine script საქართველო: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkL4QhTU3AI

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It’s a very graphic video.

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That was pretty cool. Answered a few questions I have pondered back in the day, sitting in class, pencil gazing.

ETA: I agree the epic-ness is a bit extreme but I much prefer this to a video with some middle manager awkwardly talking us through the process with some non-epic non-b-roll videos inserted. Maybe just a change of music. I just turned it down and enjoyed the process.

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Could use a better soundtrack…and Jonathan Winters

I remember watching this back in the day.

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Interesting family history btw. Apart from the pencil company they produce wine and own Bavarias oldest bank.

There is a recent feature film about Ottilie von Faber-Castell titled “Ottilie von Faber-Castell - A brave woman”

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Dammit, now I want to go buy pencils!

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Drink & Draw sessions!

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Not a single left handed person in that video. I feel that something very unsinister is going on.

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I feel like I should be more careful now whenever I sharpen a pencil. :pencil2:

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There’s a lot more detail on the same factory in the ‘Pencils’ episode of ‘Inside The Factory’.