A few days ago, Funny or Die posted an awesomely hilarious video titled “Never Make Your Own Pencils.” The video is “a cautionary tale about pencil making” that tells the tragic story of a man who sets out to make his own pencils. I mean, how hard can it be, right? Very hard, as it turns out. If you don’t believe us, check out our pencil making today video and see for yourself.

Despite the obvious comedic nature of the video, there are some facts it gets right, and some facts it gets dead wrong. Here are five interesting facts that can be gleaned from the “Never Make Your Own Pencils” video.

Pencil Facts from “Never Make Your Own Pencils”

Fact #1: Pencils Aren’t Filled With Lead

“Everybody knows that!” Actually, many people still believe that pencils are filled with lead, not the mixture of graphite and clay that is at the heart of every pencil. The video gets this fact right over and over again, drilling it into the viewer’s head.

Fact #2: A Pencil is  Sandwich

Speaking of drills, one scene shows our would-be pencil maker attempting to drill a hole into a piece of wood so that he can pour his graphite mixture into his pencil. Pencils are actually sandwiches made up of a stick of graphic sandwiched in between two pieces of wood. Pencils have been made this way for centuries, and the video makes it easy to see why.

Fact #3: Not All Pencils Have Erasers

Towards the end of the video, our pencil maker is mocked because his pencil doesn’t have an eraser. “I think pencils have erasers, my man.” In reality, not all pencils have erasers, and it wasn’t until March 30, 1858, when Hymen Lipman patented the first pencil with an attached eraser, that a pencil was available with an eraser and ferrule assembly.

Fact #4: Pencils Are Cut to Length Before They’re Finished

During his quest to make his own pencil, the video’s protagonist is shown sawing frantically at his near-finished pencil, trying to cut it to length. Pencils are cut within a few centimeters of their finished length during the first step of the pencil making process to avoid this issue, a bit of knowledge that would have served our pencil maker well.

Fact #5: Pencil Making is Hard!

Even though the video exaggerates the pains of pencil making for comedic effect, pencil making really is hard work. Check out the 10 Steps in the Pencil Making Process and watch our How a Pencil is Made Video to see just how involved it really is.

[divider]

In the end, the video gets its message across: don’t try to make your own pencils. Just head on over to Pencils.com.