Pencils weren’t always hexagonal. Several practical reasons explain how the six-sided shape won out.
‘When pencils were made by hand, they were smooth,’ said Caroline Weaver, owner of a pencil shop. She explained there wasn’t an easy way to mass-produce them then, but Americans mechanized the craft. Many consider Joseph Dixon one of the first to develop machines for pencil manufacturing—machines for cutting wooden slats, carving grooves in the wood, and applying glue.
Smooth pencils still exist today, as do triangular and square ‘carpenter’s’ pencils. But hexagonal pencils dominate the market and are the most common, according to IFLScience.
Why Are Hexagonal Pencils Preferred?
It turns out that the preference primarily comes down to ergonomics, production costs, and practicality.
Pencil manufacturers realized that ‘it’s simpler and less wasteful to make a hexagonal pencil, which is why it became the standard,’ Weaver added.
Charles Berolzheimer, CEO of a pencil company, agreed. ‘Using a hexagonal shape lets you get an extra pencil from a standard-width slat: from a typical slat you can make eight round pencils but nine hexagonal ones,’ Berolzheimer explained.
There are other reasons as well. The hexagonal form fits the human hand well. It’s versatile and comfortable to use, and the flat faces create defined edges that allow for a firmer grip in any position.
Hexagonal pencils also don’t roll off tables as easily as smooth, round pencils do; the flat sides help stabilize them.
In short, pencils are usually hexagonal because they’re cheaper to produce, easier to hold, less likely to roll off a table, and they work well with modern sharpeners.
