20-Nov-2023 Musgrave Pencil, Rock City and Atlanta

I learned so much today!!!!!

I left Nashville and headed about 90 minutes south to see my friend Scott's company, Musgrave Pencil (see Scott with a couple of giant pencils below).

Have you ever thought about how pencils are made? I hadn't .... until today!

Musgrave Pencil has been operating in Shelbyville TN since 1916. Scotts wife's grandfather started the company and the rest ... is history! Although it takes 126 distinct steps to make a pencil, the basic processes this: a small piece of wood (originally it was cedar) gets 8 grooves cut into it. The graphite is laid into the grooves and a coat of glue is applied on top. A matching piece of wood wood with 8 grooves is laid on top and the two pieces are glued together with the graphite in the middle. Then a machine takes this graphite sandwich and carves half- round pencil shapes into the top half, flips the piece of wood, and when it cuts the other half round a pencil is the end product. See pictures below.

Musgrave pencil supplies all of Home Depot's Carpenter pencils so you'll see that they have several lines where the pencils get coated in Home Depot orange paint. Did you know that there are about five coats of paint on every pencil before the varnish layer? They also use a plastic film to apply various colors, sparkles and designs on pencils, and their newest venture is a special coating which has capsules of scent which gives their pencils s unique smell when you rub them (like scratch and sniff). Musgrave produces 72 million pencils per year which is more than a quarter million pencils every day. Wow!!!

Scott was kind enough to spend a couple hours with me to take me through their pencil factory and their new box factory – they realized a few years ago when they needed boxes for their pencils that they would be just as good making their own boxes rather than purchasing them so they now make custom boxes as well. What a super interesting morning!

After leaving Musgrave Pencil I headed south towards Atlanta. My friend Allison told me that Rock City in Chattanooga would be a great place to stop and stretch my legs – and it was! Rock City is a winding pathway through rock formations and over stone bridges and wiggly bridge walkways via storybook character themed areas. The view is stunning and you can see 7 states from the top of Lover's Leap.

I hopped back on the highway and headed south to Atlanta where I was warmly greeted by Brianna's family and her 2 adorable dogs, Teddy and Maverick. They made a special Middle Eastern dish called dolma for dinner - a grape leaf stuffed with beef and rice and spices and rolled and cooked in a tomato base. It's one of Brianna's favorite meals and is super time-consuming to make so her mom and Jason were kind enough to make it for us. Absolutely delicious!