Yielding Graphite From Limestone

I'd love to be able to go out in my backyard and to dig up some graphite, but alas, that will likely be fruitless.

It isn't that I need to find a large cache, but just enough to supply one pencil. I've learned that graphite can be found in the veins of metamorphic rocks. Particularly limestone deposits. I'm aware of some limestone here in Utah, in fact a contractor for applications of this type of rock are headquartered in my town of North Salt Lake.

Here's some free advertising for Hughes General Contractors, Inc.

Considering The Eraser

I think I need to get my hands on a rubber tree plant. Unfortunately, the only group I know of with the drive to move a rubber tree plant belongs to the ant species. There is a little thing I will refer to as the "rubber ceiling" preventing these ants from moving said rubber tree plant.

Help me out here. What am I to do?

How A Pencil Is Made

General Pencil Company provides the step-by-step instructions for the execution of my plan. The initial problems I see on the horizon include constructing an oven that can reach temperatures in excess of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. I will also need a drum for mixing clay and graphite, a wheel for grinding the mixture into a fine powder, and tubes (dare I say aluminum?) for shaping the rods.

It, however, says nothing about the eraser.

How Do They Get Lead In There?

Question 465 at Howstuffworks.com is "How do they get lead in a wooden pencil?" I'll be studying that intently over the next 21 Months.