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Cal Cedar manufactures pencil slats to meet a wide range of customer requirements.
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Species:
 Incense-cedar is recognized around the world as the finest wood species available to manufacture pencils. Its reddish-brown color, fine grain and low resin content enable pencil makers to manufacture high quality pencils with a smooth surface that sharpen easily. Within the Incense-cedar category, we offer a choice of slats made under our traditional manufacturing process and separately, manufactured under the chain of custody requirements for FSC certification. Today, most artist-quality colored- and graphite pencils and cosmetic pencils are made from Incense-cedar.
 Ecoslat® brand slats are made customarily from Basswood, which enable the pencil manufacturer to balance the need to manufacture high-quality pencils at an economical price. The value offered by Ecoslat® is ideal for pencil brands targeted at mass markets with entry-level price requirements. The new Ecoslat® Basswood product line includes 7W "A" (73), 7W "B" (73), 7W "A" (71), 7W "B" (71), 6W Mix, 5W Mix, 4W Mix and 3W Mix. Click here for a more comprehensive description our Ecoslat® grading specifications and dimensional tolerances.
 ForestChoice brand slats are the first slats in North America to be manufactured from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified Incense-cedar. With ForestChoice, you get the best in quality and the extra assurance that the wood in your pencil originated in an independently certified managed forest.
Special Sizes and Cosmetic Slats
Longer and/or thicker than the traditional slats, Cal Cedar Special slats are used to produce oversize pencils, cosmetic pencils, carpenter pencils, golf pencils, advertising pencils, and other novelty pencils. Specials can be ordered in lengths from 117mm to 305mm, and in thickness from 4.3mm to 13.2mm.
Grades:
Cal Cedar manufactures slats in a wide variety of grades to suit customer requirements. Traditionally, we offered our 7 ply slats in grades 1 through 5, with 1st quality as the top grade. Responding to the evolving quality and price requirements of our diverse customer base, we now offer products that are either an individual grade, such as 7W1 and a combination of traditional grades. For instance, our 7W Select grade combines 2nd and 3rd quality slats and our 7W Industrial grade combines 2nd, 3rd and 4th quality slats at a more economical price than 7W Select.
Cal Cedar slats are graded on the following criteria: grain width, grain angle, grain curvature, pitch pocket, burl(bird's eye), short grain, flower grain and longitudinal warp.
Moisture Content:
Wood slats absorb and release moisture in the form of water vapor in conjunction with changes in the temperature and relative humidity of the environment in which they are stored. If the moisture content of slats are not at equilibrium just prior to use, two slats glued together into a sandwich may absorb or release moisture differently, causing warped, or "banana" pencils. To allow slats to achieve moisture equilibrium, Cal Cedar recommends that its slats be stored in the same conditions as the manufacturer's facility for at least two weeks prior to use.
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