The Italians first thought of wooden holders. In 1560, an Italian couple named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti created the first blueprints for the modern carpentry pencil to mark their carpentry pieces. Their version was instead a flat, oval, more compact type of pencil. They did this at first by hollowing out a stick of juniper wood. Shortly thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were carved, a graphite stick inserted, and the two halves then glued together–essentially the same method in use to this day. 