World's biggest pencil now in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The world's largest pencil joins the Gateway Arch and the Bowling Museum as a St. Louis attraction.

The 22,000-pound, 76-foot-long pencil was transported Monday from Queens, New York, to the City Museum in St. Louis. Ashrita Furman cut the pencil in two for the trip. Artisans at the museum will reattach the sections.

The pencil includes a 250-pound eraser. The lead is 4,000 pounds of Pennsylvania graphite. It has the exterior of a typical yellow No. 2 pencil.

Furman and about 50 friends spent $20,000 to build the pencil in August as a birthday gift to their now deceased meditation instructor.

Furman claims he has set 177 Guinness records in his lifetime and currently holds 72. Among them: The world record for world records.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com