The formation of carbon nanostructures during high - energy milling has been studied. The mechanochemical synthesis was conducted in a shaker mill in air atmosphere. Homogeneous mixtures of graphite powder and soot were mechanically alloyed. From these mixtures highly curved carbon nanostructures (HCCNs) with a typical diameter of between 4 and 10 nm and lengths of 20 nm were formed. Many of the synthesized nanostructures were perfect, rooted in a graphite island and can be easily characterized with a HREM.