diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index a75c2df..687af65 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 {{$NEXT}}
+    - Delegate font encoding and hyphen processing from
+      text boxes to text style.
 
 0.8.14  2024-12-24T07:43:50+13:00
     - Handle partial and multiple space characters:
diff --git a/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Box.rakumod b/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Box.rakumod
index 8fb881a..d46a500 100644
--- a/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Box.rakumod
+++ b/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Box.rakumod
@@ -184,36 +184,6 @@ multi submethod TWEAK(:@chunks!, :$!text = @chunks».Str.join, |c) {
     self!layup: @chunks;
 }
 
-method !encode(Str:D $atom) {
-    my List $encoded;
-    my Numeric $width;
-    my Bool $shape := $!style.shape;
-    my Bool $kern = $!style.kern;
-    $kern //= True if $shape;
-    if $shape || $.script || $.lang {
-        given $.font.shape($atom, :$kern, :$.script, :$.lang) {
-            $encoded := .[0];
-            $width = .[1];
-        }
-    }
-    elsif $kern {
-        given $.font.kern($atom) {
-            $encoded := .List given .[0].list.map: {
-                .does(Numeric) ?? -$_ !! $.font.encode($_);
-            }
-            $width = .[1];
-        }
-    }
-    else {
-        $encoded := ( $.font.encode($atom), );
-        $width = $.font.stringwidth($atom);
-    }
-    $width *= $!style.font-size * $.HorizScaling / 100000;
-    $width += ($atom.chars - 1) * $.CharSpacing
-        if $.CharSpacing > -$!style.font-size;
-    ($encoded, $width);
-}
-
 method !layup(@atoms is copy) {
     my Int $i = 0;
     my Int $line-start = 0;
@@ -222,16 +192,11 @@ method !layup(@atoms is copy) {
     my Numeric $preceding-spaces = self!flush-spaces: $em-spaces, @atoms, $i;
     my $word-gap := self!word-gap;
     my $height := $!style.font-size;
-    my Numeric $hyphen-width;
     my Bool $prev-soft-hyphen;
 
     my PDF::Content::Text::Line $line .= new: :$word-gap, :$height, :$!indent;
     @!lines = $line;
 
-    sub hyphen-width {
-        $hyphen-width //= self!encode("\c[HYPHEN]")[1] || self!encode("\c[HYPHEN-MINUS]")[1];
-    }
-
     LAYUP: while $i < $n {
         my subset StrOrImage where Str | PDF::Content::XObject;
         my StrOrImage $atom = @atoms[$i++];
@@ -244,21 +209,24 @@ method !layup(@atoms is copy) {
 
         given $atom {
             when Str {
+                my $enc;
                 if $atom eq "\c[HYPHENATION POINT]" {
-                    $atom = '-';
+                    $atom = $!style.hyphen;
+                    $enc  = $!style.hyphen-encoding;
+                    $word-width = $!style.hyphen-width;
                     $soft-hyphen = True;
                 }
-                elsif $!verbatim && +.match("\n", :g) -> UInt $nl {
-                    # todo: handle tabs
-                    $line-breaks = $nl;
-                    $atom = ' ' x $preceding-spaces;
-                    $word-pad = 0;
-                }
-
-                given self!encode($atom) {
-                    $word = .[0];
-                    $word-width = .[1];
+                else {
+                    if $!verbatim && +.match("\n", :g) -> UInt $nl {
+                        # todo: handle tabs
+                        $line-breaks = $nl;
+                        $atom = ' ' x $preceding-spaces;
+                        $word-pad = 0;
+                    }
+                    $enc = $!style.encode: $atom;
                 }
+                $word = $enc[0];
+                $word-width = $enc[1];
             }
             when PDF::Content::XObject {
                 $xobject = True;
@@ -269,7 +237,7 @@ method !layup(@atoms is copy) {
 
         if $!width && !$line-breaks && ($line.encoded || $line.indent) {
             my $test-width = $line.content-width + $word-pad + $word-width;
-            $test-width += hyphen-width()
+            $test-width += $!style.hyphen-width
                 if @atoms[$i] ~~ "\c[HYPHENATION POINT]";
 
             $line-breaks = $test-width > $!width
@@ -308,7 +276,7 @@ method !layup(@atoms is copy) {
         if $prev-soft-hyphen {
             # Drop soft hyphen when line is continued
             $line.encoded.pop;
-            $line.word-width -= hyphen-width();
+            $line.word-width -= $!style.hyphen-width;
         }
         $line.spaces[+$line.encoded] = $preceding-spaces;
         $line.decoded.push: $xobject ?? '' !! $atom;
diff --git a/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Style.rakumod b/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Style.rakumod
index 8e4b0e6..03a1b71 100644
--- a/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Style.rakumod
+++ b/lib/PDF/Content/Text/Style.rakumod
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ has Str     $.lang;
 has Numeric $!space-width = 300;
 has $!units-per-EM = 1000;
 has TextDirection $.direction = 'ltr';
+has Str $!hypen;
+has List $!hypen-encode;
 
 # directly mapped to graphics state
 has Numeric $.WordSpacing  is built;
@@ -90,3 +92,55 @@ method font-height(|c) {
     $!font.height: $!font-size, |c;
 }
 
+method encode(Str:D $atom) {
+    my List $encoded;
+    my Numeric $width;
+    if $.shape || $.script || $.lang {
+        my Bool $kern = $.kern || $.shape;
+        given $!font.shape($atom, :$kern, :$.script, :$.lang) {
+            $encoded := .[0];
+            $width = .[1];
+        }
+    }
+    elsif $.kern {
+        given $!font.kern($atom) {
+            $encoded := .List given .[0].list.map: {
+                .does(Numeric) ?? -$_ !! $!font.encode($_);
+            }
+            $width = .[1];
+        }
+    }
+    else {
+        $encoded := ( $!font.encode($atom), );
+        $width = $!font.stringwidth($atom);
+    }
+    $width *= $!font-size * $.HorizScaling / 100000;
+    $width += ($atom.chars - 1) * $.CharSpacing
+        if $.CharSpacing > -$!font-size;
+    ($encoded, $width);
+}
+
+has Str $!hyphen;
+has List $!hyphen-encoding;
+
+method !hyphen-init {
+    $!hyphen = "\c[HYPHEN]";
+    $!hyphen-encoding = self.encode: $!hyphen;
+    unless $!hyphen-encoding[1] {
+        $!hyphen = "\c[HYPHEN-MINUS]";
+        $!hyphen-encoding = self.encode: $!hyphen;
+    }
+}
+
+method hyphen {
+    self!hyphen-init without $!hyphen;
+    $!hypen;
+}
+
+method hyphen-encoding {
+    self!hyphen-init without $!hyphen;
+    $!hyphen-encoding;
+}
+
+method hyphen-width { self.hyphen-encoding[1] }
+