http://dixoncsp.stores.yahoo.net/myfirtic.html
http://dixoncsp.stores.yahoo.net/dobepesh.html
With a good sharpener, round pencils are better than flat for scribing, but they break like straws. This pencil is twice as fat as an ordinary pencil and the big fat lead doesn’t break back up inside the body of the pencil when you’re sharpening it.
My local Lowe’s mega- grocery store was doing a special on these things with a package of 4 pencils with a dual purpose sharpener. I’ve been buying them out and they keep re-stocking. Not that I need that many pencils… these things last forever.
The sharpener is good enough for trim work and the lead is fat enough to leave a legible line on green treated wood.
Replies
Yeah, but when you set them down they roll away.
Sometimes they roll back . In any case, that's one thing that tool belts and pockets are good for.
Edited 5/10/2008 9:46 pm ET by Huplescat
Someone's supposed to say that it wouldn't roll if the damn floor was level.
What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. --Bertrand Russell
>Someone's supposed to say that it wouldn't roll if the damn floor was level.<Brownbagg.....How come the floor isnt level?????? ;)Where there's a will, there are 500 relatives
Probably because the CC finishers weren't doing their friggin jobs!
Sure, blame it on them. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
Where there's a will, there are 500 relatives
or the ear.... above - not in View Image View Image
Got no ears?
Thank you, thank you !!
I opened this thread intending to say that the best carpenter's pencil, ever, was round pencils that I got at "Salmon Bay, Sand and Gravel Company", in Ballard, Wa... Many years ago.
I have actually been back to there, looking for more of the pencils, and all they have had for years now, are the flat ones.
"My first Ticonderoga" looks like it may be a real replacement.
I hate those flat things.
I use them, because that's all I have now. But I really prefer the fat round ones.
BTW: They make excellent pencils for drawing, as well. That's why I no longer have any of them. I used them all up, years ago, when I was drawing a lot.
Politics: the blind insulting the blind.
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
The plumbers carry them, and in fact the plumbing supply houses hand them out. I agree with DanH that they roll away when you set them down. I prefer a carpenter's pencil sharpened with a knife so that it is faceted. This allows for precise alignment when drawing straight lines with a level, for example.
We mainly do bathrooms and kitchens which means (probably) more finish work than rough work. I had a helper for a while (actually really talented) that used a carpenters pencil during finish. I just never thought you could get really acurate line marking with a 2x4 in your hand.
I just do finish work, and I prefer big honkin carpenters pencils.I do keep very fine points on them.
Considering how often I have to resharpen a regular pencil, I cant say I blame you. It just seems awkward to me.
I start each day with "whittle fest"--sharpen about half a dozen carp pencils--then repeat at lunch or on breaks.I find them versatile, good for crude or fine work...if you put a fine point on them. They just work better for my hands and the way I hold pencils. They fit the reveal marking slot, on the Trimloc by Benchdog, better than normal pencils--that is a gadget I use often, so the carp pencils are for me.I tried to use mechanical pencils, never could get used to them, though I tried. Broke too many leads...just too heavy handed.
I could never understand why they would give K thru 1st graders the big, fat pencils. I mean, their hands are tiny...duh!
And most kids will have used pencils way before they enter school. Regular pencils. Then they get to school, and are handed a 2 x 4 to write with. It just never made any sense to me.
That said, they do look like cool pencils for us grown-ups.
Not sure if I will ever get it right, but I will continue to roll that marble around my pea-brain until I figure it out.
Got one like this?
View ImageSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
I'm fond of mechanical pencils - 0.5 mm for fine work, 1.0mm for rougher work. Works pretty well, and you can buy a bunch for pretty cheap, and refill 'em.
fixpencil, 3mm lead.
[email protected]
i am actually sitting outside and i can smell the ticonderoga paper mill.
Every day is a gift, that's why it's called the present.
I remember those pencils from the first grade. I think the fatter design was because kids supposedly dont have the motor skills to handle a regular pencil.
Of course not -- that's why they can't get a driver's license until they're 16.
What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. --Bertrand Russell
"I think the fatter design was because kids supposedly dont have the motor skills to handle a regular pencil."If that's the case, I'd guess the carps who framed my house must have been using them.
BruceT
LOL Not sure who framed your house. I was only relating my take of the old kindergardin pencils.
My favorite--- great lines, ergonomics, and it doesn't roll.
https://www.dixonusa.com/index.cfm/fuseaction=shop.product/prdIndex=281
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
Love those pencils. Economy Lumber gives them away around here, that's enough to take my business away from Depot.
Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
"Love those pencils. Economy Lumber gives them away around here, that's enough to take my business away from Depot."It's almost beyond me why the BB's don't give away carp. pencils (free advertising). Well, probably because they can easily sell them to some homeowner who doesn't know better.If any carp. that I work with shows up with pencils (or a 5 gal. bucket) that they actually PURCHASED, I give 'em a rash of shid and ask "why didn't you come to me first?" :o)Also, every lumber package we order includes a "make sure to send out a few handfuls of pencils" reminder.
Edited 5/11/2008 3:59 pm by kenhill3
Kenhill3,
Our local HD give away carpenters pencils.
Not like the ones they sell.
Russell
"Welcome to my world"
Thanks so much!! My installer and I were just complaining that we couldn't find anything but rectangular carp pencils!
He marks the wall and trim, I need something that will write on OSB sub-floor without breaking, so we're glad to have the resource!
I got two of these pencils when I bought a drafting kit in college and I've been using them ever since. Awesome pencils. I do remodeling and repair work.
http://www.business-supply.com/mars-technico-lead-holder-2mm-lead-blue_STD780C_product.html?src=bizrate
View Image
Push button cap so the lead can be extended out for tight clearances, built-in sharpener in the push button, good grip and won't roll. I clip it inside my pocket and it almost always stays there.
"I wanna be a race car passenger. You know, the guy that bugs the driver. Say, man, can I stick my feet out the window? Do we have to keep going in circles? Mind if I turn on the radio? Boy, you really like Tide."
The pencil I like better than the kind in the OP.But... They break very easily. I mean the pencil itself, not the lead.And they are quite expensive to replace.
Politics: the blind insulting the blind.
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
I use flat pencils exclusively, even for finish work and woodworking. I write letters with a flat pencil. If they didn't make flat pencils, I'd invent one. I'm typing this reply with a flat pencils.
Flat pencils rock.
Round pencils roll.--------------------------------------------------------
Cheap Tools at MyToolbox.netSee some of my work at AWorkOfWood.com
did we ever figure out how to "correctly" sharpen a flat carpenter's pencil???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Correct way is with a low angle block plane, but a knife works well, or an angle grinder, or hold it against a spinning skilsaw, a few swipes with a surform does the trick, a beltsander works ok, but those carpenter pencil sharpeners are just all wrong.
then using the router with a V bit is all wrong too then???
can I continue to use the shaper???
how about the thinkness planer in a pinch???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I like to use the jointer myself, till they get down to a nub. The sharpeners put a little tiny point on the pencil that's useless. But if you like little tiny points they work too.
ummmmmmmmmmmmmm....
what sharpeners???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6571480-0-large.jpg
http://www.toolbarn.com/product/keson/CP2/
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
someday I might get brave and go back to using a razor knief..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I thought you used your Bosch concrete grinder?
There are two kinds of people who never amount to much:those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.
hadn't tried that one yet....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Then you should stop putting them in your back pocket before sitting down!!!
Seriously, I can easily get a year out of one, and for five bucks that's not a bad deal. I clip them to an inside pocket on my main tool bag at the end of the day, upright and out of the way of things that might crush it.
Maybe you use them to set nails?
Mike"I wanna be a race car passenger. You know, the guy that bugs the driver. Say, man, can I stick my feet out the window? Do we have to keep going in circles? Mind if I turn on the radio? Boy, you really like Tide."
I've broken a couple because I forgot they were in my back pocket, and sat down.But most have broken while in a chest pocket.And some while laying on the bench top.Doesn't take much. Lean into a load of lumber that you are trying to push out of the way. Etc...And the cheapos start at 13 dollars out here on the west coast.Just a bit too much to be risking on the jobsite for a pencil, when the round ones are a quarter to 40 cents apiece.
Politics: the blind insulting the blind.
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
I love those. been using them for years. the lead doesn't break easily and I don't loose them as easily either.
"it aint the work I mind,
It's the feeling of falling further behind."
Bozini Latini
http://www.ingrainedwoodworking.com