Where do you put your pencil?
Bill_from_Fort_Erie
| Posted in General Discussion on
OK…
This is probably the dumbest question posted here in weeks, but I’ve been looking for an answer to this for decades.
Where does a guy like me, who wears glasses, keep his pencil? My crew and colleagues can so easily store their pencils behind their ears, but I can’t, because of my glasses. The damn thing just falls out!
I waste 30 minutes a day fumbling through my pockets searching for my pencil.
Is there some pencil trick for the “visually challenged” that I’ve missed out on for 50 years?
Bill
Replies
Yep, get a bunch of them. Then sharpen 'em up and put a couple everywhere you can think off. Pockets, toolboxes, buckets shelves velcro to saw, tool cases, dashboards, gloveboxes you name it. Even then after a bit they still won't be readily available always but it'll cut down on the hunt a lot.
Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.
We're going on.
In my teeth.........in my front jean pocket......in the pencil pouch on the coveralls
arm..........or
you can wrap/bunch a small rubberband around it and it'll tuck in your ear and stay there.
For most simple cutoff markings on lumber, I use the utility knife that rides in a holster on my belt….more accurate than a pencil.
I wear shirts with a pocket and use a pencil clip on a regular yellow #2. They also keep the pencil in the slots of a tool pouch. I can still find the pencil clips but the new ones don't have the larger, smoother, ball at the tip that the old ones had. I have yet to find new ones that a half as good as the old ones and I'm down to my last half dozen otherwise I would send you a few. The cheapies are available at a good office supply house. If you find the really good ones with a smooth ball drop me a line.
Thanks for the input.
The pencil clip would work.
The newer (cheaper) style is really annoying because I have to pry it open before I can get it over the pocket flap
I know exactly the old style of clip you're describing. I'm in Canada...maybe they're still available here. I'll check the local stationary store this afternoon.
Hey 4lorn1
My BIL gave me a pocket protector for a Christmas gag gift, but it had a url listed so I looked them up. They have the pencil clips you like, at least the picture shows the old style. Look here http://www.baumgartens.com/product/grips.htm its Item #67952 $29 for 100. Let me know if they are really the old style if you find out. I bet they are the new ones, but maybe not. And they list the pocket protectors too.
Thanks for the lead. I'll call them and check them out.
Well, I can tell you dont wear overalls. I agree with the pencil clips for shirt pockets . Other wise they fall out too often unless you buy work shirts with the small pencil pocket. Overalls are the ticket for for the eye challenged carpenter. Big Smith overalls and work shirts all have pencil pockets. Of course the bigger pockets carry a calulator , and a note pad. The other pencil pocket carrys a pen.
Tim Mooney
In my shirt pocket or if im in the shop I keep one on the TS fence and another one on the desk and some on the work bench
At Darkworks cut to size made to burn......Putty isnt a option
I usually wear a cap when I'm working, and I just stick it under the band near my right temple, but I don't wear glasses so I don't know if they would cause trouble. I thought about hanging one around my neck, but having something dangling from your throat when your working with power tools seems like a bad idea. I tried using a retractable key chain belt clip, but they were all too short...
Then I realized that when I work in my shop I wear a waist apron and it has two pencil pockets, and oddly enough I never loose my pencil, (#9 lead mechanical)
I'm working on a new work belt that will have pencil pockets in the same place, we'll see. Justus Koshiol
Running Pug Construction
I kinda like the suggestion Rez made - Lay enough of them around, and there's bound to be one around somewhere when you need it.
OTOH - Doesn't your tool belt have a spot for pencils? Seems like all the tool belts I've used has at least one or 2 slots for them.
If there aren't slots in your tool belt, how about your hip pocket? They won't break too often if you don't shove 'em down all the way.
The only other idea that comes to mind is to grow some more hair, so the pencils will stay behind your ear.........(-:
By the time you read this you've already read it.
A carpenter pencil is safe in an apron where a number two is not . I dont like wearing an apron every minute as it gets in the way . Maybe Im more responseble for the getting in the way ,... Now Im confused .
Tim Mooney
Thanks Boss....I was begining to think I was the only carpenter on the planet still wearing a tool belt!J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
I usually don't where a belt or an apron.
I know they're handy, and would solve the pencil problem, but I can't stand all that stuff hanging off me.
They're also tough to deal with in the cold weather, when I'm all bundled up.
Not sure who makes it, but just saw in a tool catalog a pencil and tape holder. I believe it has a flap that you stick in your pants pocket. If your interested I can look through my catalogs and find out the who and where.
Scott R.
Is this what you were thinking about?
http://duluthtrading.com/a/shop/dproduct.asp?UID=2002111816051271&GEN0=&GEN1=&T1=54045&c=&s=Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?
Boss- Actually I was thinking about the one made by Occidental Leather in the same catalog. (I was mistaken about it being a tape holder too).
Scott R.
WEll , I gues this tells me that Big Smith overalls arent popular !
Tim Mooney
"I gues this tells me that Big Smith overalls arent popular"
I prefer Osh Kosh, but they quit makin' the dang things. I wear either "Real Work" brand or Carharts now.Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. [Abraham Lincoln]
Thanks for the ideas.
Most of my work is on-site, and I do drop pencils where I think I'll need them. I go through 5-6 pencils a day this way, and am still always searching.
As for growing more hair....I wish I could! At my age, the only place I seem to grow hair is in my ears, not around them.
My son suggested I stick the pencil, point first, directly into my ear....the implication being my hairy ears would hold it firmly in place. I told him where to "stick" his idea.
I wear glasses, and I put my pencil up between the frame leg and my temple. holds it there great except for when it sticks out too far and it gets caught on something, then the pencil *and* the glasses fly. This doesn't happen very often though. On aggravating days I have one in each side(I'm ambidextrious). That's a "two pencil day" which is followed by at least two of my favorite relaxant after work. The only problem other than catching the pencil on something, is that I can only use them down to about 4", then they're too small to grab without pulling some hair along with it. I keep bundle of 4" pencils around for the helpers. Just another perk of working in my shop :^}
This works! I've though about it before, but never really tried it.
Seems easier to insert the pencil behind the temple point first...or do you stick it in from behind your ear? (Point-first leaves a nice carbon smudge in front of my ear. I also wouldn't want to miss the target and stab myself....being the klutz that I am.)
Point first, and your aim gets better pretty quick. To me it's second nature, there's always a pencil there.
...and keep that little 2inch long pencil in a special place you know it will always be for those times you've got to get a line when you're in a tight cramped position.
Let the thunder crack and the waves roar.
We're going on.
Is a hat out of the question?
Hmm, hat with a pencil slot, that should be a money maker.
Epoxy a magnet to your glasses and use a metal pencil?
Ha, headband with magnets. Just be sure to alternate the side you wear the magnet on so you don't end up walking around in circles.
hat with a pencil slot
Hey, I'd buy that if I were still in the trades or ever got around to DIY stuff! I wear glasses, and always wore a baseball cap to contain my hair and secure a pencil. Not sure how good that would work now that goggles are used when cutting tile.
i always keep a pencil in the outside low pocket on the right side of my carhartts. i know they are kind of a cliche but having those extra pockets (pants and shorts) are worth it. i always have a pencil and a knife right where i can get at them. they're also great for electrical work. you can keep cutter, stripper, knife, screwdriver, etc all in different pockets and get into a good rhythm doing repetitive work. if you're a lefty you're kinda screwed though, carhartts are basically right-handed.
" if you're a lefty you're kinda screwed though, carhartts are basically right-handed."
I dont think I ever will get over that !
Tim Mooney
Bill .... Had a similar problem with a flat carpenters pencil getting to short to get out of my nail bag , especially in winter with gloves and foul weather gear on . Itook a piece of clear plastic tubing about 6 or 8 inches long and pushed over the end of the pencil about 3/4 of an inch it works like a pistol grip on a hand gun and you never had to feel around for it and if it snaged on something it would just bend over no problem. Needed a new pencil in the shop and used the same method and put the pencil in my front levis pocket never loose it never have to look for it but I do get some strange looks until others try it.
I do a similar thing with a chunk of 3/4" rubber hose about 4" long. I can use my carp. pencils till they're down to about 2 1/2" long. The shorties end up at the bottom of my bags and then become shims in their final incarnation.
Ken Hill
If you wear a hat and if that hat is adjustable (lot of if's but....) tuck the pencil through the space and under the adjustment band.
...if I had a hammer... oh, wait; I have a hammer... if I had a bigger hammer:))
Personally I use a 9 mm mechanical with a clip but Lee Valley tools has an innovative magnetic solution
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=41710&category=1,42363,42356&abspage=1&ccurrency=1&SID=
Sure, every time I come up with a surefire get rich quick idea someone has already thought about it.
Was I born too late? I know I was born at night, but it wasn't late night...
Rez is on target with buy a bunch sharpen both ends and put them in your tool box or salt them around the job.
Where I keep them is at the table saw, next to the tape measures that fall into the same category. In fact buying lots of utility knives is a good practice too. It just seems the tablesaw or work area is where they gravitate to. Wherever you cut or shape is where the measuring instrument and marking implement stay.
I love the suggestions. The apron is a bad spot though. I always try to give myself a 2nd belly button when I put the pencil in the center pocket.
50yrs. is an awful long time to search for a pencil holder!
I always wear a hat so the dull edge fits nicely under the hat back by my ear and its easy to reach, if Im not wearing a hat for some reason, I also wear glasses, the back pocket of my jeans, just dont sit down to fast
Have worn glasses for years, always have a pencil behind the ear. You must have those clunky old-man glasses, or else I have big ears.
I'm an old man, but don't wear "clunky old man glasses". The damn pencil still falls out, so it must be my ears.
Why do your ears work? Are you a Vulcan?
I'm considering Velcro implants behind my ears.Bill McCormack
Fort Erie, Ontario CANADA
Not Vulcan, but they are pointy on top. I have always had hair cut to conceal this. An investigation reveals that the tops of my ears are curled in toward head. Must be generations of evolution at work. I come from a long line of pencil-behind-the-ear-tradesmen.
I like the metal pencil clip. Normally, I unbutton the top 2 buttons on my work shirt and clip the pencil inside. Its easier for me to clip it here than inside the actual shirt pocket. I have on many occaisions clipped the pencil directly to the front of my chest when only wearing a T shirt. It always held.
I also clip it to the front of my tool belt suspenders; alongside my beeper that I normally clip on as well. Everytime I slip a pencil in my tool belt screwdriver pouch, it breaks off when I bend over, so I don't keep pencils sticking out of my tool pouch any more.
I wear glasses, but have pretty good success slipping the pencil up under my ball cap near my right temple...so long as the hat is worn a little tight; otherwise the pencil falls out after a while.
Unfortunately, I find myself holding the dang pencil most often between my teeth...its just quicker that way.
For guys who wear hard hats ( if any of you do) you can get a plastic clip that mounts on the side of your hard hat. This clip is made to hold 2 pencils; one flat carpenter style, and one regular pen or pencil. They are very durable. In 7 years of constant use, I only wore out 1 clip ( it became too soft to keep its form).
Davo
Ok, here is my last cent, for thoes of you that wear your hair long like me, and keep it tied back, the hair above your ponytail is perfect for storing your pencil, (carpenters or otherwise) it is handy, doen't fall out, and makes a nice fashion statment.
kind of a "Norm Abrams meets Miss Saigon look"
You're thinking about this all the wrong way Bill. What you need is to develop the habit of putting your pencil in the same place everytime. Develop some kind of Zen Buddah thing that makes you more in touch with the pencil, that makes you one with the pencil.
I would also like to point out, that none of this has worked for me. I'm still looking for my measuring tape, and WHO KEEPS WALKING OFF WITH MY FREAKIN' HAMMER !!!
Gordsco
How Bout a baseball cap that has a slot on each side (left and right handers) to hold carpenter pencils. Let's see, 10 million hats @ $4.00 each sold for $8.00 each I'd make about $20 million after taxes.
Thanks for the tip!Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
When doing trim work I use a sharp #2 and keep it in my beard!
I was just going to post a note that when I was a little blighter in school, I had a teacher who kept his pencil in his beard, but he still kept losing it, and sometimes had two or three in there.
Bill. 30+ responses to this simple question has got me wondering if I know where the heck to put it. My sweetie says she wants it in one, and only one place. But, when I'm working, I prefer to put it in the same tool pocket as my speed square.
In essence, just find a place that you can remember and keep puttin it there. Or, buy a bunch of pencils and stash one in every pocket.
I wear glasses and mine fits nicely over my ear, between the scalp and the glasses.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1927
Years ago I went in to my son's kindergarten class to pick him up after school. The teacher sked "So...are you a carpenter?" She pointed over to my son, who, sure enough, was using his ear as his pencil holder. A brand new 7" long pencil looked pretty funny stuck behind that little ear.
I am impressed with all the responses here on the pencil issue. All I know is that when Lars tries to kiss me with the pencil behind the ear he tends to get a broken pencil:-) Nothing like getting a pencil in the eye!
HOw about velcro it to your forehead!Tamara
You could use that built in "pencil holder" that's created in the back when your pants slip a little low and your shirt tail slips out. Just don't chew on your pencils. (This also reduces theft of your pencils by co-workers).
Hyuckkk!
Great one! It also sloves that problem with sawdust falling down there!
I was just wondering if anyone else remembers the SNL skit where Dan Akroyd and John Belushi were delivery men?
After the customer signs the paper work Akroyd puts the pen in his "plumbers crack" and then remembers it is the customers pen and offers it back!
Nothing funnier than early SNL!
TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
Which reminds me of the tale of the Doctor doing rounds in the hospital. Orderly comes by with a form for him to sign, and the doctor reaches into his pocket and pulls out a thermometer. And says, "Oh no! Some A&&hole's got my pen!"
Am I the only one that uses a pocket protector? I also have horn rim glasses & the cuffs on my jeans are at flood level. http://www.pocketprotectors.com
Edited 11/18/2002 8:19:02 PM ET by G80104
Edited 11/18/2002 8:24:39 PM ET by G80104
Didja hear about the constipated accountant? Couldn't budget, so he worked it out with a pencil.
This works great....get some sticky backed velcro....stick one side to your pencil then stick the other side to your forehead....you'll never lose it !
For about a two year stretch I wrapped velcro around the pencil and had an area on the front of my nail apron to "stick it". It got old. Some guys are lucky enough to have a "carpenter's ear". I don't. I have gone to a bib apron that my wife does some re-work on. I carry a .9mm automatic (pencil), a ball point with a piece of rubber tubing on top, a magic marker, carpenter's pencil, and voltage detector all in a row. (Kind of a nerd-pack). I write measurements on the drafting tape I stick on the first 3 feet of the back of my tape.
I've always relied on long hair to keep it stuck behind the ear. In the last couple of years for some reason the pencil seems to keep falling out.
That was an aufully personal question to ask a practicing naturist.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't
Doc - The Old Cynic