PENCIL

[NazNomad]

Is it best to work up through the grits or just go from the stanley-knife straight to the oilstone?

 

[otter]

Nope, I always use Staedtler black and red 2B, can't beat em.

+1

the blue painted and the black and yellow are just as good. Leads don't break when you drop the pencil either!
My two pen'orth FWIW

2B? Are you crazy? Does anything you cut to the line actually measure up correctly?

 

[Benchwayze]

What .... the best way to sharpen pencils?

At one end? (hammer)

 

[Bm101]

It's important not to use a honing guide while sharpening pencils. A lot of beginners believe this will give them an unfair advantage of achieving consistent results without ruining their pencils while they learn to hand sharpen properly.. What they fail to understand is that you need to hone along the axis of the lead not against it as a jig will do with its left/right movement.. As we all know, traditionally pencils were bored out by craftsman using tiny but delicate braces. The leads, with their right hand threads were then screwed into the body of the pencil. Using a Jig can actually undo the lead leading to inaccuracy and 'looseness in the join'. Ie: you lose the lead in your pencil.
While some will doubt these time honoured methods used by traditional pencil users for centuries, if you need proof, look back to your callow days as a pencil apprentice. Did you ever see a pencil sharpener, that staple of your pencil apprenticeship when you were given the pencils of the master craftsmen to sharpen by the hundred as you learnt your trade. Did you ever once see a pencil sharpener with a right sided blade? No. Why? Looseness in the joint.
Don't get me started on mechanical pencil sharpeners. Or God Forbid and strike us down Electrical Pencil Sharpeners!

No offense meant. :wink:

 

[RossJarvis]

2B? Are you crazy? Does anything you cut to the line actually measure up correctly?[/quote]

On the whole for site carpentry, particularly when the wood is dark or wet, 2B gives the best low tolerance mark.

When accuracy is required I tend to use a knife.

I do find however that due to non-sticky ears I put the pencils in the handy long leg pocket of my work trousers which a) gives me about one day of use before loss, or b) very rapidly gives me 4 x 2" pencils. Admittedly, snapping pencils into 4 bits does mean a pencil can last up to 4 days before I lose all of it

 

[chippy1970]

Nope, I always use Staedtler black and red 2B, can't beat em.

Noris for me black and yellow.

I've got a couple of fancy clutch pencils great for marking through stuff as they've got very long tips.

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[ED65]

They're only .5mm so very thin.

Yeah .5s are pretty thin all right. I just checked to make sure and it is .7s that I mostly use on wood. They don't give that much thicker a line and they're notably more robust. Not perfect which is why I keep a 2mm propelling pencil around as well.

 

[Billy Flitch]

2b or not 2b that is the question whether its nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous pencils that go walkies .BTW did you know if no one made mistakes they wouldn't put rubbers on the end of pencils .

 

[RickN]

* "In great patriotic Space race, Amerikanski Made pen that could write in space,it cost Millions of Rubles.
In Soviet Russia...... They use pencil."

*Cheesy Russian accent

 

[artie]

Forget about the manufacturer they could take weeks to reply, if ever and complain to Amazon saying you want a full refund.

If I had bought it I would, but don't want to complain to daughter re gift.

 

[Benchwayze]

2b or not 2b that is the question whether its nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous pencils that go walkies .BTW did you know if no one made mistakes they wouldn't put rubbers on the end of pencils .

I thought that was to stop the pencils breeding. :wink:

 

[Benchwayze]

* "In great patriotic Space race, Amerikanski Made pen that could write in space,it cost Millions of Rubles.
In Soviet Russia...... They use pencil."

*Cheesy Russian accent

Short of being rubbed, pencil doesn't fade, as does ink. Hence the number of letters from the WW1 trenches that survive to this day.
Mr. Plod used to use 'indelible pencil', and the Bobbies all had a purple spot on their tongues! :lol:

 

[artie]

Found an email in the junk folder from Striker, saying if I return it to the states they will send me a new one.


The postage would far exceed the cost of buying a new one.

 

[Homerjh]

best way to sharpen a pencil,

well 1st put the pencil in a drill, and set to fast.

2nd put pencil into sharpener , and hold sharpener tight and start drill.

you get perfectly sharpened pencils.

but you can run a pencil down to a nub in a matter of seconds, if you do then just get another one..

 

[BearTricks]

Mechanical pencil from Muji for me.

I also have a £20 japanese made staedtler one which is perfectly balanced. It taked 0.3mm leads though and they tend to break on wood.

 

[Bm101]

Found an email in the junk folder from Striker, saying if I return it to the states they will send me a new one.


The postage would far exceed the cost of buying a new one.

Worth a 30 second email suggesting goodwill, explaining the post situation etc? Might find one pops through your door in a week or two. Worth a try.

 

[Wuffles]

Mechanical pencil from Muji for me.

I also have a £20 japanese made staedtler one which is perfectly balanced. It taked 0.3mm leads though and they tend to break on wood.

The ally one they sold (no idea if they still do) in the mid 2000s? I reach for that when my Ikea stubby isn't mm accurate enough.

 

[novocaine]

get your money back on those silly pretend pencils then spend it on this book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Sharpen-Pen ... n+a+pencil

a worthwhile read and can be considered as the end of any pencil sharpening argument. it even has a section on mechanical pencils. I won't spoil it for you though.

 

[woodenstx]

I use a 0.7mm mech HB pencil for "normal" work and then ive got a 0.5mm one for using with the Incra pro rule for when I feel like bieng hper pointlessly accurate :lol:

 

[artie]

get your money back on those silly pretend pencils then spend it on this book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Sharpen-Pen ... n+a+pencil

a worthwhile read and can be considered as the end of any pencil sharpening argument. it even has a section on mechanical pencils. I won't spoil it for you though.

That book gets right to the point.