Pencils

[Phil Pascoe]

We were always sent into drawing exams with 1" chisels for pencil sharpening. I doubt that happens now.

 

[Lons]

My pencil sharpener

Is this one of your pencils then Bob?

 

[KevM]

I've ditched carpenter's pencils in favour of 'solid' carpenter's pencils I picked up a couple in the US - they seem to last forever and are effectively unbreakable in normal use!
Like Jimi43 I use an old Staedtler Mars 2mm clutch pencil completely overbuilt, nice and solid.
I've got some of these Ohto Comforcil 2mm clutch pencils in a rather fetching orange which helps to keep them visible; the Ohto's are a bit unusual, unlike the traditional clutch pencils where pressing the button releases the lead so it slides with gravity, the Ohto is like a hybrid mechanical pencil where it advances the lead with each click.
All my 2mm pencils have 2H leads and make fantastic marking tools - like a knife/pencil hybrid - you can also advance the lead an inch or so for marking in tricky corners, dovetails, etc.
I've got several 0.5mm mechanical pencils, all with 2B leads for marking bold lines and highlighting knife marks, I find the leads are too fragile for more general use.

Oh, and Sharpies, lots and lots of Sharpies.

 

[ColeyS1]

Here's my rig :lol: all 2h lead. Rough marking I use normal wood pencil, everything else 0.5mm mechanical. I use to use 0.3 but it just kept snapping. Recently attacked mechanical pencil to fit compass' s. Makes scribing on site soooo much easier !!!

 

[John15]

I use mechanical pencils with HB lead mainly because they don't need to be constantly sharpened but I agree, they do break easily especially the finer ones.

John

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Pencils are clearly a very personal preference!

Quite a few votes for Staedtlers, I see. (From my drawing office days, the Staedtler Mars plastic eraser is almost unbeatable, by the way.)

A couple of other brands worth considering are Berol Turquoise (drawing office days again!) which have a little plastic end-cap on the non-pointy end for those who enjoy chewing their thinking-sticks, and Derwent Graphic which can be had in grades from 9B to 9H, and the rarer these days F grade. I can't think of any reason why a woodworker would want either 9B or 9H, but the usual HB, H, 2B etc are readily available from W H Smiths, apparently. They're made by the old Cumberland Pencil Company in Cumbria, which is a nice bonus if you like buying British. They've got a museum in Keswick, too - http://www.pencilmuseum.co.uk/ - with an interweb shop. The range of pencils they make (mainly for artists) is enormous!

 

[Lons]

For rough general use I use the oak workshop clutch pencil. 6mm lead and virtually unbreakable.
I also use these labled "the worlds best pencils" from the USA (Costco) which are pretty good and for everything else I just reach for the nearest of the dozens lying around - mostly Ikea (did I admit to that #-o )

 

[Mark A]

I use some mechanical pencils I got free from hotels in the States last year.

I can't remember who makes them, but those turquoise-coloured pencils made from recycled materials Tesco sell have also lasted pretty well.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Staedtler traditional 2H for marking out accurate work, HB for face side and face edge marks. The 2H is sharpened with the chisel and honed to a chisel shape with a bit of old 320 grit.
I use a 0.5mm mechanical pencil when using my Incra rules and a piece of crayon when selecting and marking up rough sawn boards, but apart from that I am not fussy

 

[Harbo]

In my workshop I have a couple of old coffee mugs full of an assortment of pencils including Rotring and Pental clutch ones and use whatever comes to hand.
I prefer HBs as I find H types can be difficult to remove if you've made a mistake?

For Drawing on paper, I us 2H and 4H again Rotring and Pental clutch ones in various thicknesses.

Rod

 

[KevM]

Forgot to mention my combo compasses/scribing pencil/pencil, very compact and they work a charm once you get used to the elbow joint on the pointy leg; I use this with 2B leads, the softer lead/bolder line means less pressure to draw an effective line and thus fewer breakages. As a bonus the point folds away safely when not in use to give you a pocket safe pencil.

 

[chippy1970]

Forgot to mention my combo compasses/scribing pencil/pencil, very compact and they work a charm once you get used to the elbow joint on the pointy leg; I use this with 2B leads, the softer lead/bolder line means less pressure to draw an effective line and thus fewer breakages. As a bonus the point folds away safely when not in use to give you a pocket safe pencil.

Looks good how do you find them for scribing are they stiff enough ?

 

[KevM]

I've found them plenty stiff enough, and the joint can be tightened up. The dog-leg on the point means that you can't get the point right up against the vertical reference for smaller offsets, but I find that the little moulded lump on the fold-out compass leg serves quite well. The minimum offset you can scribe with these is ~5mm, not been a problem for anything I've needed to do.

 

[oakfield]

Good old screwfix pencils - and lots of them scattered around, in various tool boxes, behind my ear and in my pocket.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Thanks for all the contributions, everybody. Quite a range of preferences.

May your pencils always have lead in them!

 

[midnightlunchbox]

I use Staedtler 2h, the same ones I use for technical drawings. They leave a visible line but don't dirty the timber.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

The following is from my website dated 2010:

These days I use 2mm clutch pencils. The ones I prefer are the metal-bodied Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 22. These have become something of a cult as it was the daddy of clutch pencils.

I keep both dark- and white-leaded clutch pencils at the ready. White is especially useful for marking dark woods.

The lead is sharpened with a Gedess Lead Pointer, which I believe once won an award for design in the 1930s. The one I have dates to the 1950s. Insert the pencil and swivel it around the abrasive stone inside.

This combination creates a fine point, one that is easy to maintain.

Recently I managed to repair my father’s electric sharpener. Well electricity is OK here because it is vintage (I’m guessing about 50 years old) and it brings back memories of visiting my dad in his architectural practice when I was a youngster. He used Faber Castell clutch pencils, and the sharpener is made by Faber Castell and constructed of Bakelite … insert the pencil and a pressure point starts the motor, which proceeds to sharpen the pencil.

Well they are handtools!

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[carpenteire2009]

I trained as a draughtsman in the late 80s- early 90s and I was instructed in the use of the traditional pencils and Rotring ink pens, T square and drawing board etc. I started my working life just as CAD was emerging and I still have a fondness for the manual draughting equipment of that time, especially wooden and mechanical pencils! For any marking or sketching now I tend to use Staedtler black and yellow pencils or one of my old school Staedtler Mars 2mm propelling pencils. As already said the Staedtler Mars is the best eraser, bar none. I have carpenter's pencils by Hanson USA for rough work and being a bit of collector of all things I have a number of special marking pencils by Lyra and others (white pencils for dark materials, soft wax pencils for glass, ceramics and plastics, other special pencils/ craytons for steel etc).

 

[KevM]

I'm surprised nobody uses these Festool pencils

Yes , £3.60 for 4 pencils does sound expensive but you can't argue with the features:

- For drilling and countersinking in a single work step
- Adjustable depth stop
- For all Festool drills

 

[chippy1970]

I'm surprised nobody uses these Festool pencils

Yes , £3.60 for 4 pencils does sound expensive but you can't argue with the features:

- For drilling and countersinking in a single work step
- Adjustable depth stop
- For all Festool drills