Pencils...I do a lot of layout; furniture building. What Pencil brand do u use?

I have no preference for one brand of pencils, but I do keep a good electric pencil sharpener in my shop.

-- Tom D

Drafting pencils

-- Bruce Free Plans http://plans.sawmillvalley.org

I use 0.5 mechanical pencil from LeeValley with HB lead

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

.7mm mechanical pencils. I buy cheap disposables now.
The leads hold up better than .5mm (which is Incra compatible).

If I used Incra I’d suck it up and go to .5mm.

You get to know a pencil lead’s characteristics and how
it marks in relation to a straight edge… a little different
from a hollow ground marking knife but consistent
if you hold the pencil the same always. This may
seem silly, but it’s a controllable factor in craftsmanship
that you can get managed or leave unmanaged and
I prefer to have it managed and consistent.

What you use is less important than using the same
thing all the time. Drafting pencils have tough leads
and the special sharpeners do a better job than
regular pencil sharpeners. I like the mechanicals
with the .7mm leads but the most important thing
to me is to have a consistent line and the ability to
register the pencil point reliably against an edge.

Doesn’t the tip break easily?
I like to push button lead out, but when it runs out I can’t get another to go in that sum-bitch

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

Dixon Ticonderoga 2.5. Buy them by the dozen. Nothing else comes close to the quality for the price.

110v sharpener.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

@Loren – I like Mechanicals, but NEVER sharpened one. I too believe the pencil we use should be consistent.

@Lee – Where do you get em’? never heard of them. you mean use an electric sharpener?

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

I’m like Lee. Wooden pencils and an electric sharpener. Buy them like 6 dozen at a time and sharpen up a dozen at a time. Easy and cheap to keep all around the shop and in my apron. Lay out is a handfull on the bench and the sharpener next to it.

-- Life is good.

Drafting pencils are different from the mechanicals
you are probably familiar with. The leads are about
3/32” thick and you use a special sharpener to
make points on them. I have the stuff but never
used it for woodworking.

Loren, I have a lot of the type you are talking about(lead holders??) I used them when I sketched isometrics for piping systems. I found they really don’t suit my needs in the wood shop. Just MHO. I tried a lot of different leads to no avail.

-- Life is good.

I was sharpening my own pencils, but found out the lead wearing down gave me a different scribe line, a bit-off

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

I’m a sophomore in Art School; Fine Arts/part-time BFA. I use many different pencils in scales, there are a lot of steps in grades to pencil density. I also use mech. pencils, but have not found a decent survivor for woodworking yet

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

These pencils, this sharpener.
Match made in heaven. :-)

They’re sharp enough for me and stay that way. I’ve learned to keep my layout lines single and light; there’s no need to go across the ruler 3+ times to make the line dark enough. Once is enough. Same for tick marks; a single tick is enough.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

Nice!
Black Warriors, I already like them.
Thanks, NiteWalker

-- Steve - Dust sucks!

Steve:

Here for instance.

For my hands, #2 are too soft and break too easily while #3 don’t make a dark enough line. 2.5! The erasers stay in the ferrule! The yellow is the color of daffodils in the spring! The relationship of the yellow to the green on the ferrule is The Golden Mean! This pencil will make your work better, your days shorter, your production remarkable, your lunch fresher, your socks softer, not to mention the unending parade of invitations to proms and barbecues.

Your posture will improve. Your hair will begin, slightly, to curl. Your tires will rotate themselves. Dandelions will thrive, but only next door. Your cat will retrieve a frisbee upon command. You’ll lose just enough weight that you’ll be able to slip into the ol’ flat front khakis that still hang way to the left side of your closet. Your doctor will call with surprise news about your cholesterol, which is no longer an item of her concern.

Your mortgage rate will drop of its own free will. Sears will not only deliver but also assemble. You’ll get a Festool of your own, and it will come with its own vacuum cleaner at no extra charge. Your mountain bike will have yet another gear.

You’ll say “yes, of course” when your grandchildren ask if you’ll read Sherlock Holmes to them. Your chisels will never dull. Masking tape will keep coming off the roll without a diagonal tear. No more Tums. The door to the garage doesn’t stick anymore. Nor squeak. You sound more Pavarotti in the shower than Luciano himselfi.

Your S’Mores will be the best and your marshmallows will never scorch. Boards that warp? They must be going to everyone else, because you haven’t seen one in months. That old broom in the 5th wheel? It was used in the second Harry Potter movie.

Never again will you say, “The fishing was good, but the catching was lousy.”

And all because you said “yes” to the Dixon Ticonderoga 2.5. Gamechanger. Lifechanger. The Write Stuff.

Buy them. Now.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"