+- Woodnet Forums (https://forums.woodnet.net)
+-- Thread: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? (/showthread.php?tid=7377792)
A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - bandit571 - 01-30-2025
But, still about an essential hand tool in my shop?
These..
[attachment=53581]
Yes, I do know about those "Mechanical" ones out there....But, a good old No. 2 works just fine in my shop...they are cheap, and fairly easy to sharpen...I send mine "out" to Boston..either the full size one..
[attachment=53582]
The old one that fits almost any sized Pencil, or, a more "specialized" one...
[attachment=53583]
The Boston Ever Handy...that only takes one size...
[attachment=53584]
And..I can get the pencils sharper than a needle...as often as I need them to be..
[attachment=53585]
The Problems arise when this other style of Pencil needs sharpened...
[attachment=53586]
Carpenter's Pencils. The main feature with these? They will never roll off the top of your bench and go hide somewhere...There was even a clip to hold one of these on the side of my Hard Hat...
Use to be, to sharpen one of these..depending on what was in your Tool Belt...
[attachment=53587]
Everyone always had a Utility Knife....and they did work nice at the start of a day..with a fresh blade..
[attachment=53588]
However, the chisel that rode around in one's tool belt, was rarely sharp enough...
[attachment=53589]
Has the edge tended to be rather beat up...
There IS another way....and it does not involve an Angle Grinder, either....
Stay tuned..
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - bandit571 - 01-30-2025
So..a 3rd way? Remember those old plastic square thingies to sharpen the old pencils?
They do make a version that will fit onto the Carpenter's Pencils...
[attachment=53590]
Slide it onto an end...
[attachment=53591]
And just give it a "spin"...
[attachment=53592]
And, when it is no longer making "shavings"
[attachment=53593]
This is the point you will wind up with....usually good enough for Rough Lay out work...where you do not NEED a needle sharp point...
It will provide the same sort of point on a No. 2 Pencil..
[attachment=53594]
Just not the needle sharp points...
Just another Sharpening Thread, right?
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - EdL - 01-30-2025
Hardest thing about sharpening #2 pencil is.........finding a good sharpener now days.
Ed
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - MGoBlue1984 - 01-30-2025
The Boston sharpener is one I use. Came out of my childhood home, Probably bought in the early ‘50s
My biggest problem now is the quality of pencil leads. Far too often the lead breaks internally and falls out of the wooden sheath.
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - ajkoontz - 01-31-2025
Years ago I took a hands on timber framing workshop class. The main instructor was adamant about how to correctly sharpen a pencil. He took probably 30 minutes instructing us all on proper pencil sharpening technique. He even walked around and checked our pencils individually to make sure they were up to his standards. For some reason, he could not abide a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. He would have loved/ hated this post, as while he loved discussing the nuances of a sharp vs not sharp pencil, there was only one correct way to do it and it was his way.
I mean, I get it. Kind of. I appreciate that he's seen plenty of people who consider a dull carpenters pencil to be 'close-enough' for framing work, but me and my buddy at the class are proper woodworkers who appreciate marking and cutting to a line. We're also engineers by trade so we've seen all flavors of OCD. But this guy with his pencil sharpening took the cake.
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - bandit571 - 01-31-2025
Carpenter's Pencil for Concrete Form work ( BTDT, got the old knees and back to show for it) As long as we could see the ">" marks, we were good to go...Chisel to sharpen a pencil? Meh...First, one had to have a SHARP chisel...and not one all beat up from stripping forms...
They brought out sharpeners for the Carpenter Pencil in the late 90s....they worked...didn't last very long...Seemed we always had a Utility Knife...and plenty of brand new blades for it...Wanted a bevel I could run alongside the 4' level I always carried...saved the Red/Blue Chalk line boxes for the LONG stuff.
Stoop down in the trench, kneeling on the Concrete Footer we place the other day...Hold that level vertical ( Plumb?) with a length of #4 Rebar to steady it...When the fellow at the "Builder's Level" said "Mark"...pencil to mark the spot on the concrete ( usually for the outside wall line),move a bit further down the line of the footer, repeat...go back and snap a line of Red Chalk between the 2 marks...and start setting forms...
Why RED Chalk? try brushing it off of a surface...you can't...not even form oil can do it...let alone any rain drops...
Regular #2 pencil for taking notes off of the Building Prints...which is why there were 2 clips in the pencil holders on the Hardhats...
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - MauleSkinner - 01-31-2025
I sharpen my pencils with my pocket knife…partly as an excuse to use my pocket knife, partly because that’s how my grandpa did it, and partly to impress the ladies.
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - Timberwolf - 02-01-2025
(01-31-2025, 07:09 PM)MauleSkinner Wrote: I sharpen my pencils with my pocket knife…partly as an excuse to use my pocket knife, partly because that’s how my grandpa did it, and partly to impress the ladies...
That's where a sharp pocketknife excels!!!!!!! Nothing can get them sharper!!!! I got my first pocketknife when I was seven years old..that would make it 85 years ago!!!!
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - MstrCarpenter - 02-02-2025
The "Carpenter" that has one of those sharpeners in his pouch probably has a tape measure with fractions printed on it too.
RE: A Different "Sharpening Thread"? - AHill - 02-03-2025
As Bandit notes, there are portable sharpeners specially made for carpenter's pencils. You can find them at most big box hardware stores.
For awhile I was really into pencils. The best sharpener I found for pencils is the CARL Angel-5 pencil sharpener. It's somewhat limited to the size of a standard pencil, but there's a sort of vise that grabs your pencil then it self-feeds (all mechanical) and stops sharpening when the point is sharp. No wasting pencil. It's the same size as the old style Boston pencil sharpener. and uses the same kind of hand crank I don't like powered pencil sharpeners because they waste so much pencil if you're not careful, and when the power source dies, you can't use it.
For marking in my woodworking, I prefer a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. Not necessary to sharpen it because the point is already relatively sharp. I think Chris Schwarz once suggested a 0.3mm pencil, but those are harder to find and I don't think there's that much benefit getting the lead that thin. Leads that thin break more easily. For darker woods, I use an artist's pencil with white lead for better contrast.
I think it's common knowledge, but it's worth mentioning that graphite pencil lead can be removed from wood very easily with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol).