Beginners Syndrome

[nailshooter41]

Right there with you dadiOH! Even in shop environment, I have became one wi th an apron. For all manner of reasons including the advent of sturdy $12 jeans, I don't worry about the clothes I wear on the job and see them as di sposable tools that are replaced as needed. Shirts seem to last a long tim e, though.

Worse still, when I start a job that is mostly cabinet/trims/moldings, I st ill use a regular yellow #2 pencil! And even worse than that, since I can usually shave with my pocket knives (I carry two every day to work), I hand sharpen out on site with a pocket knife! Yikes!

I can put long thin points on the pencils for trims, and will often sharpen "point up" to make just two or three marks. I can put on blunt points fo r general marking, or for writing all over job walls as I am known to do. That way for me, one pencil fits all. If I am actually doing a day of fram ing (rare these days) I buy a framing pencil.

I carry my pencil behind my ear as I have since I started out. If I am doi ng a lot of trim that requires a fine point on the marker, I will sharpen u p two or three pencils at a time and carry the extras in my pocket until re ady for use.

I tried the 1.5mm and 2mm pencils and one wasn't sturdy enough and the othe r left a mark that was too fat. I bought harder leads from the office supp ly house, and the 1.5 left a mark that was too faint to see.

Interestingly, one of the few very successful furniture makers I know uses a BIC brand fine point with the plain white barrel, sometimes medium, as hi s only marking tool. He also teaches, and that is what he recommends. Mar ks are easy to see, as fine as you would like, and the pen never needs shar pening.

Robert

[-MIKE-]

I have an apron. It's been hanging in the spot I put it since about two weeks after buying it.

[krw]

I try to avoid stepping on them.

[Martin Eastburn]

[Martin Eastburn]

Mine is also leather. Don't like to use a Plasma Torch in my lap without one. These fancy ones melt and burn.

Mart> >

[Bill]

I got one I thought was pretty decent for $9.99 with a coupon from Harbor Freight. I know some are thinking it must be a piece of crap, but it's not--LOL!

[J. Clarke]

I find a .5mm pencil, the kind with the retractable metal shield, works well. If the point breaks the shield just pushes back a little. Making a long mark on a rough surface you need to make sure the mark went all the way to the end but otherwise it works fine.

[clare]

Can't buy the leather for that price to make one

[Jack]

That's what most everyone does I suspect. Standard pencils are hard to keep sharp, hard to keep a point on w/o breaking. I've only had the Rockler for a month or so and it is great. I've tried lots of different pencils, including mechanical ones, for the shop, and this is a winner I think. It feels really substantial in your hand, has cross hatching where your finger grips it. The lead is think and the point stays pointy longer than other pencils. That sort of stuff that makes it nice. I've read that the tip breaks easily if dropped, but it sure doesn't feel like it would.

[Jack]

I always wanted a leather apron, but never pulled the trigger. I have 4 aprons now, and I really like this Rockler one. It has the over the shoulder straps that are mandatory for a shop apron, and just the right amount and size of pockets for a cabinet shop.

[Jack]

Aprons keep most of the sawdust off but they also hold the tools a cabinet maker needs with him all the time. Besides holding your pencil so you don't misplace it, I keep my safety glasses in one pocket, tape in another, small tri-square in another, Still have one left for my remote dust control when Santa comes, and my calculator and note pad in the larger chest pocket.

This Rockler apron is the first one I had that can do all that comfortably. This has cut my old age woodworking time by at least a factor of 3, because most of my shop time lately has been spent looking for each of those "misplaced items".

Now, first thing I do is put on my apron, and I can spend my time more usefully searching for other misplaced items I just laid down somewhere.

[Leon]

I would probably switch out to one of my drafting pencils but my wood supplier gives me wooden pencils, these are actually great pencils that last a long time. Apparently there is such a demand for those free pencils that they now sell them. I have 37 unsharpened and have only used about 4 in the past 3~5 years. The leads don't break on these wooden pencils. ;~) IMHO if you can't sharpen a pencil you cant get a fine enough point for certain marks, .7mm is not fine enough for me much of the time.

[Leon]

Damn Jack you are just one step away from needing a roll around tool box. ;~) And I actually have a tool around tool box for many of the items that you mentioned. It will roll under the right extension of my TS.

I mostly only wear my apron in the winter or if I am removing less than a blade width of material on the TS.

[krw]

Use an xacto knife.

[Swingman]

A pocket knife sharpened pencil is the only way I've had any luck keeping a pencil lead from breaking on a construction project.

I was issued ears that are the non-hold variety, so I carry a pencil above my ear, stuck up underneath my hat brim ... just don't take off the hat for any reason during the day.

[Sonny]

On Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 6:45:14 AM UTC-6, [e-mail] wrot e:

Craigslist find: 4-5 yrs ago, I bought out most of a retiring upholsterer' s supplies, a sewing machine and 25 full size hides for $1200. That amoun ts to the hides costing about $20 a piece. Haven't used all of them, yet, but they are too nice to use as aprons.

Sonny

[Swingman]

Ditto ... always wear a Rockler Apron in the shop (have worn three out so far), less often on a job site.

My paternal grandfather gave me one when I was five years old and _helping_ him in his shop. Old habits are hard to break (used a fold up rule, just like him, until I was in my forties).

[-MIKE-]

The ear worked for me until glasses entered the equation. Now, it gets tucked up into the cap right in front of the ear. I'd like a more foolproof pencil holder. Perhaps one of those magnets that clip on your shirt for holding reading glasses... maybe that would hold a steel mechanical pencil.

[Puckdropper]

krw wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I consider a pencil sharpener an essential shop tool. They cost no more than $20, and I love the manual "school" style (Based on the Boston L) myself. I often use it when the pencil gets dull, just a quick little twist or 3 and the pencil's ready to use again.

That's also the lathe. I wonder if there's a pointy stick compendium somewhere on the Internet?

Puckdropper

[Martin Eastburn]

As my dad grew teeth on these pencils, as did I - the clay that binds the graphite within ages. As it gets old, the pencils tend to crack the leads. Drop one and just maybe never get a point on it again.

Moisture - keeps them going. Not water, just 30-50%.

Mart> >>> >>>