Pen or Pencil

Pen or Pencil

  • Pencil

    Votes: 48 77.4%
  • Pen

    Votes: 5 8.1%
  • Scrib

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Thumb Nail

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Whatever I can find laying around

    Votes: 9 14.5%
  • None of the above, I just eyeball

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    62
  • Poll closed .
And do you know how hard it is to get all that writing off the screen :thumb:
I bet I wear out 2 erasures every time.:rofl::rofl:

My apoligies in advance to all the blondes out there. :rolleyes:

Q: How can you tell when a blonde has been using the word processor?

A: From the White-Out on the screen! :rofl: :eek: :rofl:

I use a pencil as I've found that ink has a tendency to bleed into the wood and can be hard to sand out.
 
Last edited:
Mostly a pencil, but sometimes a marking knife.

Then when I can`t find either, I use whatever I can find -such as a pen.

Then, when I can`t find anything, I eyeball it.

But, since there wasn`t an all of the above option, I voted for pencil.
 
I've started using a .5 mm lead pencil instead of a regular because I got tired of sharpening it so much. The lead pencil always has the same fine point and leaves a nice clear line. For marking or cutting rough parts I use a carpenters pencil cause lead pencils don't work well on rough lumber
 
I recently took two days of classes from Rob Cosman.

After watching him, a fine ball point ( a real ball point ) pen really works well.

All of his advice and practices come from teaching 1,000's of people woodworking.

He just says when making dovetails, the lines are always the same width and you are going to plane off all of the marks.

So I use 7mm cheap throw away mechanical pencils and trying to fine fine ball point pens.
 
I didnt see the magenta Crayola option? did I miss it?
I got a whole bunch of those flat pencils for free one time, Im still widdling them down

Lowe's had them on sale one time at $0.05 each... I picked up a dozen or so and doing what you are... still whittling on them.. about half are stained on one end from using them to stir paint or stains etc.... :D

But even with all the carpenter pencils, most of the time I grab a sharpie marker... especially if I need to see the mark.. too vain to wear my glasses in the shop..
 
Last edited:
I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but add chalk to the list. I use it for identifying rough cut pieces (e.g. "front left" or "face side"). Otherwise, I use a pencil for length measurements and a marking knife for dovetails.
 
hilti was once giving them out for free in HD, just handing them out to everyone, with hilti name on them, took a few from him also.

When I worked for Hilti I had boxes and boxes of them hanging around. I must have several hundred of them kicking around here somewhere. I never liked using them. The line was always too wide and they are a pain to sharpen.
But then again I could make my line with a 4" paintbrush and still miss it. :rofl:
In my earlier draftsman days I was taught to roll the pencil when making a line. This way the point stays sharp and the lines stay the same width. Thats how I still do it and it works pretty well.
I like the idea of a marker. It would make the lines easier to read but I would spend way too much time trying to sand them off.
 
Top