krw wrote:
On Thu, 26 Nov 2015 10:01:19 -0600, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 11/26/2015 9:19 AM, Jack wrote:
On 11/25/2015 1:37 PM, krw wrote:
On Wed, 25 Nov 2015 09:21:12 -0500, Jack
wrote:

On 11/22/2015 12:32 PM, Leon wrote:

I still use a regular pencil with wooden pencil in the shop, I
don't want to misplace a decent pencil. ;~)

Buy a good apron to hold your pencil. I recommend a Rockler
cabinetmakers Mechanical Pencil for around 10 bucks. It comes
with a box of thick and strong 2mm lead, and a sharpener. Really
nice for the shop.

I buy 10/$1 .7mm or .9mm mechanical pencils and scatter so many
around the house there is always at least one within sight. ;-)

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.



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.

Use an xacto knife.

The way to get a really fime point on a pencil, either mechanical or wood,
is to do as old time negative retouchers did...

1. get about 1/2" or more of lead out

2. fold over a small piece of fine - #320, say - wet or dry paper

3. insert lead at fold, press down on paper at either side of the lead

4. move lead in and out of the paper, turning from time to time

A bit of a pain but you will wind up with a point like a needle. Fragile
though