Carpenter Pencil | How to Use a Carpenter’s Pencil
Carpenters have this amazing ability to see untapped potential in a tool, a piece of scrap wood, or even a drywall screw. And if there’s one artifact on site that seems to have captured their imaginations, it’s the humble carpenter’s pencil. Really, it’s more than a pencil; It’s a universal marking tool for parallel lines, curves and circles, but also a spacer, scribing tool and the perfect complement to a tape measure, combination square or even a wooden stick from the kindling pile.
Below are some of the best uses of the square, deceptively versatile carpenter’s pencil, along with some tools to pair it with and the best method for sharpening.
Great pencils and related tools
The three most typical applications
The most common use for a carpenter’s pencil is to mark cross sections and frame locations.
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Some cross-sections are so rough and ready that a carpenter simply uses a pencil (and no square) to make a dash mark on the wood and cuts the mark with a circular saw. Other cuts require more precision. In these cases, mark the cutting line with a square and a carpenter’s pencil. Typically, carpenters drop these pins into their nail pouch tip first so they can pull them out and draw a quick line. To do this, place your index finger behind the pencil and make the mark by tracing the pencil along the edge of the square.
Draw the square against the wood, put your index finger behind the narrow edge of the pencil and draw a line along the square.
The second most common use is writing. For wide curves, place the pencil on the flat side to translate the shape of the surface you want to shape the wood on. However, for smaller radius curves or bumpy surfaces, putting the stylus on the edge might work better.
Draw along a curved or uneven surface with a carpenter’s pencil. In most cases, you’ll slide the pencil on its wide side. But occasionally, as we’re showing here, you may find it better to hold the pencil by its narrower edge to better transfer the details of the surface profile to the wood.
The third most common use for these pins is as a handy spacer. You can rotate the pen vertically so the distance is ¼ inch. Rotated sideways, the pencil spaces objects 9⁄16 inches apart.
On the edge, the pencil spaces objects ¼ inch apart.
When rotated sideways, the pin offers a 9⁄16 inch clearance.
Couple it with a tape measure
You can use a tape measure and a carpenter’s pencil to mark a line parallel to an edge. Press one end of the pencil against the hook of the tape. Extend the band to the required distance and clamp the band there. Now just drag the tape measure and pencil along the wood to mark your line.
Press the pencil on one end to the hook of the tape measure and the other end to the measurement you want to mark. While running your knuckle along the edge of the board, slide the pencil along the surface of the board to mark the line.
Combine it with a combination square
The carpenter’s pencil’s wide surface makes it easy to combine with a combination square to draw lines parallel to an edge and create a small arc. For a line parallel to an edge, set the square’s blade the required distance from the edge, place the pencil on the end of the blade, and then trace the square’s head along the wood.
Poke the carpenter’s pencil against the square’s blade and slide the square’s head along the wood.
To mark a bow, press the corner of the blade against the wood, place the pencil in the corner where the blade meets the head, and swing the bow.
Poke the pencil in the corner where the blade and head meet. Hook your index finger into the head of the angle while pinching the corner of the blade on the edge of the wood. Swing the bow.
Rig a pencil trammel
To mark large, precise arcs or circles, you can clip the carpenter’s pencil into a wooden stick, where it forms the line-marking end of a large trammel.
Turn any straight stick into a trammel by inserting a carpenter’s pencil into a hole drilled in the end of the stick. At the opposite end, a drywall screw forms the fulcrum.
Start with a straight piece of scrap wood, e.g. B. a remnant of a piece of lumber. Drill a ¾ inch diameter hole in one end with a spade bit and clip the carpenter’s pencil in there. It’s easy to make a wedge out of a washer to ensure a tight fit. Using a utility knife, split the disc in half, cut it to about 2½ inches long, and clip the pencil into the hole next to it. Measure the required radius along the back of the scrap wood from the tip of the pencil and make a mark. Drill a 1⁄8-inch pilot hole at the mark, and then thread a 2½-inch #8 coarse thread drywall screw into the pilot hole. Thread the screw through the rod so that the length of the screw protruding through the rod matches the length of the pencil protruding from the rod at the other end.
A carpenter’s pencil serves as the business end of a large reclaimed trammel. The trammel spins on a drywall screw screwed into the end, and the carpenter’s pencil marks an arc or scribes the circumference of a circle.
To make an arc, lightly tap the drywall screw into the wood with a hammer and then simply rotate the trammel at that point to make a clean and very accurate arc or large circle.
Position the pencil where you want to mark the arc or circumference of the circle, and then use a hammer to hammer the tip of the drywall screw into the wood. Simply hit the arc or circumference of the circle by rotating the stick around the pivot point of the screw.
How to sharpen it
Although there are special pencil sharpeners made for carpenters, it’s another piece of equipment that can be owned, lost, or broken. I prefer to sharpen these pencils the way most carpenters do: with a utility knife. This also gives you more control over the shape of the tip and how much lead to expose.
To sharpen the pencil, start on the broad surface with the knife blade 5⁄8″ to ¾” from the end. With the blade perpendicular to the body of the pen, push the blade forward with your thumb. Shave the wood so that the blade of the utility knife is just parallel to the lead of the pencil at the end of the stroke. Rotate the pen 90 degrees and repeat the process on the adjacent edge. Repeat along the wide edge and the remaining narrow edge.
And there you have it, a neatly sharpened pencil with a uniform point. When it comes to construction work, sharpening and using a carpenter’s pencil is as easy as it gets. We wish building walls and lifting rafters were that easy.
Roy Berendsohn has been with Popular Mechanics for more than 25 years where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chain saw use and outdoor power tools. When he’s not working on his own home, he volunteers with Sovereign Grace Church to provide home repairs for families in rural, suburban, and urban areas of central and southern New Jersey.