Re: Top 10 Underrated Tools

[flairwoodworks [OP]]

I’ve never heard of a disposable mechanical pencil! Can you load lead through the tip?

I use wooden pencils in my shop mostly - half of the time it’s round, the other half of the time it’s a blunt-ish carpenter’s pencil.

[Randy in Calgary]

I’ve never heard of a disposable mechanical pencil! Can you load lead through the tip?

No it is a twist to advance and the lead is held at the back much like a pen refill. The hack on YouTube shows how to get the pen apart and install a new lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYldbtlcVDk

[Jerome]

Good to know about reloading them, I bought the pack a couple of years ago and haven't run out of lead yet I have them spread throughout the shop. I like them because I found with a regular pencil they were never sharp when I needed it to be so I would have to stop what I was doing and sharpen them. As to 0.7 or 0.5 mm I was taught as a jeweller that you work from the side of the line, not the line itself.

[flairwoodworks [OP]]

I was taught as a jeweller that you work from the side of the line, not the line itself.

How do you remember which side of the line?

[KenL]

How do you remember which side of the line?

LOL, I wondered the same thing! I use knives and awls for marking wood (cutting gauges and such are knives for these purposes) when it really matters and scribers (and such like) with or without Marking Blue for marking metal. Big, fat Eversharp type lead pencils are not my jam which is why I am so fond of my old Boston pencil sharpener and Lee Valley pencils for shop use. I am not at all keen on disposable anything and avoid such things like the plague.

Ken

[Randy in Calgary]

........................avoid such things like the plague.

Ken

At the risk of a hijack and a bad joke, I think we are all getting a crash course on how to avoid the plague. Strange times we live in.

[Jerome]

You make a mark on the bad side like this

[Don Burch]

Pencils. Any pencil. You never give them their due until you cannot find one when you need it, or it needs sharpening, or, if mechanical, has no lead.

[KeithF]

Empty peanut butter containers. I know my FIL used glass coffee bottles, but I don’t care for the glass as for the breakage factor. The containers hold nails/screws/ parts for specific projects. They can also be used to soak parts in. The lids can be inverted to hold small parts or as mixing trays. Currently have about 30 of them in the shop

[TwoBirds]

a good apron with pockets for all the tools one needs to get one's hand on while holding something(s) in place with the other.
a crappy knife
a good knife
a really good knife
an extra knife

[Ed in Leaside]

Empty peanut butter containers. <snip> Currently have about 30 of them in the shop

I have more than 100, screwed the lids to the underside of the mezzanine.