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Carpenter pencils have always been an essential tool in a carpenter’s toolkit. Whenever someone sees them for the first time, they feel amazed and wonder why these are different from ordinary pencils? This article is the answer to all your questions.
History of the carpenter pencils
In the mid-sixteenth century,Graphite was discovered. And since then it has found its uses in many industries. Soon after the discovery of Graphite, it also found its benefits as a writing material, leading to pencils’ invention. Since then it has remained unchanged, and the pencils are being used the same way as they were invented.
However, these ordinary pencils were not strong enough to work on rough surfaces. This lead to the invention of thicker and stronger carpenter pencils in the seventeenth century. Since then these carpenter pencils have always been a part of every carpenter’s toolkit.
Design of carpenter’s pencil
If you have ever seen a carpenter pencil, you would have noticed that it is not like an ordinary circular pencil you use at schools or offices. Carpenter pencils are specially designed in a rectangular or elliptical shape. There is a massive list of reasons for making them in such an unusual form, which we will describe later.
Dimensions of a carpenter pencil
Now, as you know that the carpenter pencils are designed in a rectangular shape and have a flat surface, it’s evident that they have fixed dimensions. These pencils are usually 7″ long, 1⁄2″ wide, and 1⁄4″ thick. However, you can also customize your carpenter pencil as you wish. So the dimensions can also vary as you wish.
The excursion from a wood blank to flat pencil
The strategy starts with receiving the wood blanks. Manufacturing plants get the wood blanks as ordered according to the sizes they wish to make pencils. For the most part, they are half of the size of pencils in thickness and fairly more than the pencils’ length to be made. These squares are then passed into a machine that cuts the spaces in these spaces to fill the Graphite.
After the openings are cut, these wood spaces are transported off to another machine that put in a layer of glue over the spaces cut. Right when the adhesive is applied to the entire surface, the Graphite is dropped into these openings. This Graphite shows up at the plants in pre-cut sticks, and they are put as it is into the slots cut on the wooden sheets.
After the graphite sticks are set into the openings, another layer of paste is put over the spaces and graphite stick. Another layer of wooden areas is then flipped over these spaces to make a pencil sandwich. These pencil sandwiches are then passed to a blower which holds these pencils for a few moments to allow the paste to dry. When the paste is dried totally, these spaces are shipped off a shaper that cuts these wooden spaces into singular pencils, and afterwards, these pencils are also cut for smooth surfaces.
Once a wooden pencil is ready, the last job left is to paint them and make them look attractive. If the pencils are made on a particular order, the customized designs are then printed on the pencil’s surface, and then the carpenter pencils are ready to dispatch them off to the stores into the market.
The unique shape of the carpenter pencils
Earlier, we have described a carpenter pencil’s design, where we informed you about its rectangular shape and flat surfaces. So the most obvious question that almost everyone asks is “why the carpenter pencils are flat?” Here’s the answer to that.
There are so many advantages to making a flat surface for carpenter pencils. Using a regular pencil can be very frustrating sometimes as it rolls over even on flat surfaces. Woodworking might involve working on slant surfaces, and in that case, it’s impossible to keep a regular pencil on the characters. In contrast, a rectangular-shaped pencil holds the ground firmly and does not roll-off. This was the most crucial reason for designing these pencils in rectangular shapes.
There are many other reasons, which are equally important factors for these pencils’ flat surfaces. If you are interested in knowing the details, you can visit our website pencilguyshop.com. At pencilguyshop, we provide a large variety of pencils of all kinds. We also offer you some valuable information regarding the various types of pencils and facts related to them. If you wish to know more about a carpenter pencil’s flat surfaces, you can search for our blog on our website in which we have shared detailed knowledge about them.
How to sharpen a carpenter pencil?
You might think that sharpening a carpenter pencil would be a difficult task due to its rectangular shape. But there’s nothing to worry about. Specially designed sharpeners are available in the market to sharpen a carpenter pencil. But in case you don’t have a sharpener, you can also use a utility knife and sandpaper to sharpen your pencil.
At pencilguyshop, you can search for our blog related to the sharpening of a carpenter’s pencil. In that article, we have described the brief process of sharpening a pencil using a utility knife and sandpaper.
However, suppose you do not want to get involved in this sharpening process. In that case, you can also try the mechanical carpenter pencils currently available in the market as a new advancement. In these pencils, you don’t have to share them again and again. You can change the lead, and you’re all set to continue your work.
Removing the pencil marks
The pencil marks can be removed from the wood in two ways –
• Using sandpaper: You can directly rub the surface with sandpaper to remove the wood’s pencil marks. However, it also has a risk of damaging your wooden piece as it can rub off some extra wood. So it would help if you were very careful while doing so.
• Acetone: The safer method to remove the pencil marks is using a little acetone and then wiping it off using a cloth. This is a safer method as it will not damage your wood, but you have to spend extra bucks on buying the acetone.
Summing up
Now that you have known a lot about carpenter pencils, you might think that you are a master of them. But choosing the right design as per the need of your work is the most crucial task while buying a new pencil and not so easy for beginners. At pencilguyshop, we provide a wide range of options and full guidance to our customers to help them choose the best for them. So visit us at pencilguyshop.com and give us a chance to serve you better.
