I bought this new carpenter pencil kit to make for myself. I find it athletically pleasing, this one has a stabilized maple burl barrel with gun metal plating. Looks aside , personally I think it has some design flaws. I'm attaching a photo of the instructions so you can see what I'm talking about. My first pet peeve is you have to thread the assembly into the nib end, but the threads are on a piece that is loose and needs to be able to move up and down. There's no way to get it tight. It's on the inside of the nib end and way down in there. My second peeve is in regard to the sharpener. It's located on the inside of the finial end. If I try to sharpen the lead while it's in the pencil, the lead just turns and doesn't sharpen. I had to remove the lead, sharpen it and then replace it in the pencil. Also, the sharpener is so deep in the mechanism, you can't see it and there's no place for the lead shavings/dust to go. It's beautiful pencil, a little top heavy. I'm interested in other opinions from people that have made one of these.
Carpenters Pencil
- Thread starter KenB259
- Start date
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Looking forward to your results.
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jttheclockman
Member
Yea that probably is one kit I would not buy. I am too old school and just grab the #2 pencils. Have them scattered all over the shop and yet when I need one I can not find one. Can't figure that one out. They all seem to wind up on the fence on my tablesaw. Does look good though.
Dieseldoc
Member
Ken: Agree with you as the one I made long ago , now sets on the catch all bowl never gets used.
Like JT I use a number two if I can find those things.
Like JT I use a number two if I can find those things.
Charlie I thought this was a relatively new kit.
I'm pretty sure you are correct Ken, at least it has been billed as a new kit by PSI.
They have had some other pencils that use larger lead, so maybe it is one of those that Charlie is thinking of.
Dieseldoc
Member
Ken: Just check my pencil and yes it's a different kit but with the same design problems that you were telling us about. Went out in shop looking for it, darn thing got lost again . Ha Ha. See attached instructions that came with mine, in fact I still have one extra to make up .
sorcerertd
Member
That kit caught my eye, also. That's a beautiful piece of wood! Those types of sharpeners are always messy, but I hadn't thought about the lead not holding tight while using it. I hope it doesn't slip while using the pencil. I still have one of these old rotary sharpeners from my drafting school days that I would probably use instead. It has never let me down. I suppose you can't count on customers using one of them, though. Seems like, as you said, a personal shop pencil.
Wow Todd, that brings back memories, I wonder where mine is.... I have a smaller one that was hand held too, somewhere.