This is just a bit to much ...... but

[Betsy Yocum]

picture it being 5:45 a.m. and that's much to early to run the noisy equipment. My roomies, not to mention the neighbors appreciate me not starting anything noisy until at least 9. And so being the nice person I am, I work quietly very early. Soooooo I decided to do a bit of sanding this morning. I always use a pink eraser to lightly take off any pencil marks (I hate chalk - comes off to easy) before I do any sanding. Sooooooo I look for my eraser - you guessed it - can't find it.

Decide it must be time for the bit of shop clean up - put it back where it belongs - and start messing up it again routine. So I start doing just that. Now - I've been at it quite a while when I realize - still no eraser - but - I have a large pile of pencils on the table. Quite a large pile - so I say to myself - just how many pencils does one woman need in a two car garage shop. So I count. Did not know I needed so many pencils. 514 pencils!!!!!!! - Just for one person. Now remember I've not finished cleaning up the shop - I've decided to stop - I don't think I can handle finding any more pencils.

So I going inside the house - time for the morning caffiene - and quess what I find on the kitchen counter - yep - my pink eraser!!!!! :(

Now I'm thinking I have 514 pencils - why do I need a pink eraser? I'm guessing, and it's an unprofessional guess, but I must have a prejudice against pencil erasers - as almost every eraser on those 514 pencils are just barely rounded off.

I bet it won't take long to scatter all those pencils again - but I am going to go buy more pink erasers to scatter around also. II figure if I've been prejudiced against pencil erasers this long - there must be a reason.

Ok my rant is over - time to get back to work!

[JayStPeter]

Wow, I though I was bad with numbers pushing into the 50s. That's a lot of pencils. :D :D

Jay

[Brian Hale]

514 pencils???

I think there's a support group for that.... :rolleyes:

Brian :D

[Sparky Paessler]

Betsy

514 is a lot of pencils! Maybe I need to get you to send some up this way, I never seem to be able to find one when I need it!

[Tim Morton]

HI..my name is Betsy and I'm a pencilholic!!

[Michael Stafford]

My question is who are the 513 people that are looking for their pencil and every time they see you are they mumbling to themselves "Here comes that Betsy woman, I lose a pencil every time I see her."

[Betsy Yocum]

HI..my name is Betsy and I'm a pencilholic!!
What's the address for that support group? I obviously need one. :o

And about the 513 people - folks at work know I'm partial to pencils - believe me!!!!

About that one little pink eraser - it now has an earth magnet glued inside and is now attached to the leg of my worktable. How long it stays there is anyone's guess!

[Carole Valentine]

I'm just wondering how many tapes you have?:D
BTW...ever tried one of those soft white vinyl artists erasers? They work much better than pink ones and don't smudge. Mine are Staedtler.

[Frank Pellow]

514 pencils WOW! I just looked in my (under construction but being used already) shop and all I could find was 2 pencils. There must be some good middle ground between 2 and 514.

And I agree with Carole, the white erasers are much much beter. I found 4 of those in the shop. Come the think of it, two times as many erasers as pencils is probably about the correct ratio for me.

[Jim Becker]

This was a great morning chuckle, Betsy! Thanks for sharing it. Of course, now I have to trot out to the shop to count my pencils, and I haven't had my latté yet... :D

[larry merlau]

hey betsy try using denatuerd alcohol on a dry paper towel to get the pencil marks off first before sanding. works well and will save many pink erasers :D i cant imagine 514 pencils how big of a pile was it? should have sent along a pic :eek:

[David LaRue]

Betsy,

I have a hard time keeping a couple of sharp pencils in the shop. I recently purchased a neat toy for sharpening them :) I don't really have room for a electric sharpener in my shop, and I haven't seen a good wallmounted one in years, so I got this gaget fits on the end of your electric drill and becomes your pencil sharpener! It doesn't break the leads like the ones kids use in there school bags.

No all you have to do is buy a few gross of pencil erasers fo those pencils :p

Dave

[Jim Becker]

I don't really have room for a electric sharpener in my shop, and I haven't seen a good wallmounted one in years, so I got this gaget fits on the end of your electric drill and becomes your pencil sharpener!
I got really lucky...the previous owners of this property were both school teachers and when I started building out the shop, I discovered one of those nice hand-crank pencil sharpeners that you can screw to the wall, etc. It's now mounted on one of the supports for my miter station and is very handy to touch up the points frequently. You do have to look hard to find them anymore...pencils are't kewel with a lot of folks!

[David LaRue]

Jim,


Your're fortunate to have a good old sharpener. My dad has a really nice old one from his grandfather. It is currently in his shop, an d the one I used to use when I was a kid. Perhaps I run across one day at a garage sale.:)

Dave

[Frank Pellow]

I have one of those old wall mounted mechanical sharpeners too. :) But, I can't find it. :( I am pretty sure that when I move the bulk of the stuff from my basement shop to my new shop that I will locate the sharpener.

[Wade Samuelson]

Hmmm, having spent a total of less than 40 hours in a woodshop, I probably have little to offer here, but I think I might have a little fix for you: Wear a baseball cap in the shop. When not using your pencil, slide it up between your head and your hat, just in front of your ear. When done for the day, stick the pencil in a hole in your peg board (or wherever you keep yours).

If you don't wear a hat but if your pants sag down in the back you could...oh never mind!!

[Ralph Morris]

MMMMM...where did that pencil go?:D

[Wade Samuelson]

And on a related note, if I had 500+ pencils in my little shop, there wouldn't be room for me to work!!!

I have a "Builder's Challenge" for you (we do that at my fishing site--it's called a "Fishing Challenge") Make something out of those 500+ pencils! (In a "Fishing Challenge" you challenge someone to catch a certain type of fish in a certain body of water. If they do it, you give them a little gift--nothing big, just something fishing-related to memorialize their keen effort).

And finally, to keep track of those pencils, do like they do for conveniance store restrooms. Put a length of swing set chain on your pencil, fastened to the lid of a 5-gallon bucket at the other end. You'll never lose another pencil!

I'm Wade Samuelson, and I approve this message.

[Michael Stafford]

I really like the idea of using a rare earth magnet on your pencil and sticking it somewhere so you can find it.

In my case I could stick it to the metal plate in my head. Now I know you're thinking, the REM will not stick to the plate 'cause it's made of stainless. Well it'll stick to mine cause it came from the fender of a '50 Ford. Couldn't afford to go to a doctor, had to do it myself and that was all I had... :eek:

[Brian Austin]

What impresses me most is that you actually took the TIME to count 514 pencils. I'd have looked at them and written them off as "a whole lot" of pencils, personally. :p

[Chip Wright]

Lee Valley sells those sharpeners, and pencils, too.

The sharpener:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32281&category=1,42936,42452

The pencils:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32538&category=1,42936,43509

No relationship to LV except as a satisfied customer.

[Betsy Yocum]

I'm just wondering how many tapes you have?:D
BTW...ever tried one of those soft white vinyl artists erasers? They work much better than pink ones and don't smudge. Mine are Staedtler.
Carole - I've used the white erasers and you're right they do work better. But pink - I can see - or so I thought! I have a neon extension cord for the sole purpose of seeing it - those orange and black ones are dangerous for me!!

I should have taken a picture of my pencil pile - but I'm not sure I wanted to be responsible for the laugh induced heart attacks of SMC faithful.

Now don't laugh at this (to hard anyway). I decided, as you might guess, that 514 pencils are just a shade to many pencils. (The idea when I opened my shop was to have a can of pencils on every wall -so there would always be a pencil - a can of 4 or 5 pencils.) So anyway, I sort the pencils - anything under 3" got deep sixed. That still left me with about 300 or so (I failed to count - sorry) I put ten pencils in every can on each wall - figured I'd give myself a jump start on the 500 again. I decided all the rest of the lot would go into my "I don't need this often, but when I do, I want to find it drawer."

Ok - so I open my drawer - and guess what I find - yep - I must really need a doctor - I have discovered I have some sort of fetish and didn't know it. More pencils - a gazillion. I had enough with the pencils - I bagged almost all of them up and dropped them off at the local library branch on my way to the store this morning - the city can save a few tax dollars!

The whole ordeal makes me not want to clean my shop again!:(

[Betsy Yocum]

"And finally, to keep track of those pencils, do like they do for conveniance store restrooms. Put a length of swing set chain on your pencil, fastened to the lid of a 5-gallon bucket at the other end. You'll never lose another pencil!"

I like that solution Wade!

Oh and Carole about those tapes - I have six tapes (eight if you don't count the two I carry in my bag back and forth to work - just never know when you have to measure something after all!).

Of course I also have 14 hammers - but in my defense most of those were inherited from an estate - I only use 13 of them!:rolleyes:

[Gredo Goldenstein]

I wonder if Delta or DeWalt has anything in its stable of machinery that could tackle a production run of sharpening 514 pencils? :D

I would be lost without my electric sharpener.

[Brian Hale]

Ok, now i'm real curious..... Do you collect anything else?

My better half says i have a problem collecting battery operated devices... Is 4 drills excessive???

Brian

[Betsy Yocum]

Ok, now i'm real curious..... Do you collect anything else?

My better half says i have a problem collecting battery operated devices... Is 4 drills excessive???

Brian
I collect a whole lot of wierd looks - how's that for a collection!!!!:eek:

I only have 4 drills to - so tell the LOYL that you're still sane - it's not till you have 7 or 8 that you may need help!

Brian - I could not resist knowing just how many pencils I had this morning - remember it was real early and I could not do anything to noisy - so counting was quite!:)

[Brian Hale]

Betsy,
I greatly appreaciate your humor! You made my day, thanks!

Brian :D

[Betsy Yocum]

Betsy,
I greatly appreaciate your humor! You made my day, thanks!

Brian :D
Glad I could start your weekend with a laugh!!:p

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

I still have an old hand crank in my former shop, although the clear eisinglass windows are gone. Still works great.

[JayStPeter]

Lee Valley sells those sharpeners, and pencils, too.

The sharpener:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=2&page=32281&category=1,42936,42452



I have that same sharpener in my shop. It works as well as the older ones from school days. You can buy that same Sanford "Giant" sharpener at most office supply places (though the LV price is good). I got mine just a couple years ago.
The quality is obviously not as nice as the 50's-70's versions, but still functions well. The front ring is plastic, and the metal of the frame and handle kind of wimpy. But, the sharpening mechanism itself looks very similar to the old ones. Don't bother with the vaccum mount version, I tried that one and wasn't impressed with the holding power of the vaccum mechanism.

Jay

[Frank Pellow]

I have one of those old wall mounted mechanical sharpeners too. :) But, I can't find it. :( I am pretty sure that when I move the bulk of the stuff from my basement shop to my new shop that I will locate the sharpener.

I am hapyy to say that the pencil sharpener has been located and it is already in use in my new shop. I must thank my wife Margaret for finding it. She heard me grumbling about not having it, bravely ventured into the mess of my old shop, and located the sharpener with 5 minutes -amazing!