Basic Lesson, well taught.

  I taught elementary school for fourteen years, half a life time ago, or maybe in a previous life.  But I did teach and to this day I admire people that are good instructors.  In woodworking there are often people that can do wonderful work but can't teach or explain to save their lives.  Luckily we have some very good people giving demonstrations at wood shows and in store promotions, and we have the internet.  It is common for me to stomp and swear about my computer, printer, phone, camera, whatever, in the course of my week but....I would really miss having access to all the great available material on the net.

    How to sharpen a pencil! How many times has our work been effected by our use of a dull pencil?  If you are framing a house, the width of the pencil line is not critical, if you are marking dove tails, the width of the pencil is the different between a jewelry box and a junk box for misc. screws. 

  Take a look at this carefully planned, well produced video on "How to sharpen a Pencil".  Wouldn't it be great if all the instructors you encountered in life were this good!!

   This style of pencil is a good idea, but you still need to touch up the tip with a chisel if you plan to make fine lines.  I usually have a couple of these flat "carpenter's pencils" kicking around my shop.  I have one that I glued sand paper to so I could reach into a tight spot one time and in a pinch one of these can be used as a push stick.  The bottom line however, the pencil has to be sharp and paring it with a chisel really does a good job.