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Pencils and Tape Measures

Started by metalspinner, July 25, 2012, 09:34:46 AM

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metalspinner

Where have they all gone?!?

Over the years, I must have purchased hundreds of pencils.  They get sharpened once then disappear in the workshop.
A friend was over working in the shop last week and mentioned I should use mechanical pencils. "Yeah, right. I can't afford to loose mechanical pencils." :D

Tape measures are another one of those disappearing items.  The last one I bought was very small just so I could fit it in my pocket.  I haven't seen that one for months. ::) My wife gets freebie stuff like tape measures all the time at trade shows and those just go into the black hole never to be seen again. ::)

A couple weeks ago, I was unstacking one of the large stickered stacks out back. Guess what was on the ground between the timbers. 8) 8)  My long lost Fat Max 16'er. 8)
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Jeff

I'm pretty sure that Tammy has all the pencils horded in her closet.  I found our 25 foot Stanley tape in the cabin on the of a beam this last fall where it had been since 2006.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

thecfarm

I do pretty good with pencils,I have 2-3 sharpened and 3-4 that has never been used. I probably have 10 tape measures,2 are what I call good ones and the other 8 are just cheap ones.At one time I had a hard time finding one. I am doing better now. I had no idea I had 10 tape measures until I started to get them all in one place. Scissors are my thing. We use to use a heavy type at work. they got rid of them and I got about 12 pair. Lucky to find 2 at any given time.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Lud

Golf pencils go to the barn for compasses or you can drill a bigger dowel to plug them in.  I also buy a slug of the yellow ones around back to school time.  I prefer to sharpen a pencil with a chisel.  A sharp chisel can put a nice long point on a pencil.

Tapes?  When HF has a sale I grab a few.  You can usually look around and see the bright  green ones. ;D
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

giant splinter

Tapes and pencils around here are like sunglasses "the more I pay for them the faster they get destroyed or lost".
roll with it

hackberry jake

Quote from: giant splinter on July 25, 2012, 11:18:14 AM
Tapes and pencils around here are like sunglasses "the more I pay for them the faster they get destroyed or lost".
Amen to that! A couple years ago I had 4 Stanleys and 4 cheapies. Now I have one Stanley and five cheapies. Go figure
https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

Bogue Chitto

I only buy the cheep tapes.  I will buy one put it down in front of me with a chain and rope tide on it.  Turn around and it is gone. ::) :D

SwampDonkey

I never seem to loose any of that stuff.  :D :D I put stuff back. And I will use a pencil until it's been sharpened enough times I can hardly hang on to it. :D I've still got a pencil right here from when I worked one summer (1989) at Forestry Canada, still has a good amount of erasure on it. :D

If your gonna talk about'm.....  ;D

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

hackberry jake

I don't think I have anything left from 1989.... Of course I was 4  ;D
https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

metalspinner

SD,
That right there looks like a quality ERC pencil to me. Your pencil sharpener looks like it could use a good sharpening, though. :D

Here's my pencil sharpener...



 

;D
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

WDH

When I work with Jake, I see that he has stashed tape measures everywhere.  He attacks the problem with sheer volume.  There is one on the post of the mill.  One on his belt.  One on the edger table.  One on the truck tailgate.  A stash in the tool box.  When you get in the passenger's side of his truck to ride, you will find yourself sitting on a tape measure  :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Magicman

It seems that Jake always measures up.   smiley_thumbsup
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

SwampDonkey

Quote from: metalspinner on July 25, 2012, 09:32:02 PM
SD,
That right there looks like a quality ERC pencil to me. Your pencil sharpener looks like it could use a good sharpening, though. :D


Yeah, that could be. The ones you twist into the sharpener are never much good anyway. Always liked those wall mounted ones, but I have resorted to a sharp carving knife in the shop. Leave the twisty ones at the house, so the curls of wood aren't on the floor. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Overlength

They might go the same place the one sock out of each pair of socks goes. I bought a tape measure for each room to fix problem, and plenty more socks, but still have the same problem after about 2 weeks. Where's my tape, and what happen to my other sock? :o
Woodmizer LT30, Solar Kiln 400 bf

blackfoot griz

Years ago, I bought a "Fat Max" tape when building our new (then) house. The second day I owned it, Max simply disappeared. Several days later I found it while cutting some tall grass...with the mower blade.  It kind of exploded in mid air--the two halves of the case splitting  going different directions and the tape unfurling inbetween.

Bogue Chitto

Right, Blackfoot, I have found many lost things with the mower.  :o ::)

sandhills

Anyone on here who's put new knives and a shear bar in a silage cutter knows how much fun it is to find the tool you lost while working on the windrower with the cutter  :'(.  My old boss found his hammer that way, luckily it was his son that left it laying on the windrower and not me.

redbeard

 

   these retractable clip on your overall or shirt pocket pencil holders are very handy keeps them from getting teeth marks. Even though one shown must have been used before I bought the handy device.
Whidbey Woodworks and Custom Milling  2019 Cooks AC 3662T High production band mill and a Hud-son 60 Diesel wide cut bandmill  JD 2240 50hp Tractor with 145 loader IR 1044 all terrain fork lift  Cooks sharp

sparky1

I would never buy any other tape meausre besides a 25' Fat Max. Im in the trades and it is always on me.  As far as pencils go, i dont always have one on me. when vendeors come around to job sites the salemans always drop off carpentry pencils. so thats what I use.  I do always have a Sharpie on me though (when I dont misplace it)!! 8)
Shaun J

CHARLIE

I lose pencils all the time. I always have, but came up with a very good solution.  At the beginning of each school year when packages of pencils are cheap, I buy a bunch, sharpen them and put them all in a plastic pencil box in my workbench drawer.  When I can't find my pencil, I don't look for it but just get another one. It saves time and pretty soon I have enough pencils scattered about that if I lose one I'll see another one. Problem solved.  :) 
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

PC-Urban-Sawyer

Charlie,

Sounds like how I handle screwdrivers!  8)

Of course I haven't found the economical twenty-four pack of #2 Phillips yet...  >:(

Herb

clww

I buy pencils on sale just before the school year starts, too. I try to have at least 10 tape measures around. Another thing I never have enough of are utility knives. And time. There's never enough of that one, either.
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: CHARLIE on August 04, 2012, 12:44:01 AM
and pretty soon I have enough pencils scattered about that if I lose one I'll see another one. Problem solved.  :)

:D :D :D   smiley_thumbsup
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

breederman

Its funny that this is the first thread I read after a too long absence from the forum. I havent done much wood working since I finished a half log rustic coffee table for my daughter last Christmas. I started a slab top for a treadle sewing machine base to be used as an end table last week. It only took fifteen minutes to find a tape measure. Didnt ned a pencil for that project.
Today I made two small boxes for said daughters wedding to hold rose petals. Took twenty minutes looking for a pencil before asking my wife for one. Now I am off to find some grape vine to make handles out of that should be easier to find than my pencil.
Together we got this !

Al_Smith

Tapes I probabley have at least a dozen 25 footers and might be lucky to find two at any given time .I buy round cedar pencils in tubes of 25 .Sharpen them with a knife .

Larry

I don't know if it is Oldsheimer kicking in or what, but in the last few years I have actually been wearing out tape measures.

Went looking for a re-fill for the 16' Fat Max last month and none could be found.  Guess buying a re-fill is a thing of the past now that I'm wearing them out. :o
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

tyb525

Used to be FatMax tapes were made in the USA, but that is not longer I think. I dropped my first 25 footer right on the hook on concrete one day, I could never get it bent back right, so I had to buy a new one.

Used to be if you broke or wore out one of their tapes they would replace it for free, but I don't think they do that anymore either.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

WDH

Charlie,

If I did what you do, I would be walking on pencils in the shop  ;D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Lud

WD,
             You wouldn't step on them, you'd pick them up like if you saw a penny on the ground,  and then you carry them into the house and put them on the shelf above your overalls.  That's the stash you carry out to the shop when the pile gets big enough and you remember, in the morning,  that you couldn't find a pencil the other day! ;D ;D
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

CHARLIE

WDH, that's the point.  Get enough pencils laying around that you'll always have one handy......even if they are on the floor. :D 
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

PC-Urban-Sawyer

Quote from: CHARLIE on August 08, 2012, 10:48:20 PM
WDH, that's the point.  Get enough pencils laying around that you'll always have one handy......even if they are on the floor. :D

Charlie,

With my luck I'd trip on one, fall and break my neck!

Herb

jimparamedic

I just ask my wife. It never fails when I work on something she trys to be helpful and clean up. then I can't find anything.

submarinesailor

Quote from: jimparamedic on August 09, 2012, 10:48:40 AM
I just ask my wife. It never fails when I work on something she trys to be helpful and clean up. then I can't find anything.

I know that feeling very well. ::) ::) ::)

Bruce

Al_Smith

I think in most cases that "help with clean up " is a universal problem .I once took two years to locate a coffee can full chainsaw carbs because of a deal like that .

Sixacresand

The pencil deal is like golf balls:  If you have more than when you started, then you have had a good day.  Personally, I rather look for a pencil than a golf ball.
"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

CHARLIE

Make sure you buy bright colored pencils. Don't buy any camo pencils. ;D
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Magicman

Chris just found his tape measure in his lumber stack, just above the Walnut slab that will become his next project.   :D
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

metalspinner

I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

tcsmpsi

It has been some time since I know if I've lost a pencil or tape.  I finally just got enough of each, (I can appreciate Jake's 'method') that no matter where I go looking for one, there will be one on the way, somewhere.   ;D
\\\"In the end, it is a moral question as to whether man applies what he has learned or not.\\\" - C. Jung

isawlogs

 I have a dozen bright green ones.. and a few of its brothers in the chrome verson, now you'd think that that shiny chrome would stand out ... But it don't it reflects its entourage and dissapears its worst then a camo coloured tape. Pencils I gave up and just buy them by the handfull and have them every where, some get to the electric sharpener, others get the belt sander, others make do with my knife.
  Wife 101.2.  She can come and help, she even comes in and does work and does a mess.. but she cannot put any tool away, she can clean up the mess, but tools stay on the bench.  ;)  I'll deal with my tools.  :)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

CHARLIE

Another thing I found handy at those "Back To School" sales is plastic pencil boxes. Usually they sell for about a buck but when I find them on sale for 50¢, I'd buy a few.  I keep my pencil supply in one, but they are good for a lot of other small items. Great storage for a small price. Plus you can see what is in the box without opening it. :)
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

tyb525

I would lose the box then all my pencils would be gone ::) That or I would somehow manage to destroy it, like by stepping on it or something stupid like that :D
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

SwampDonkey

I keep mine in the box they come in. When needed, I just reach in the box. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

isawlogs

Quote from: SwampDonkey on August 14, 2012, 05:13:13 PM
I keep mine in the box they come in. When needed, I just reach in the box. ;)

    You sound like my wife  ::) ::)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

WDH

Mine are all standing in a tall plastic cup on a table.  When they are all gone, I have to go on a pencil hunt and return all the little vagabonds that I can find  :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

metalspinner

I've discovered part of my problem the other day.  Two sets of grubby little hands making off with my new pencils. :D  I'm gonna have to start stashing them in secret hiding spots. ::)
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

pigman

Chris, you need to wash your hands. I didn't notice you had small hands. ;D
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

isawlogs

 Use the new research center as your secret stash spot  ;D
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Don_Papenburg

We fixed the pencil problem last year at the Farm Progress show .  my wife and Iwent into the O'Riley's booth and the guy found out that she was a teacher and he told her to hold on and he dug around and gave her big box of pencils .  Might have been 500 of them sticks all told. 8)
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

1woodguy

I have about 400pencils with  Flower Patterns all around them!
Wrote pencils on a list one day ,

Wife found packages. With 150 to a pack
Got comments several times about them,But noticed when working with other guys they don't disappear as fast
Experience is a rough teacher first you get the test later comes the lesson!

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