After years, earlier this month I finally took a vacation. I traveled to Appalachia to pick up a week’s worth of hand tools only wood framing class with Mr. Chickadee. It was absolutely fantastic.
Under MC’s instructions, millwork cutting is simple, but relies on precision measuring and marking. This in turn requires a sharp pencil. I was constantly sharpening the thing with a chisel. And because you’re using heavy hand tools and the pencil is fragile, you really have to be careful where you put it; civilization supply and stationery stores are miles and miles away.
After my return, out of curiosity, I looked for pencils that were durable and permanently sharp. Asian carpenters whose MC techniques teach use sharpened bamboo shoots dipped in ink: What’s the most practical and modern solution? What I found was awesome Mechanical pencil moduleby a design company based in Taipei 22Workshop:
A stainless steel cap protects the tip during transport. The Gross cement (French for “raw concrete”) the aesthetic is beautiful. The company has designed a whole range of writing instruments using it.
Each piece takes 14 days to make with their curing process, and the prices are high accordingly: the pencil is $80, the rollerball $100, and the fountain pen $150. A little out of reach for me, but maybe one day….
