Hands-On: C.H. Hanson’s Superpencil
By Sean O'HaraConclusions
We used the Superpencil a great deal and were impressed by the dark marks it made and the shear amount of graphite composite contained in each pencil. The inability to make an accurate line right on a straight edge bit us in the rear more than once, though. As we mentioned, sharpening the pencil fixed that issue. But that does tend to reduce the long-life benefit a bit.
Without question it’s a good pencil that’ll last a long time even if you sharpen one end. Just be sure to wash your hands afterwards, because the lead gets all over everything — including you.
Superpencil [C.H. Hanson]
Street Pricing [Google Product Search]
November 16th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I just started using a mechanical carpenter’s pencil from Husky, Love it!
November 16th, 2007 at 11:55 am
I don’t care if it lasts a long time, because any pencil I am using disappears as soon as I put it down.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Doesn’t seem like you could get a nice sharp line.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Well said Tom! I’ve never ended a project with the same pencil I started with….especially when my father-in-law helps out. “Hey I need a pecil, gimme yours!”
November 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Um….wouldn’t sharpening the pencil be the FIRST thing you would do?
November 16th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
In re: the disappearing pencil mystery:
When I was in music school, I used to lose pencils all the time; everyone uses pencils to mark their music, take notes, etc. I’m pretty forgetful, so I’d leave pencils sitting in the practice rooms all the time, and I’d loan pencils out all the time and never get them back.
My solution was simple: I went to OfficeMax and bought an entire gross of relatively nice, solid wood, #2 pencils. It wasn’t very expensive (I think $6-7), and from then on I didn’t have to worry about pencils walking away on me, because at 4 cents a piece, who cares? Whenever I loaned pencils out, I told people to keep them; after a while, I noticed that I was losing fewer and fewer pencils.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I’ve done the same thing Tony, except I just grab a box of golf pencils. They’re short so they fit right behind your ear, pre sharpened, and nobody wants to steal them. If you’ve got the time to sharpen a whole bunch of pencils, then get the regular ones and cut them in half, then you have 2 gold pencil sized pencils, and one has an eraser. During college, I used a drafting lead holder almost exclusively. If you don’t make mistakes then you don’t need an eraser.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Hey Dave i just cut all the erasers off all the pencils in the house and it’s driving my other half nuts.I tell her i am perfect.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Same here, Tony. Except the mechanical pencils were my weapon of choice in music school (still are). Bought a metric crap-ton of those.
November 17th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I’m with newguy, I thik a mechanical pencil it the way to go, just buy a cheap multi-pack, and litter them all over your shop so you have one everywhere you look.
1) You also don’t have to worry about rolling because they have a pen clip.
2) Wasting time sharpening pencils is a thing of the past.
3) You can push the lead back into the pencil and use the metal barrel as a scribe.
4) The small 0.5mm lead is great for accuracy.
November 18th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
I hate pencils, but I found a writing utensil that uses liquid graphite. It’s just like using ball-point pen, but with graphite instead of ink. Probably not the best woodshop item, but with its uses nonetheless.
November 18th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Check out the Superpencil’s glorious promo poster:
http://hardwareaisle.thisoldhouse.com/2007/07/the-wood-less-s.html
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Other tools you could use are PDA’s! Why bother with pencils when IT can help all the construction industry including sub contractors from estimating to managing staff!
Check out http://www.xsien.com for some of the best construction management software available.