Being a frugal sort of a guy, it has always bothered me that once a carpenter’s pencil gets sharpened down to about 2-1/2-in., it becomes impossible to retrieve from the pencil pocket on my nail bag. I’ve been throwing these stubs into a corner of my toolbox for quite some time, hoping to find a use for them. Then I finally realized that I could butt a couple of the stubs together at their square ends and wrap them with duct tape to create a double-ended pencil (see drawing). I keep one end sharp for fine work; the other stays blunt for coarse work — sort of like Granddad’s double-bitted ax. When my double-ender eventually becomes a stub, I can toss it with a somewhat clearer conscience.
Tom LaRue, Sequim, WA