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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsDo you still use pencils? If so, for what?
I still mark stuff in a book calendar, with those little squares for days, which is the way I visualize days, weeks, months.
However, I am old and set in my ways.
Is there any use of pencils anymore (except for me and I am old)?
True Dough
(25,817 posts)ear is feeling lonely, I slide a pencil behind it.
Ocelot II
(129,009 posts)CTyankee
(67,783 posts)Ocelot II
(129,009 posts)Ilsa
(63,813 posts)I haven't been there in awhile. Do some musicians carry their work this way?
Ocelot II
(129,009 posts)Having all your music on an iPad instead of paper copies in a folder is convenient if you're in a concert consisting of multiple scores.
Ilsa
(63,813 posts)of breaking it, running out of charge, etc!
AllaN01Bear
(28,587 posts)TomSlick
(12,878 posts)They idea is to erase the chart before turning it in Of course, that never happens.
SheltieLover
(76,717 posts)Ps - remember, only 2 pencils allowed...
BOSSHOG
(44,730 posts)Try doing them without clues
SheltieLover
(76,717 posts)Lol
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)since I end up throwing it against the wall in disgust and I hate people who claim to finish it!
likesmountains 52
(4,250 posts)bucolic_frolic
(53,998 posts)I use pencils because there are some around my house. I inherited them mostly. But last week I salvaged a long pencil from the parking lot. It had been run over a few times, but after sharpening I've got more than 1/2 a pencil.
What do I use them for? The cost of pens is through the roof! What was Write Bros Dollar Tree package is $4.49. Gel $6.99.
So for making disposable lists, pencils are the way to go.
I too use a booklet calendar. $Tree version. I got the last one, buried beneath all the others. Two years' worth! Can hardly find them.
The paperwork of one's life troubles me. I have calendars going back to about age 12. What will become of them? I have relatives papers, some from the 1920s, 1950-the aughts '00s. My niece doesn't care about her parent's papers.
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)my large screen computer (yes, I do have one. Is there something wrong with that, too?).
bucolic_frolic
(53,998 posts)Bolted to the wall. Pinch the spring-loaded top to allow the pencil to enter the grinding cones.
bucolic_frolic
(53,998 posts)democrank
(12,121 posts)My sharpener has a rubber base that adheres to a flat surface when you use the metal lever.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,452 posts)figure out where to find them.
Haggard Celine
(17,678 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,452 posts)expensive an electric sharpener is. Oh, well, the front office where I live has a sharpener, and they let me use it.
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)Every page contains a month with the little squares for days of the week and holidays where the day of the week is in red. At a glance I can see where I am in the week and how long it is til Xmas and where I can see my doctor's appointments and I can anticipate deadlines ahead of time. This is how I visualize time.
debm55
(55,602 posts)Raven123
(7,527 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,737 posts)I do, however, favor mechanical pencils over the wooden ones.
WestMichRad
(2,922 posts)Wood pencils. Especially to sketch out plans in my workshop.
Response to WestMichRad (Reply #16)
CTyankee This message was self-deleted by its author.
dem4decades
(13,660 posts)PJMcK
(24,730 posts)I use Pentel 0.9 mm mechanical pencils using 2B leads (soft and dark). Years ago, I used Blackwing 502 pencils but they got too expensive and needed constant sharpening. Leonard Bernstein used the Blackwings to compose music and kept the used stubs in a big Chinese bowl because his creativity flowed through them.
The mechanical pencils are used for writing and arranging music, keeping my calendar and writing notes to myself. My erasers are some of my closest friends because they remove my mistakes. I also use the pencils for keeping a journal (on land) and a logbook (afloat and on nautical charts).
Rebl2
(17,388 posts)sister told me years ago she uses a pencil to make entries in her checkbook. Guess I am crazy because I use a pen. Yes I still have a checkbook and balance it every month.
True Dough
(25,817 posts)
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)It's so bad it's funny for that imagery alone!
Diamond_Dog
(39,757 posts)And we have a 1960s era hand crank pencil sharpener bolted to the wall down in the cellar by his work bench.
ret5hd
(22,183 posts)just in case im in an office with those white ceiling tiles then i throw one up and stick it in there.
CrispyQ
(40,665 posts)Bobstandard
(2,181 posts)Youve got to have something to mark a cut when youve measured for it. A pencil remains the best, lowest cost, option.
Bayard
(28,528 posts)And I use them for sketching.
karynnj
(60,775 posts)Like you, I use them on a paper calendar that I regularly compare to a goggle calendar. I also create a dinner menu/grocery list before shopping each week. Doing it in pencil, I include anything I am not sure is in the pantry. When complete I check anything marked as unsure if I have it.
Also, there are times I try to figure things out using mathematical/logical skills from my past. Pencil is ALWAYS better for that.
Most lists of things I want to accomplish are in pencil so they can be revised
For complicated, many dish meals, I always use pencil to create a "plan". The plan is written for everything to be ready at T. Each recipe is essentially broken down to prep that can be done earlier, main cooking, and finishing. Main cooking includes when relative to T something should start cooking, where (oven, stovetop, air fryer, instapot), temperature. Finishing is just to have a convenient list of last minute garnishes etc. Doing this in ink would be a mess as I often make changes to make things work better.
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)the first thing you do when you plan to bake a cake is make of list of ingredients you need (then you gotta make the plan to get to the supermarket to buy them....)
Grocery lists on refrigerator magnet pad, mathematics. Good ole Ticonderoga no. 2 pencils.
markie
(23,833 posts)building, wood working..... measure twice, cut once
RockRaven
(18,687 posts)Mechanical and regular, not as much. I still keep them around all the time, but am more likely to use a pen.
KitFox
(506 posts)drawing, doodling, list making, checkbook register, marking practice passages on sheet music, among multiple other uses. Im a retired 32 year elementary school teacher, so its in my DNA!😁
GPV
(73,369 posts)BlueWaveNeverEnd
(12,804 posts)HappyH
(174 posts)Army recruiter pencils are the best, the point is durable and the mark is dark. I have a couple of hand crank Boston sharpeners, but the pencils in the shop usually get sharpened with a knife.
I'm a artist, of sorts.
Maninacan
(215 posts)I use Blackwing pencils to do my crossword and some sketching. Luxury i can afford.
intheflow
(29,986 posts)We make weekly scavenger hunts for the kids. They write their answers with pencils, which can be erased when they inevitably transcribe their answers.
doc03
(38,820 posts)record them in my checkbook. I write notes to myself.
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)doc03
(38,820 posts)A few years ago I remember they made erasable ink pens. I don't see them anymore probably people ran into trouble with
them.
LuckyCharms
(21,696 posts)To scribe a piece of wood to an irregular, or non-square surface.
bamagal62
(4,350 posts)Drawing and crossword puzzles.
All sizes and textures. Lots of paper.
it's a good winter for that
mahatmakanejeeves
(68,196 posts)Trueblue Texan
(4,186 posts)Phoenix61
(18,702 posts)It helps me write a little neater and I need all the help I can get.
Rastapopoulos
(724 posts)Emile
(40,568 posts)chia
(2,751 posts)reminders on post-it notes, calendar entries for appointments... I can't imagine not using a pencil. I like being able to erase mistakes, rearrange, re-imagine.
Xavier Breath
(6,470 posts)It's in my pen holder with a bunch of pens and a marker or two. It is unsharpened and since I don't own sharpener it may go forever unused.
LogDog75
(1,100 posts)Usually for taking short notes or marking some boards to cut. The pencils I have are fat ones because that's the only one's I've found. I prefer slender pencils because they feel better in my hand.
Tikki
(15,029 posts)or write a thought down.
Pencils work just fine for everything except checks which should be written and signed in permanent ink'
Tikki
CTyankee
(67,783 posts)Randomthought
(992 posts)Knitting patterns. Also making knitting charts on graph paper.
OldBaldy1701E
(10,149 posts)My TTRPG games require a lot of changes and corrections to the players sheet, so we will always need pencils.
I also need them for drafting things. I am not a drafter, but I do use them for such.
I am a loyal Dixon Ticonderoga user. They have always been my go to pencil!
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ProfessorGAC
(75,839 posts)I use one when I substitute to put a little mark on the seating chart for kids absent.
Once I transcribe the name, I can erase my little mark & not mess up the real teacher's seating chart.
Other than that, I don't think I've used a pencil in years & years.
Even when I worked in the lab, everything was in pen. If we made a mistake, we needed to strike it, rewrite & initial the change, so there were no erasures in the record.
That same requirement applied to manufacturing later under our interpretation of ISO requirements.
No pencils; no white-out allowed.
electric_blue68
(25,796 posts)or possibly craft related.
Ziggysmom
(4,041 posts)my teeth marks