Comments on: 31- Pencil Holders

By: Ross Ekberg

Ross Ekberg — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:38:34 +0000

This is a good idea. Maybe this Xmas…

By: Frank Speyerer

Frank Speyerer — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:42:02 +0000

I finally made a few pencil boxes…three years after the original post. Thanks Marc for your video. I’m a slow starter.

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:10:07 +0000

Yup, you can cut them at once if you like.

By: brendan

brendan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:06:34 +0000

do i have to cut the miters in individual pieces are can i cut them in one piece

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:46:11 +0000

That is certainly a viable option Gary. And it might be safer, depending on your technique. For me, I like the smaller pieces because I can run them across the tablesaw with my paddle in the same position the entire time and with equal pressure across the board. If I try the same technique across a longer piece, I will surely wind up putting more pressure at the point where the paddle rests, leaving me with a slightly less consistent cut. Not how much of a difference does that make in the final result? Probably not much. But when dealing with miters, I like to get them as accurate as possible. So for me, that was the most logical way to get the job done. You might find your method to work better than mine. So just use what you are comfortable with. I am sure the results will be good either way.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:36:47 +0000

Marc

Kudos for all your efforts to share some woodworking knowledge.

I’m curious as to why you didn’t rip the miters before crosscutting to length? If a pencil holder comes out of one piece, that’d be 2 cuts instead of 8; if out of 2 pieces, 4 rather than 8.
It’s possibly safer too albeit I have no empirical data to support that thought.

Merry Christmas,
Gary

By: Jordan

Jordan — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:08:40 +0000

I made one of these pencil holders, but shorter so it can hold Q-Tips in the bathroom. I made mine yesterday, before watching this video. Loved the tape trick to help with the glue-up of the side. I just used a rubber roller to get a very thin layer of glue and used rubber bands to apply clamping pressure. The other thing I did differently was to create a dado in the base to accept the box-top. That also helped with a place to put the box-top assembly and keep it squared-up while the glue for the miters dried. I used the TS to cut the dados, and as a result, my dados are cut all the way through. Would love to see a procedure for routing a stopped dado to do this. I’m thinking router table using stop blocks and starting with a plunge cut…but the math makes my head hurt! Thanks for a great video!!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:17:52 +0000

Marc, I just completed my first five pencil holders. They are going to be xmas gifts for friends and family. I used poplarfor the sides and oak for the base.The only thing I did differently was use hot melt glue to attach the sides to the base.I cannot believe the constant nit picking on this site,can’t they use common sense and realize that every craftsman in every shop or jobsite does not require safety glasses,earplugs,dustmask and a clamp to pare a small piece of woodsuch as that. Do these people drive over the speed limit?

By: thewoodwhisperer

thewoodwhisperer — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:20:06 +0000

Hey Anderson. Although you should always be concerned about wood movement across the grain, in this case it is negligible. The smaller the piece is, the less of an issue movement becomes. So in these smaller pieces we can sometimes break the rules. I have made numerous pencil holders like this that have lived in Southern California and Arizona and there have been zero adverse effects. You certainly could run the grain horizontally if you prefer, but I really prefer the look of a vertical grain orientation in this design.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:37:28 +0000

Marc,

I noticed that the grain on the box sides were running vertical. Don’t you need to worry about the wood moving horizontally across the grain and blowing out your joints? I am just getting started, and I was wondering if I needed to have the grain run horizontally. That way if the wood moves, all 4 sides will move together.

Thanks for the great videos! Keep up the good work.

Anderson