Pencil-Topped Boxes

Video HERE

This is something I think most woodworkers dabble with at least once, so I thought it was about time that I did. As usual this was a learning experience, and the one thing I really learned was that even my best glue is no match for resin.

The process I used was not really the best choice, many of those who came before me have proven the correct way to work here, but I have a few tips for anyone endeavouring to take on the pencil!

• When you have a couple of packs of pencils you can work out the rough area they'll cover by bundling 9 in a 3x3 diamond. Push the ends flat onto a scrap of paper and draw around the shape. Measuring the height x length will give you an area per 9 pencils. Find the area of your box and divide by that number, then multiply by 9 to tell you how many pieces you'll need to cover. This is a rough estimate, but unless you decide to wrap the sides like I did it should be close enough.
• Cutting one pencil at a time is tedious, so I chose to bundle them together with masking tape - so that I could draw on the measurements required. This works well enough, but try to avoid making big thick bundles. Ideally no more than 2 high so that each piece will be held together by the tape and not be a loose chunk that could cause issues.
• YES, wear breathing protection. I do not know what goes in to the pencil lead, but I would rather not be colouring my lungs.
• I have kept the pencil tips separate for a future project, but if you can get some non-sharpened ones you benefit from extra usable length.
• If you decide to cover the sides of your boxes you can either sand back one face of each piece or split off half the wood like I did. I didn't show it on camera, but I used the scroll saw to cut half-way through the pencil's width first to stop it splitting all the way down.
• When gluing these to your box I would suggest initially using glue, then filling the gaps with resin - if you have a vacuum pot that will certainly help to get rid of any bubbles and guarantee a solid piece.
• If you haven't got resin - or don't think you have enough like I did - then be prepared to lose some pieces in the sanding phase. Perhaps if I'd used a detail sander or tried to do this by hand it would have reduced the amount I lost, but I frankly don't have the time or energy for all that sanding. I have learned that you never lose just one piece, they tend to come in blocks where, perhaps, your gluing was a little weaker. Luckily, most of my pieces didn't go far so I was able to replace them all - and then use a little resin to solidify the bond.
• Although not such a problem with the machine sanding, I did find that when hand-sanding the paint around the pencils curled back into the holes and needed to be cut off - particularly with the circular pencils as the gaps between were bigger (and the hexagonal ones slotted quite tightly) This would obviously not have been a problem if I'd used resin to make a solid block, but live and learn.
• Pencil ends are always end-grain so finishing can be difficult. I went up to 120, washed with white spirit, then 180 grit before applying water-based varnish. 4 rounds of sanding and varnish really didn't cut it, so I resorted to spray varnish, which covers most defects in just 2 coats.

I have learned much in the process of this project, not least that resin really is the cure to most gluing applications... but there are always new plans in the works and I will certainly be trying again in the future.