A Simple Tip for Accurate Pencil Tracing
George VondriskaIt’s common practice to use a pencil to trace one part onto another. However, it's not exactly the perfect tool, and it can be difficult to keep the tip from skipping across your surface or keep the tip flush against the piece you're tracing. It's easy to lose a bit of accuracy when pencil tracing and end up with a jagged shape.
In this video, George Vondriska shows you a simple trick for getting the most accurate pencil tracings.
A Little Sanding Goes a Long Way
To improve the accuracy of your pencil tracing, grab your belt sander and press your sharpened pencil sideways against the sandpaper. Hold it firmly until about half of the pencil has been sanded away. This will create a flat side that can be used to guarantee a flush fit against the item you're tracing, giving you a smoother, more accurate shape every time. Genius!
Did you like this quick tip? Check out these other great shop tips to get the most out of your time in the workshop!
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3 Responses to “A Simple Tip for Accurate Pencil Tracing”
When you need to trace something, and we want the thing we're making to be exactly the same size as the thing we're tracing. Here's what I run into with a pencil is that, as I'm trying to trace this, where do I get my pencil so that when the wood is riding the thing, the lead is in just the right spot to keep me in plane, to keep me aligned? So here's a really simple solution to this that'll give you more accuracy. Instead of doing this and jig-jagging with the pencil, do a little of this. Now, when I come here and trace.
Creating that flat spot right in line with the lead gives me perfect alignment from that edge down to the pencil line, and makes this a lot easier. I don't have to try to pinch the pencil, and more accurate. So it's a stupid simple little trick, and once you have a couple of those laying around your shop, you're gonna end up finding a bunch of places where you use those when you're doing this kinda tracing and layout.
You only touched on the art of tracing. There are too many factors to consider to list here, but the main point is that it's not possible to totally duplicate anything. If you're following a template, the trace will always be on the outside. You still have to cut it out and smooth it. The final result is unlikely to be identical. If exactness is critical for your project, your best bet is using a router pattern bit when that's safe and practical but the bit mars and gradually wears out the template. Tracing for inlays is another issue when there is no existing template.
Now you have ruined the pencil for anymore use because it can no longer be sharpened.
I have found that a mechanical pencil with a fine lead works best. It always sharp!