Stick-Pencil

I saw this concept on a trip to Tate modern art gallery in London, These natural pencils were on sale for £7/$15, i really liked the idea but i thought the price was ridiculous for something so simple. After about 30 minutes of work i had made my own natural Stick-Pencil.

This project is very simple to do but it is incredibly rewarding, you get to make something that you can customize and actually use, it's better than a regular pencil because it looks great and it feels good in your hand.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

This project is very simple and it can be done in many ways, if you do not have the exact tools on this list, don't worry , just use something similar or improvise.

Tools

• Secateurs (garden scissors)
• Gardening gloves
• Sandpaper
• A Pencil (thicker the graphite the better)
• Drill (can be any type)
• Glue
• A Stick

Comments

[KottonKandy]

Ok, so just to save space on the comment page, and to save my fingers, if you want to find out how i would describe your 'ible go to Thesaurus.com and search awsome. The 500 words that will come up, also meaning awsome, are not enough to describe JUST how awsome this is :)

[bassclarinet23]

That's pretty cool. It probably works for pens too.

[Colonel88]

Cool pencil.

[bullet-head]

This works great with: http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-make-charcoal-pencils/ , Keep it up!

[benz_z]

great -ible, tate modern eh how did ya like the urinal on display?

[Whaleman]

I saw that, didn't like it much. Did you also see the all white canvas? Art used to be a skill; something that was admired because most people couldn't do what the artists could.

[benz_z]

ya there should be like a rule or something cause any 3 yr old can make modern art there even was a story of a sculptures base being sent separate and the people who put it together got the base first and only put the base on display

[penciling]

The 2mm leads used by draftsmen and artists in lead holders are about the same diameter as the typical pencil lead. Staedtler, Faber-Castell, Sanford, Helix, KOH-I-NOOR and Alvin are among the best-known manufacturers whose leads are sold in most artist, hobby and drafting supply stores. The leads come in wax colors and several degrees of graphite hardness.

[=SMART=]

Cool, Thanks for the info

[=SMART=]

Cool, Thanks

[amakerguy]

AWESOME!!!

[=SMART=]

:P thx

[Shrimp782]

How can you get it out??? It always breaks for me! Anyone have an idea?

[osgeld]

use the pencil as a welding rod, the wood will burn off pretty quick, way before the graphite starts to melt heh

[GodsLove]

so when customising, if or when i want to swap the graphite inside with a pen, how will i do it? what happens to the glue inside?

[=SMART=]

It's pretty permanent so you can't really swap the graphite for a pen unless you make a new stick pencil

[pudicobar]

I'd use a nice ´piece of wood to cover a cheap but great koh-i-noor 2.0mm leadholder. Koh-i-noor are inexpensive and great tools. And you can get all the lead you want from cheapo chinese pencils... ;)

[the gizmoman]

in the boys life magazine (its for boy scouts) there was an article on how to do this<br/><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/projects/5095/the-write-stuff/">http://www.boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/projects/5095/the-write-stuff/</a> <br/>

[=SMART=]

Cool ! Thanks for the link :D

[the gizmoman]

your welcome

[Thelonelysandwitch]

Now you can carve it into cool shapes and sizes

[cowscankill]

today is not September 30!

[=SMART=]

what do you mean ??

[cowscankill]

oh, sorry. I thought it was September 30, but it isn't, several things happened and I ended up posting this comment.

[scottaaa]

Terrific little project! Great instructions (even showing me a picture of what "ourdoors looks like! ;-) ) and easy to make project. I listed it as a favorite. Is that what you meant as voting? If not, tell me how to vote to get you in the book as well! Scott [e-mail]

[=SMART=]

Awesome Thanks !!!

[dsman195276]

very cool! i do see one flaw though, what do you do when your tip is gone? i am guessing it is to big for a sharpener. seeing that ii might try this with a mechanical pencil glued into the stick (with the top covered with wood) so it can be reused when the tip is gone. will get pictures if it if it works, do you mind if i post i instructable? i will be sure to give you credit.

[=SMART=]

yea sure go ahead, credit would be nice :D about the tip, you just re-share it like in step 7, Using a knife you just cut the wood back and make the graphite pointy

[dsman195276]

it just started raining hard so i can't get a stick from outside. i will just have to wait till tomorrow.

[Jedi Ronin]

Great Instructable. I wish you wouldn't use live wood, but that's a personal choice. Either way, I think I'm going to make this.

[=SMART=]

it was a big bush and i sealed the cut so it wont get infected :)

[Sunny124613]

very nice instructable! I am sooo going to favorite this!

[=SMART=]

Thanks :D

[Sunny124613]

Ur welcome

[Zengineer1618]

Here's a pen that I made from a hedge branch.

[=SMART=]

Awesome !! Thats great !

[=SMART=]

Dammit i thought this would get featured......

[The Mollusk]

It should of been. Its an interesting project, artful, clever, and cheap.

[=SMART=]

Thanks :P, their haven't been many featured 'ibles latley

[lawizeg]

i wish i could come up with good ideas like this.... all i have is grilled cheese.