THORVALD New 2-in-1 Carpenter Pencils with Finger Grip for Carpenter (Incl. 7 Leads + Sharpener) Solid Mechanical Pencils with Fine Point/Best Marking tools Construction/Carpenters/Scriber

I usually don’t like the mechanical lead pencils but I came across these and thought I’d give them a try. I work construction and put them to use every day. The lead is very strong, and doesn’t break easily. The built in sharpener helps to ensure accuracy and I always have a sharp point. There is plenty of extra lead that will last me for months.

I wish I had known about this pencil yers ago! It works great, very durable, and so much easier and better than a regular carpenter’s pencil.

It seems to be a great product. My only concern would be re-ordering leads, but it’s seems to be as if you can go to any art store and pick up leads.

I’ve always used the regular traditional carpenters pencils, mostly for smaller projects, but for a larger house-framing project, stopping to sharpen the pencil was getting pretty annoying and time consuming. So, I first purchased the single pencil with the six extra refill leads.What a great pencil! No sharpening needed, just a click of the button and you’re good-to-go. The lines are not super dark, but dark enough, and the leads are VERY strong. (From what I understand, that’s the trade-off– strength vs darkness, so maybe this is a good balance.) And, if you want a really, really fine line for precise measurements, the sharpener creates just that– a really really, fine point on the lead. If you want a thicker line, you can quickly and easily remove the lead and reverse it and use the fat, blunt, unsharpened end. But the good news is, for 99% of the time (when marking sole plates and top plates, or studs, or OSB panels, or whatever), you can just use the pencil as-is and it works great and doesn’t need sharpening or changing at all. I wanted to note that I’m also using engineered LSL lumber for some of the framing (which has a pretty rough, textured surface), and also OSB panels (that are a little rough as well), but this pencil has been great for both. Anyway, I was so impressed with this pencil that I went ahead and purchased the two-pack pencil set with lots of extra leads. I wanted an extra pencil to keep at the miter saw, and another for my helper.However, a Few Issues:1) So, there is a removable black finger-grip tip that allows you to mark through a small pre-drilled hole or just have a much skinnier pencil. (Not something that I really care about, but others might want to know this.) Anyway, the black finger-grip tip is really, really difficult to remove.2) Okay, so there are the REGULAR dark leads, and there are the lighter YELLOW leads that supposedly work on concrete and tile. I was looking forward to using the yellow leads for marking on a concrete slab, but I have not had any luck at all using the yellow leads. I tried them on smooth, finished concrete, and I tried them on rough, textured concrete, but the marks and lines are nearly invisible. I’m not sure if these yellow leads work on tile, but on concrete, not so much. Very disappointed about that.Finally, Some Nit-Picky Things:1) When I initially purchased the single pencil, there were no instructions at all, only a square you could scan with a smart phone to get instructions, but it’s not that difficult to figure out that the sharpener unscrews from the push button end of the pencil, and that to remove a lead or load a new one, you just press and hold the push button and the new lead goes into the tip of the pencil, not from inside the push-button end. However, although there were no instructions, there was lot’s of info about how you might win $20 by scanning a different square and registering all your personal info. (Not gonna happen.) BUT, if you buy the two-pack pencil set, you get a six page pamphlet that not only has the info for the “$20 you-might-win-bonus if you register”, but also has the actual instructions for how to use and operate the pencil. Whatever.2) And finally, when you buy the two-pack pencil set, it comes with three black rectangular plastic holders with twelve extra leads in each. Two 12-packs of regular leads, and one 12-pack of yellow leads (which, as I mentioned earlier, don’t seem to work for what they are intended). It seems that this company has spent waaaay too much time (and money) on creating fancy containers for the leads. They are rectangular boxes, with a slide mechanism, and when you slide the slide, the lid flips up and twelve pointy leads rise up, kinda like a rectangular missile silo with twelve missiles popping up. However, for two out of three of these “silos” that came in the set, the lid just pops off completely, and then you have fiddle around trying to get it back on. Sure, I’m being nit-picky, but come on, just put the extra leads in a simple container!BOTTOM LINE:Fantastic carpenter’s pencil (despite the few issues), and a pretty decent price.

Strong leads that are easy to keep sharp with the built in sharpener. Much more precise than a standard carpenter’s pencil.

Very good quality

The best righting instrument I've ever used.

I’ve been using it since I got it and I really like it. The lead really lasts and doesn’t break.