Twig pencils are fun, easy and cheap to make. And the expressions on your friends’ faces when you start scribbling with a stick will be writetious!
YOU’LL NEED
STEP 1: Find a twig. Look for one with interesting color, texture or with a forked shape. (The length of the twig, though, must be straight.) Hold the twig as you would a pencil to find the right size. Use pruning clippers to trim away unwanted parts. Check the twig for bugs (you don’t want any).
STEP 2: Clamp the twig to the edge of a workbench or piece of plywood. Be careful! Too much pressure can crush the twig.
STEP 3: Use a scratch awl or the point of a nail to make a dent at the center of the twig’s end. The dent will become the starting point for the drill bit.
STEP 4: Drill to a depth of 1 to 1 1⁄4 inches. Make sure to keep both hands on the tool!
As you drill, you may need to back out the bit to clear wood chips from the drill’s flutes (its spiral grooves). To do this, stop the drill and scrub the bit with an old toothbrush.
STEP 5: Squirt a small puddle of glue on a scrap of wood or cardboard. Roll the end of the lead in the glue, then work it back and forth in the hole to spread the adhesive.
STEP 6: Trim the lead by breaking it sideways against the twig. Let the glue dry overnight.
STEP 7: Sharpen the pencil with a sharp utility knife or pocketknife. Whittle away from your body, removing thin shavings as you work around the pencil. Use your imagination to personalize your pencil, or simply enjoy the colors and textures that nature provides.
COOL
awesome dude its really creative
I know this might sound crazy but I’m 15 yrs. old and I am making a pencil company.
i might want to try that!
Does this really work? I hope it does, because this is a cute idea I like it.
Art supply stores carry large charcoal and graphite drawing sticks. You can even find white charcoal.
cool that rocks
coooool
im gonna try it
tried it didn’t work
That is pretty creative.
cool, i just might try this. before lead was used in pencils, ( today graphite ) they burnt the tip of the sharpened twig to make charcoal then they wrote with that.
lead is what we call graphite!(in pencils)
Thats pretty cool
What else can you use to make a pencil?
cool
I think that you could go to a writing supply store and buy the fattest “lead” (graphite) that you use to put into mechanical pencils for refills, that would work for these, wouldn’t it? These are very neat! Thanks for a lot of neat ideas for a variety of boys (and dads, and moms….)