Pro tip: A retired drafter at the library showed me his old pencil trick

I was looking at some old drafting books at the city library last month when a man named Frank saw me. He used to work for a big engineering firm in the 80s. He pulled a specific 2H pencil from his bag and said, 'We used to roll these on the table to find the high spot for a smoother line.' I tried it on my next project and it really helped with my hand lettering. Has anyone else picked up a simple trick like that from someone who used to do this job?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat_harris5d ago

That's the kind of real-world hack you just don't get from a tutorial video.

laura_wilson5d ago

Frank's trick works but it's actually for finding the low spot, not the high one. Pat_harris is right about old school tips being gold. That little roll tells you which side needs shaving down.

wyattramirez5d ago

My uncle was a printer and taught me to tap a stack of paper on its side before loading it. That simple alignment trick from the 70s still saves me paper jams today. Those old hands-on jobs were full of that quiet, physical wisdom.