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Used to mark every stud with a pencil, now I carry a $6 chalk pen and my brain is free
For like 15 years I would snap a chalk line, then go back and put little pencil ticks on every stud before I started nailing anything. Drove me nuts when the line got smudged or the light hit it wrong. Last summer I was doing a basement finish in Burnsville and the homeowner handed me this cheap chalk pen from his junk drawer. I marked all the studs in about 90 seconds and never looked back. Now I scribble a tiny X at each top plate and bottom plate before I hang anything. Saves me re-measuring when I get distracted by my phone or someone asking where the bathroom is. Has anyone else switched to some weird little tool that made an old habit pointless? What else am I missing out on?
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rowan6667d ago
Wait though, a chalk pen doesn't really do the same job as those pencil ticks. The chalk is gonna wipe right off the top plate when you drag your tape or slide a board past it, same as a chalk line does. Pencil on raw wood at least digs into the grain a bit and sticks around longer. Where the pen shines is speed, not staying power. I still keep a carpenter pencil in my bags and hit the plates with it after the pen, takes two extra seconds and I'm not guessing when the chalk disappears halfway through the day. Basements are extra bad for it too, all that damp concrete dust floating around.
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