I have been building custom stairs and doors for 40 years. 9 mm mechanical pencil is a consistent line. I like your videos, you explain things very well, I have even learned a few things from them. thanks

Trying to curl your tape into a corner to get an accurate measurement? Measure an inch off the wall and make a mark measure to the mark and add an inch.

halving fractions quickly? double the bottom number. half of 3/8 is 3/16. half of 3/16 is 3/32. double a fraction by halving the denominator.

DFW, I hope the way I type this makes sense. My apprentice teacher, decades ago, taught us how to find half of uneven fraction measurement in our heads. (No calculator or paper/pencil.) Example: Find half of 13 and 3/8" (inch.) 1) Drop back to the next even number which would be 12 then find half which would be 6". 2) Add the three and the eight together to get 11 for the top number of your new fraction. (The numerator.) 3) Double the bottom number of the fraction which would now be 16. (The denominator) 4) There you have it. --- half of 13-3/8 is 6-11/16. Practice, on paper, finding half of several fraction that start with an uneven number until see that this works. (Uneven numbers like 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and so on ---- (Good Luck.)

I'm tempted to send my 12 year old son to school with my driver in his backpack. The look on the teachers face when he pulls it out and starts sharpening his pencil...priceless :)

gosh some ppl are so negative...i was reading some of the comments. thanks for tips. ive been watching some of your videos and have learned some neat things. thanks and continue sharing.

This was so cool. All great information. I'm 16, done construction for three years now. This is going to come into great use in the future. Thank You

A man I knew had a sharp pencil in his shirt pocket. He fell coming down some pull-down attic stairs and had a tragic end when the pencil pierced his heart. It was horrible. Nothing to do with this video but it reminded me of his accident. I subscribe to and enjoy all of the DFW Crown videos. Please keep them coming.

Pool maintenance technician wonders why filter is clogged with pencil shavings. LOL

Another trick to accurate measurement is to "bury 10." Say you need to accurately measure a board because you need to exactly cut another to match. Place the 10-inch mark on the left-hand side (essentially burying 10"), stretch the tape, and read the measurement on the right-hand side. Whatever the tape says, subtract the original 10 inches to get your accurate measurement. It's more of a cabinet maker's trick than carpentry trick but it takes the unreliable tape hook (on the tape end) out of the equation. I used to "bury 1" but kept forgetting to subtract the 1 and because the measurement is close, I didn't notice. By burying 10, hopefully your mental error-check kicks in if you forget to subtract it. My brain will say, "Wait a minute, that piece is not 28 inches, oh yeah, subtract the 10." That doesn't happen when the original piece is 17 inches and you intend to cut 18. They difference is too small to notice the error. If you still can't notice the difference burying 10, bury 20 or 30. Whatever it takes.

I've never come across a joiner, carpenter or tradesmen in the UK who ever uses a pencil sharpener. In my 4 year apprenticeship, we used our chisels and even axes to sharpen a pencil. This of course was before the lazy days of using cordless power tools. Never used a pencil sharpener in over 30 years whilst working on the tools and that includes making furniture to installing kitchens to repairing church roofs in England.

Great tips. I've been using them for years. Love your videos. Thx Richard

Love the half measurement can't wait to show it off, also good music.

Great stuff. your videos are a lot of fun to watch and the instruction is really cool . Thanks so much.

It was great that you gave attribution to the person who showed you the folding tape trick. Nice video. Thank you!

Ingenius, so simple, yet practical and makes a guy look smart as a bonus.

Man, I appreciate this video. Very nifty. Thank You!

Ticonderoga #2 pencils all day long. The cedar reminds me of my younger years in the classroom. For a sharpener, an old school Boston mounted to the Delta slide miter stand works great, needle sharp every time. Great videos 👍🏻

In viewing just a few if your videos, I have learned so much. You are generous in sharing your knowledge. We are about to put chair rail and 'picture frame' wainscot in our bedroom. Glad we found your videos first! Thank you!

Thank you for sharing your expertise!!

Hey man, very simple handy tips! Thanks!

I cut my board 3 times and it's still too short...

Thank you! Very informative and helpful.

Cool tips..... thanks for taking time to post

.7mm mechanical pencil. Thick enough to hold up, fine enough to make accurate measurements. For more accuracy a .5mm, or a striking knife. I find that Pentel pencils hold up the best. I have a pair that I've been using for a decade(at least). I drop them all the time, and the nose does not break like cheaper mechanical pencils. And, if you look around you can find them in .9mm and even 1.3mm for more burly marking. Honestly, I love them.

Great simple tips. Keep em coming.

I've been sharpening pencils by hand for 30 years. Works.

Love the tape tricks... Greetings from Ireland

These are some good tips! I'll sure be tuning in for some more. Thanks for sharing. Mike

Great tips! I enjoy your videos.. thanks!

The tape measure one is great. Thanks!

Love your videos, it's cool to see how others in the trade teach the tricks we all use. It seems like such a simple thing (knowing these tricks) but adds up to a lot of hours at the end of the week. Sometimes we take it for granted, thanks for being passionate about our trade and keep the videos coming!

I can't imagine why you got even one thumbs down. Excellent video. I learned something from it.

u de man thanks for sharring your tips great teacher, subscribed!

So learned a lot. Thanks & more how too's

I enjoy you video, keep up the good work and have a great 2019

Nice! Next time im at HD definitely getting that drill bit pencil sharpener

Great tips! Thanks a lot man!

Thanks for all the tips. I put them to good use.

I'm an electrician.I can't wait to go back to work and show off my new pencil trick. LOL.

🙏 what fantastic useful tips thank you for sharing!

That's awesome tips! Thanks!

new subscriber here , we love your videos learned somthing from all of them , thank you for the tips

Great tips. Thanks for the upload

You’re pretty sharp young man I look forward to the Videos you put out there I got a funny feeling you Going to do very very well in your career what ever you choose keep up the great videos keep up the good work

Thanks for the great tips from a diy old guy in Canada.

ha! been doing that for decades. mostly for rough opening centers while framing. nice!!!

Nice , and yes let see more of those tricks . I like the tape measure one , because man I have hard time reading those things , and when someone does say to divide something I get thrown off but I do know how to divide

Bo you im a union carpenter with a woodshop in nj.. Your videos are amazing keep them coming...

I find a mechanical pencil with 0.5mm lead is great for fine marking out of dovetails or other precision marking... Also , I recently bought a laser distance finder and its great for taking long reach measurements whilst working alone... And don't forget the old 3.4.5. method of getting a 90° angle... 👌😎☘️

Thanks, I really like the pencil sharpening tip :)

Great tips. Thanks

these are great tips that are very common in carpentry. I'm a journeyman framing carpenter and i was cut man for a pole house on Santa Rosa island Florida. The lead was calling out measurements on items he needed me to cut. So I pulled my Stanley fat Max out , made the cut, sent it up for fastening. Lead man said " wrong measurement!" I said ok give em to me again. He did, I cut it, he tossed it down, said " wrong damn measurement!" Then I looked at his tape. He'd broken his other one the previous day and stopped by a hardware store and bought a knockoff Chinese cheapO. The marks on it were 1/2 inch shorter at three feet. We nearly three hands that day. Valuable lesson, not all tapes are created equal. Now where'd I put the board stretcher?

The 2nd tip was slick. Thanks! 👌👌👌👍

Don't listen to the negative comments. This helped me so much!

Amazing! I should have thought of that! Taking a pencil and putting it into a cordless drill to use a manual pencil sharpener is genius! Because we work in so many finished homes we have to use a regular plug-in type of office pencil sharpener. But if we don't have our electric pencil sharpener, putting your pencil in your cordless drill sure would beat getting your utility knife out and trying to get a sharp point! Smith

Super helpful! Thank you!

Tip for accurately measuring a floor to ceiling height or any inside measurement that's out of reach: Measure one way and mark the closest foot to you. Measure from the other direction and add the feet and inches together. Absolutely failproof!

Great tips. I’ll definitely use them myself. Thanks and keep the tips coming please

Old Russian proverb " Measure twice and cut once" ! We use it in the Sewing world too ! Good tips. Thanks.

wow the dividing trick was pretty nice

Here's a trick for measuring crown......butt up your tape into right corner where long point is gonna hit (2 or 3 inches down from ceiling or whatever it is)....then pull out to any even foot number (i.e. 5,6,7,8ft) longer the run the longer you will pull out.....take a knife and mark it on wall....now flip your tape to left side and butt it into the other side and pull out to you knife mark.....add 2 together write measurement above where crown goes on wall......its more accurate than reading a tape bending into a corner......I usually take a 1/16 off or so......I write mine in feet and inches (it's just easier when I ad them.....so say you pull to 7ft and mark it, flip it around butt into other corner and pull and say its 5ft 7 and 3/4.......i write 12' 7 3/4 on wall Belt sander is great pencil sharpener....always use it so usually plugged in somewhere

You’re a talented young man your knowledge of the trade is beyond your years. True craftsman.

Great tips! Thanks!

awesome thanks for the tips 👊

I really like that!

very cool !!! thank you !!!!

good tips for beginners. keep them coming

I like to use staedtler mars lumograph pencils for moulding work. Theyre a bit more expensive but the tips stays sharp forever

Thank you very much for the tips.

Thanks, this was very helpful. :)

I once had an apprentice for a day. He said he new how to read a tape measure. I had him go make a baseboard cutlist for a bedroom. (MDF, apartment production speed) He came back with a list that converted fractions to decimals. He never back the next day, and is teaching high school math now.

Simple but smart. Thanks man

Man I would love to go out on a job site with you work and learn.

Good video, thanks for sharing.

the knee one was pretty cool man sometimes i work with some shit ass long boards to make table tops and sometimes you cant hook the tip to something or it just straight slip off. pretty cool stuff, the more simple tips are the more useful they are.

Your amazing bro!

I did not know any of this...thank you, thank you.

Cool tips bro!!

Great tips, thanks.

I see your videos alot I didn't know y'all were from DFW I'm in fort Worth thanks for the tips

Sharpen the pencil with your stanley knife (utility knife to the Americans) always in your pocket or nail bag so much quicker and convenient. One less thing to have to carry

Tan chingones tus videos compa

Cosas simples ....pero yo no las sabia ......gracias por darme esos consejos .......y muchas suerte .....

Very useful for tips for newbies.

Good job,man

Awesome. Thank you!

I love the pencil sharpener trick.

Very neat 👍🏻

Cool tricks thanks.

Bad ass!!! Thanks for the info.

great pencil sharpening technique

Or you could turn the pencil by hand, Thats how we did it back in the day.

very good tips keep posting it thx

nice tips... cheers

A tip on measuring with an unsupported end of the tape. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So hold the tape in your left hand and point the end of the tape at your target. Now wave the tape end at the target. Now watch the overall length on the scale and when it measures the least distance to the point of measurement. That is the closest distance between the two points. Always pull the tape as level as level or without a bent tape to eliminate a sagging tape. A sag in your tape is a no- no . You learn this in surveying in Civil Engineering class and field exercises. This is very basic practice, but you will see many measurements on KZfaq made with sagging tapes. Good Luck. JoeB

This comment section is loaded with great tips!! Thanks for the video

To find the center of a board, interior, length, etc. estimate the halfway point. Measure from one end and mark your estimate. Do the same from the other side. You will have underestimated or overestimated the halfway point, no matter, the center is exactly between your marks either way. Make your first estimate rather accurate and you can easily eyeball the center of the small gap between your marks. It sure beats halving mixes numbers.

I would love if you talk about making jigs for home tablesaws anything that would help bring more accuracy to a job again thanks

Nicely made vid sir,..... Sharp pencil with finishwork is paramount..... Another tip u could have added at the end is always sharpen at least 5-6 pencils at once over a trashcan (almost always inside nicer homes).... Its nice to jus grab a sharp pencil and have numerous throughout the worksite.. Also finishwork your usually in a nice clean area, cant just shave lead and splintry wood mess as is in place without being frowned upon...