Pencil Marks

[Alice in Wonderland]

I had finished a small piece (bare wood) and I thought to put a small design on the sides ,I marked it with pencil lightly, I changed my mind and I wanted to erase the marks,I had to sand very heavily,spoiled it. How do I get rid of the marks without starting all over sanding?
Thank you, any tricks?
Alice

[Mark N. Akers]

Alice:
I wash my carvings in warm water and spray them with Simple green,this cleans off all oils from my hand and also cleans off pencil marks.I can do this because I paint my carvings wet,hope this helps.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Alice...

I'll second Mark's advice plus add that I like to use Ajax dish soap. I'm also very careful that I use a soft lead pencil, no harder than "HB" and that when using it I don't bare down and make any impression on the wood. Actually I saved a bunch of "B" leaded drawing pencils from the days when people actually used to draft on paper and the graphite is so soft that it washes right off with soap and water. I also don't paint my carvings wet as Mark does. I let them dry out after washing them.

[cannuckcarver]

I use dish soap and a tooth brush, works just fine for me and will take pencil marks off.

[Claude]

An old toothbrush and a bar of white bath soap clean my carvings up just fine - gets rid of hand oils and graphite both.

Claude

[Paul_Guraedy]

I asked this same question of John Engler (quite a few years ago). He recommended a "pink" eraser that is sold in Walmart (among others). It is a relatively firm (not hard) eraser, it is cheap (I buy them at 3/package) and does an excellent job of removing the pencil marks. I do have to reshape the thing now and then as I wear away the thin edge.

I use lots of pencil marks. Keep a centerline, mark feather groups, individual feathers, keep the skeleton on animals to indicate muscles, even the flow lines for hair. I also use a soft lead pencil so that I don't make marks in the wood with it. The marks that are not cut/sanded away are erased when I am done. A friend, watching me carve, remarked that I do more work with a pencil than with carving tools.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I do the same as Paul...those pink soft erasers..I call them "bubble gum" erasers work just fine. Got mine at Wallyworld also

[Doulies]

Mark,
What`s the advantage of painting a carving wet?
John

[Alice in Wonderland]

Thanks everybody,yes my pencil was just a regular one so the soft ones for the next job. I had an eraser but it did not work maybe because of the wood? it is Birch,
Good advice, as always :-))
thanks again
Alice

[Eddy-Smiles]

Pentel manufacturer's a refillable eraser that's white and works pretty good at getting rid of graphite marks. It's very similiar to the Staedtler Mars plastic eraser used for drafing. They both erase clean and leave no residue.