That old drafter in Tulsa who told me to ditch my parallel bar

I was working on a set of floor plans and this crusty guy with a pencil behind his ear said I'd never get good line work with a parallel bar. He handed me his beat up T-square and told me to try it for a week. First day I smudged half my drawing, but by day three I actually saw what he meant about control. Has anyone else had some old timer give you advice that felt backwards but worked out?

3 comments

3 Comments

sanchez.mary1mo ago

Oh man, that old timer was probably right! I remember my first week with a T-square I felt like a total goofball, my lines were all over the place and I kept smudging everything with my pinky. But after a while you really do get a feel for the weight and the muscle memory. I'm pretty sure my first parallel bar was just an overpriced paperweight for months while I figured out how not to draw wobbly lines. Now I feel lost without my old T-square, even if it makes me look like a dinosaur.

baker.holly1mo ago

Parallel bar is a fancy paperweight until you learn not to fight it, then suddenly it's the only thing that makes your lines straight. My old T-square has coffee stains and pencil gouges all over it, looks like it survived a war. But that war was just me learning to hold my mouth right while drawing.

james_bell1mo ago

Had a buddy who spent two weeks fighting his parallel bar before he realized he had it installed backwards. He still blames the instruction manual.