Content

• To step
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Have you ever seen someone in your class or at work skillfully spin a pencil around your thumb? Have you ever wondered how to do this truck yourself without much effort? The steps required to spin a pencil around your finger are easy to understand, but difficult to master. After a lot of practice, you will soon be able to repeat this trick, as if it were nothing! See Step 1 below to continue.

To step

1. Hold the pencil between index, middle and thumb. Grasp the pencil with your dominant hand - your index and middle fingers should be about an inch apart. In other words, should the pencil not be there, your thumb should fit easily between both fingers.
   • Opinions are divided on which part of the pencil is best to grasp. Some prefer to grip the pencil in the middle, while others prefer to grip one end. It's up to you - experiment to determine what is easier for you.
2. Practice, practice and practice again. Running the pencil will feel a bit uncomfortable at first. However, as with anything you persist in (such as learning to ride a bike or play an instrument), over time the movements of the trick will feel so natural to you that it will be difficult to get the pencil "wrong". Let it turn. Practice on different grips, techniques and angles until you find the perfect combination.
   • Once you've mastered the trick, try to learn it with your non-dominant hand!

Tips

• If you are using an unbalanced pencil, hold it by the heaviest part.
• If it just doesn't work, check that your thumb is flat. This is the part that the pencil revolves around, after all. You don't want the angle of your thumb to cause the pencil to shoot in all directions.
• Practice turning with a long pencil first and then with shorter pencils.
• Remember you do NOT want the pencil to shoot. Folding the middle finger should cause the pencil to roll off the finger.
• The pencil must be in constant contact with the skin, between thumbnail and joint. If it hits the joint, don't fold the middle finger fast enough, hit the nail, then you're holding the pencil incorrectly (it should start in the middle of the thumb, with the bottom of the pencil at the bottom of the nail. It will lose some height while turning).
• After the push you can try to turn your thumb in such a way that there is more space between thumb and hand. This gives you a larger area for the pencil to move.
• When the pencil or pen is spinning, the center of the pencil should be around the center of your thumb.
• Once you've gotten good at spinning the pencil around your thumb, you can try turning the pencil back! Look here for instructions.
• It helps to think of the push as rolling around your thumb, at the base.
• This works better with longer pencils.

Warnings

• Never use a sharply sharpened pencil!
• Be careful not to hit someone else's eyes or your own.
• Don't push your middle finger back too hard. Almost no force is required to send the pencil all the way around.
• A pencil without a point is better to start with, otherwise it can sting your hand.

Necessities

• Pens or pencils. Unsharpened pencils are best because they are long, not too heavy, and perfectly balanced. Some fanatics even adjust their pencils to get them just right.
• Try it with a drumstick. The weight is such that it is difficult to turn quickly. Keep the stick close to the center.