Electric Pencil Sharpeners - Recommendations ?

[Out_the_Door]

I use an exacto knife to sharpen my pencils...they are mostly art pencils

 

[ERD50]

I hate dull pencils, so bought a 12 pack of sharpeners for $1 and spread them all over the house and my workshop. It is so nice to have sharp pencils and always a sharpener at my fingertips. Blow that dough.

https://www.dollartree.com/jot-fun-shapes-pencil-sharpeners-12ct-packs/26571

My electric sharpener hasn't been working well, and just this morning I found one of those super-cheap handheld plastic and razor blade style ones that I'd been thinking about (do they still make those?). I just tried it on 3 or 4 pencils, and it gave me the best tip I've seen in ages, in just a few turns.

Just need to do it over the garbage can to catch the shavings, but I think I'll pick up that 12-pack as well.

-ERD50

 

[Lakewood90712]

After careful analysis , I bought an Xacto XLR . 2 reasons , the blades are replaceable at reasonable cost , and it was the only model in stock at the store.

Really noisy , rattle, grunt, but works well so far.


Side note : Urban Legend , during WW II , an engineer who was denied pencil sharpener as non critical equipment , got one by specifying the same make and model mechanical pencil sharpener, but referred to it as a " Dowel milling machine " for critical wartime aircraft production.

 

[Ronstar]

My first memory of using a pencil was about 1952 or so in grade school. I think the "teach" had a crank sharpener on her desk and we little ones would have to raise our hand and ask permission to use it. I used to use it on in conjunction with a run to the boys room. (efficient little lad was I) (we had crayons too)

Then in junior high school, I had a small wooden hand held one and used that a lot. I remember Mom buying us kids pencils to take to school in our "pencil case". (remember those?)

I went to technical high school in Connecticut and my major was Drafting, where we (9 of us drafting students) were in drafting class two weeks "on" then two weeks in regular subjects for four years. No wonder I have less than respectable use of the English language (and spelling) because we only got about 1/2 the courses in traditional subjects that were taught in "normal" high schools!

In Drafting class, we used mechanical pencils and I really got to like those! We had a plastic shirt pocket insert for holding our mechanical pencil! Very cool in 1957! Ahead of the "crowd" and coupled with a belt carried slide rule, you were envied!

Once graduated, I worked as a draftsman for a couple of years, using, of course, a mechanical pencil! When Uncle Sam called me, I turned in my mechanical pencil for a Colt 45 side arm! Lots of "lead" in that baby!

After the war ended and I was back home in Connecticut, I went to engineering college in 1968 using the G.I. Bill which at that time provided me $222/month. That money, and a part time job in a drug store, paid the tuition, books, some beer money and about 1/3 the rent of a flat in Oakville, Ct. I used mechanical pencils throughout college. Once in a while, I did revert back to the good old wooden ones when in a pinch!

Mechanical pencils followed me through a career and marriages (3 actually-- I was good at picking pencils, but not women) and now that I am retired, my "go to" pencil is a wooden No. 2 with a hand sharpener bolted to my workbench.

There's more to tell here, but let's just say that in a pinch, any sharpener will do!

I used to be a civil draftsman. Started in 1974 - Used 2mm drafting pencils for most engineering plans because they would always have lots of revisions. Used to sharpen them with sandpaper.

Moved into CAD drafting late 70's and gradually acquired draftspersons to do drafting on my projects. But I made rough sketches for the rest of my career. Still draw something almost daily - hand sketches for my woodworking projects.

 

[aja8888]

I used to be a civil draftsman. Started in 1974 - Used 2mm drafting pencils for most engineering plans because they would always have lots of revisions. Used to sharpen them with sandpaper.

Moved into CAD drafting late 70's and gradually acquired draftspersons to do drafting on my projects. But I made rough sketches for the rest of my career. Still draw something almost daily - hand sketches for my woodworking projects.

Nice! I now remember those sandpaper pads!

I was a mechanical draftsman and worked for a machinery builder as a detail draftsman and eventually a layout draftsman (conceptual work for calculating loads on gears and shafts). I never learned CAD as I went on to engineering and project management.

 

[RobbieB]

I’m curious, what does one use a pencil for these days?

I use them to mark cut lines on wood and aluminum

 

[Lakewood90712]

I’m curious, what does one use a pencil for these days?

Got to have a few if employed as a government pencil pusher.


Retired so use for hobby project plans, and marking cut lines.

 

[Boho]

I’m curious, what does one use a pencil for these days?

Random notes so I can erase to correct and to save paper. I only use pens for signatures and for testing whether they write.

I've had Pentel Hi-Polymer White Cap Erasers in my Amazon cart for years but I haven't needed them yet.

 

[Aerides]

I switched to mechanical pencils long ago and never looked back.

A group of us in my office days used to all swear by a papermate mechanical. Perfect, light, built in eraser and a little clip that stuck nicely on a notebook. Then our boss got a new admin who ordered regular pencils. There was mutiny, but we won, and order was restored.

I still have a few of them that found their way home.

 

[braumeister]

I splurged with my birthday money one year while in high school and bought a matching Cross pen & pencil. I still have them and they are still excellent.

 

[38Chevy454]

Being an engineer, I use mechanical pencil all the time. 0.5 mm Pentel is my favorite. No sharpening needed ever. Maybe it's an engineer thing, but I probably use a pencil more than a pen.

I do use the rectangular wood pencils for construction though. I even have a small hand sharpener that fits the rectangular cross section. That's the only time I do not use mechanical pencil, the rectangular wood has thick lead and stronger for construction projects.

 

[ERD50]

... Retired so use for hobby project plans, and marking cut lines.

Yep, and I always keep a bunch of stubby old worn out pencils around. Once in a while, you need to make a mark on the inside of something, and a long pencil, or mechanical pencil won't fit.

-ERD50

 

[Jerry1]

I splurged with my birthday money one year while in high school and bought a matching Cross pen & pencil. I still have them and they are still excellent.

When I graduated college, my dad bought me a Montblanc Meisterstück pen. When I got my CPA I rewarded myself with the matching pencil. When I started making money, I got the rollerball. All three are in very good shape.

People used to ask me how I kept from losing them. When you pay enough and care enough, you don’t loan it out or lay it down and forget about it. I had to look on their site how to spell Meisterstück. Pretty surprising how much they cost today. I enjoyed them but don’t think I would pay today’s prices for them. The pencil was my favorite. I did really like the .7mm lead size.

 

[Koolau]

Like aja8888, talk of pencils brings back a flood of memories. I recall in 3rd grade learning from my friend Larry - if you laid a stubby pencil in the crack created by the lid of your wooden desk, and left about 1/4 the length of the pencil overhanging the desk, you could then use one (or two) fingers in a downward thrust to launch said pencil all the way across the room. All the boys adopted this amazing technique until the teacher put the kibosh on the practice. From that (all too brief) period, I learned many valuable lessons about such things as mechanical advantage, the experimental method, ballistics, battle strategy, the amazing clock system in the principal's office, and especially about friendship.

FF to 7th grade. We had an old(er) teacher (sure she was younger than I am now) who taught English (well, she presided over a class in English - don't recall her actually teaching anything, but that's not the story.) I don't know how it got started, but by the end of the semester, the record number of times any ONE student had 1) Left their desk 2) sharpened their pencil at the left front of the room (by the windows) 3) removed the receptacle of the pencil sharpener 4) walked said pencil-shavings-receptacle BEHIND Miss Stephens (seated at her desk) 5) emptied receptacle in waste basket 6) returned receptacle to the sharpener 7) Returned to student seat with freshly sharpened pencil was 41 TIMES in the 55 minute class period. I think someone here mentioned a hole in their English skills, and I claim Miss Stephens as the source of whatever short-comings I have in English. Full disclosure, my personal best was 3 times.

FF to mid 20s. DW was managing the small family business and BIL very briefly worked for her as an accountant/book keeper. He asked her for an electric pencil sharpener. So DW and I cut the electrical cord off of a defunct appliance and glued it to one of those 10 cent (red in color IIRC) sharpeners every kid used to carry to elementary school in their "pencil box." BIL feigned amusement!

Oh well, returning you now to tonights discussion on actual electrical pencil sharpeners as YMMV on pencil levity.

 

[target2019]

Paper Mate Sharpwriter Mechanical Pencil, No. 2 Medium Lead
Pentel Twist-Erase III Mechanical Pencils, 0.5mm

Also keep an old Boston electric sharpener in the garage. I only use those pencils when marking wood. But we do have a hundred or so around the house in case of something or other.

Have all the old drafting pencils, ink pens, and other memorabilia from many years ago.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

I too use a mechanical pencil that fits nicely into the loop on my annual agenda. I still use a paper one but it tends to be mostly empty these days. I can erase changed appointments easily with pencil lead.

An early memory involving a pencil was in the sixth or seventh grade at school. I got up in class to sharpen (to a very fine point) my yellow wood pencil and when back at my desk I dropped it as I started to sit down. I quickly reached down to grab it and it bounced back up, having fallen smack on its eraser end. It stabbed me in the palm of the hand and broke off. I still have that tiny graphite pencil point embedded in my palm comfortably lodged under my epidermis and visible. It never really caused a problem, so I never had it removed. It's an instant reminder of that day some 50-plus years ago!

-BB

 

[Boho]

It stabbed me in the palm of the hand and broke off. I still have that tiny graphite pencil point embedded in my palm comfortably lodged under my epidermis and visible. It never really caused a problem, so I never had it removed. It's an instant reminder of that day some 50-plus years ago!

Mine was 40-plus years ago. I was walking with the point against my palm and the eraser end hit the edge of a table. In real life it's easier to see than in the photo.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

For many years, I had a piece of graphite from a pencil in my butt-cheek. Don't ask.

 

[pacergal]

I have switched to mechanical pencils also, but keep regular No.2 on hand for grandkids. My old electric sharpener recently bit the dust, so I bought the least expensive X-Acto one I could find at Office Depot.

 

[smihaila]

OP, what do you need such outdated, PREHISTORIC writing instrument called pencil, for? Unless you are into CAD drawing, a construction architect, or in the wood working trades ... buy a fountain pen for God's sake .

I hate pencils, of any kind. And I can't figure out why their use is encouraged so much here in North America (both US and Canada). Using a fountain pen (or at least a ballpoint pen) makes you think twice or thrice, before writing your final result stuff. Also, the fountain pens promote good writing skills i.e. cursive, and helps with a better hand-brain coordination, and encouraging better thinking in a way...

 

[Souschef]

Boy talk about memories! Some of the photos posted really take me back.
When we were first married in 1975, my late wife bought me a Cross pan and pencil set that i still have.

I also have a few .5mm mechanical pencils and one of those white erasers. Some years ago, I brought in my old electric eraser to the drafting department for laughs.
Also, when I was over in Japan in 1960, I bought the Japanese equivalent of a K & E Leroy lettering set.

 

[harley]

OP, what do you need such outdated, PREHISTORIC writing instrument called pencil, for? Unless you are into CAD drawing, a construction architect, or in the wood working trades ... buy a fountain pen for God's sake .

I hate pencils, of any kind. And I can't figure out why their use is encouraged so much here in North America (both US and Canada). Using a fountain pen (or at least a ballpoint pen) makes you think twice or thrice, before writing your final result stuff. Also, the fountain pens promote good writing skills i.e. cursive, and helps with a better hand-brain coordination, and encouraging better thinking in a way...

I use pencils all the time. Marking cuts on boards, marking where to hang pictures, designing woodworking projects, marking up my printed spreadsheets and documents while I work on designing them, things like that. Some of that I might be able to use a pen, but ink is a PITA to get off walls or wood. I'm not in the wood working trade, but I am a hobbyist. Sometimes I use chalk, but mostly pencils.

I also find them useful for rubbing over things to get an imprint. Crayons and charcoal will work for that too, but I don't keep them as handy as I do pencils.

Plus, I can't tell you how many shirts I ruined back in the day with pens of various sorts. I still have a few of my pocket protectors which were the only effective defense against the nasty things.

 

[Boho]

I used to use pencil to write helpful notes in some library reference books for the next reader. I consider it a value added service. The library still owes me for it.

 

[harley]

I used to use pencil to write helpful notes in some library reference books for the next reader. I consider it a value added service. The library still owes me for it.

I assume you're joking, but you hit a major button with me. I hate people who write in library books. IMO their cards should be revoked, and their [-]fingers[/-] pencils should be broken.

 

[Time2]

Speaking of pencil's, 50 years ago Leonard E. Read wrote an essay about pencils, titled "I, Pencil".

A quote from the page, "While “I, Pencil” shoots down the baseless expectations for central planning, it provides a supremely uplifting perspective of the individual. Guided by Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” of prices, property, profits, and incentives, free people accomplish economic miracles of which socialist theoreticians can only dream. As the interests of countless individuals from around the world converge to produce pencils without a single “master mind,” so do they also come together in free markets to feed, clothe, house, educate, and entertain hundreds of millions of people at ever higher levels.
As said, I find it uplift and interesting.



The essay starts about 1/3 down page.
https://fee.org/resources/i-pencil/