Pencil sharpener

[Timberwolf]

I have a link in my post #55 above to a very good one.

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There are pencil sharpeners for all wallets.......I saw two rare ones the first week of this month at a MWTCA tool meet in Georgia...
http://www.antiqbuyer.com/pencil_sharp.html

[Bill_Houghton]

I haven't had a good sharp pencil since I taught 5th. grade back in the seventies. They were sharp because of the manual sharpener. Where can I get a decent manual pencil sharpener? The school I taught at has been boarded up for twenty years. I bet those good sharpeners are still mounted on the sides of cabinets in each classroom.

Hoping not to see the newspaper story about the ex-teacher busted for breaking and entering to steal pencil sharpeners.

[Stwood_]

40 years ago I bought 3 self feeding bostons. I've wore one out, another has a odd noise in it, and I currently have the third one on the wall by my bench.

[Derek Cohen]

Below is a copy of an article I wrote on my website several years ago.

Regards from Perth

Derek .....


Wood pencils have now been banished from my shop. In the beginning I used to sharpen them with a chisel. The chisel was replaced with an old school grinder sharpener. And then I replaced the wooden pencils.





These days I use 2mm clutch pencils. The ones I prefer are the metal-bodied Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 22. These have become something of a cult as it was the daddy of clutch pencils.
I keep both dark- and white-leaded clutch pencils at the ready. White is especially useful for marking dark woods.


The lead is sharpened with a Gedess Lead Pointer, which I believe once won an award for design in the 1930s. The one I have dates to the 1950s. Insert the pencil and swivel it around the abrasive stone inside.

This combination creates a fine point, one that is easy to maintain.






Recently I managed to repair my father’s electric sharpener. Well electricity is OK here because it is vintage (I’m guessing about 50 years old) and it brings back memories of visiting my dad in his architectural practice when I was a youngster. He used Faber Castell clutch pencils, and the sharpener is made by Faber Castell and constructed of Bakelite … insert the pencil and a pressure point starts the motor, which proceeds to sharpen the pencil.



Well they are handtools! 

[Bill_Houghton]

Recently I managed to repair my father’s electric sharpener. Well electricity is OK here because it is vintage (I’m guessing about 50 years old) and it brings back memories of visiting my dad in his architectural practice when I was a youngster.

Well they are handtools! 

I guess OK here, as long as you're using vintage electricity.

[Eric Commarato]

That's a pretty nice and uncommon pencil sharpener.  The old ones were so nice to use.  I'm somewhat of a pencil snob.  My favorite sharpener is the Carl Angel 5, pictured below.  You pull out the spring-loaded carrier, squeeze the pencil clamps on the top, insert the pencil, let go of the clamps, and then crank the knob. It's self-feeding, and when the pencil is sharpened, it won't keep removing wood and lead.  Leaves a longer and sharper point than most sharpeners, which is great for making thin lines, but not so great for lead strength.  I love the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil!

I see these are still available, how old is this unit?  Does this mount to a table top surface?

[AHill]

I see these are still available, how old is this unit?  Does this mount to a table top surface?

You have to hold it down with one hand while cranking with the other.  Since it's self-feeding, there's no need to hold onto the pencil.  No mounts on them.  That's the only disadvantage, unless your cup is half full and you observe that it makes the sharpener a portable tool.  I think the only choice when I got mine was green.  They come in several different colors now.

[Mike Brady]

Never liked the self-feeders.  They eat pencils.

Did I just make a mistake?  I sharpened an entire box of Eberhard Faber Mongol 482 #2's .  Is that like using a NIB Stanley #1?

[AHill]

Never liked the self-feeders.  They eat pencils.

I have not found that to be true with the Carl Angel sharpener, since it stops sharpening when the pencil is sharp.  I've always had a tendency to oversharpen with manual feed pencil sharpeners, since it's hard for me to tell when the tip is actually sharp.  YMMV.

[Stwood_]

I have not found that to be true with the Carl Angel sharpener, since it stops sharpening when the pencil is sharp.  I've always had a tendency to oversharpen with manual feed pencil sharpeners, since it's hard for me to tell when the tip is actually sharp.  YMMV.

My boston self feeders stop when they are sharp.