Look Sharp!
Left to right: Exacto KS, Apsara Long-Point, M+R Pollux, M+R Grenade, Bostitch Quietsharp 6, KUM Mikro K1.
Extra points to those who catch the Swedish reference in the title. Today we’ll talk about sharpeners. Honestly there are few more frustrating things than trying to keep a pencil going through long periods of writing or drawing, and constantly revisiting a sharpener that either gives a poorly-shaped point, fails to actually shave the wood away, or repeatedly takes big chunks of the pencil core with it. Here I profile all the sharpeners I currently use, none of which I find 100% satisfying.
First we have my main benchmark for the points I like and wish I could easily get every time: from the ubiquitous wall-mounted Exacto KS units in every classroom at my school (and probably half the schools in North America), I almost always get a reliable extra-long point without too much effort or broken cores, and the point is strong and lasts long regardless of the pencil I’m using. Given, when these things go wrong they chew up pencils like a wood chipper, but typically in such a case I just go to the next classroom over or call the maintenance guy. The biggest drawback I have with these is that they must be essentially physically mounted to a structural surface of a building to have the stability required to work effectively, so I have yet to install one at home, and thus the convenience is limited to being at work. Other than this, these are my favourite sharpeners.
The next on my list is the Apsara Long-Point manual sharpener. These are not the greatest quality sharpeners, but they are so incredibly cheap (about $10 Canadian for a box of 20) that they can be excused for lack of longevity.
I may see if I can buy a sharpening stone to try to keep them going longer so that the Earth doesn’t scream every time I reach for a new one. They typically produce a beautiful, long point almost as good as the Exacto, with very few cases of core damage. As with all single-blade sharpeners, once the blade is even a little dull they will crack cores and shred wood, especially lighter woods like linden and pine.
For about the past 3 months my preferred sharpener was the Bostitch Quietsharp 6. This was recommended by Tina, and I can see very clearly why pencil artists would appreciate it most. It doesn’t make very good points, but it is effortless, accommodates many pencil sizes, and makes a clean job for just about any core and wood type. Big drawback is that it creates short, slightly convex points, so when writing I find I have to resharpen at least once per page, or more if I’m using more toothy paper. But being an electric sharpener, that’s no big deal, provided I’m in my office where it’s accessible. When not at my desk, I really need something that lets me work longer before resharpening.
Recently the trigger mechanism for this one got stuck in the “on” position so that I would have to unplug it when not in use, which was quite inconvenient, so I retired it after only a little more than 3 months of service. For such an expensive appliance to have such a short life, I cannot recommend this one at all.
I recently acquired a Mobius + Rupert Pollux. A bargain version of the famous El Casco M-430, the concave point it creates is very likely better-writing and longer-lasting than the Exacto… When it works. The physics of the curved single-blade device, however, result in an exceedingly frequent occurrence of core breaks, and I also have poor luck with light woods and softer cores, more even than with the Apsara. Attractive and impressive when it works, but putting in the effort and risking a long series of retries when my hands are fatigued from lots of writing or drawing already, usually means I skip over it.
Not producing the best point, but at least being consistent and reliable, I use my M+R Grenade quite a lot. Whether due to the quality of the M+R blades (at least when flat, unlike with the Pollux), or the metal-on-metal construction, I find that this can produce points on just about all woods and core types more easily than any single-blade portable sharpener I have. Biggest drawback is the short point, which is still slightly better than the Bostitch because the point is not convex and thus the Grenade exposes slightly more core. Alas, I get at most a page per sharpening when writing.
The final sharpener that I use with any regularity is the KUM Mikro K1. KUM’s blades are likely the best in the world, and this little Ireland-made plastic sharpener holds one such German-made blade, all enclosed in tiny catch case. This also protects it well as an every-day carry in my pencil case for those times when other options aren’t available. Reliable, usable, and insanely cheap (at about $35 Canadian for a pack of two dozen), it unfortunately makes the shortest points of any sharpener I’ve used. It’s still come in handy when I’ve had no other options.
A non-pencil-sharpener “sharpening device” that I’ve tried a couple times is my husband’s rotary grinder in the garage. Essentially the opposite of easy or convenient or consistent, it nonetheless gives a nice concave point when done after a little trial and error.
A few other sharpeners I would like to explore include the AFMAT long-point electric, which promises points longer than even my beloved Exacto classroom units, and the KUM Masterpiece seems similarly promising. Electric sharpeners really appeal because they typically (with the exception, it would seem, of the Bostitch) are built for reliable shaving of any quality wood and core, whereas KUM specifically warns that poorly-centred cores and cheap wood will not work well. Beyond this, I can just keep looking for something more promising to come along…
