Pencil sharpeners

[Maurice Ungaro]

Megan, the Little Shaver is the bomb! However, it does not operate optimally when wall mounted . Can you get that with a PMV11 blade?
Love the name though. When I was a youngster back in the 60's, my father had a carpenter who would do remodel work for us. He was a classic, fine old gent (Mr. Schroeder). Always showed up in a white Oxford shirt, a fedora and his tool tote. Anyone young enough to be in elementary school, he called "little shaver".

[Dave Cullen]

I use a fine mechanical pencil

I find .3mm fine enough, but I like the white 'lead' idea I may put that to use!

Me too. I have a .5 mm that's the go-to, and a .3mm for fine stuff. But for carpentry I'll either use a flat carpenter's pencil sharpened with a knife, or the standard old #2 stuck into an electric sharpener from Staples.

[Maurice Ungaro]

If you've never tried a 2mm sharpened to a fine point, you might want to try it. Held in a lead holder, it is very sturdy, and offers much less breakage.

[Allan Speers]

No love for my favorite, the Little Shaver? You can put a chisel point on the lead (OK, graphite), and the blade can be resharpened...allowing for another rabbit hole discussion of the best techniques and stones for the purpose :-) http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...,42452&p=68746

That's pretty neat, but what you REALLY want is a tiny little shooting board, and a Stanley #1.

[Matt Lau]

Reminds me of when I was a wee lad.

At age 4, my dad had an unorthodox way of babysitting.
My dad would plunk me down to a drafting book, a pencil, and a neon orange pre-schooler T-square.
He's say, "Kid, do excercise 1-20. Then get back to me."

There were 4 different ways to sharpen a pencil, 5 if you include the abrasive paper for finessing the lead.

He didn't talk to me for a month when I told him I was going to be a dentist.

[Michael Ray Smith]

You could try one of these for very large pencils.

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[Rob Luter]

You could try one of these for very large pencils.

IMG_20150726_140900961_HDR.jpg

That's what I'm talkin' about...
giant_wooden_pencil_2.jpg

[Michael Ray Smith]

[Most of my life I used a knife. Super fine points can be made quickly with a bit of 220 grit garnet paper to "strop" on.

If you have ever studied old drafting books(I taught it at one time),there are quite a few different points you can put on a pencil.[/QUOTE]

That reminded me of the one-semester drafting course I took in college. Every engineering major had to take it in the freshman year. We had to buy a kit of drafting tools, and it included a sandpaper strop for sharpening pencils. About the only thing I remember from that course is that they taught us to twirl the pencil as we drew lines with a straight edge. I never needed those skills for any of the jobs I had, which is fortunate because I was terrible at it. Gosh, how I hated that class. Haven't thought about it for years. So thanks for spoiling my afternoon, George!

[Maurice Ungaro]

Yup, ALWAYS twirl that pencil when making a line!. You want even wear.

[John Coloccia]

What I don't get are the twist sharpeners for carpenters pencils. This whole "they're flat so they don't roll away" business is nice, and maybe even has some truth to it, though I suspect this was just a happy accident after the fact. The point is to have a large, flat lead that can be sharpened to a fine line, or even better, bevelled. This lets you get in tight and scribe accurate lines.

I do the same thing with my mechanical pencil when I really need it perfect. I rub it on some sand paper at an angle a couple of times, and I get a very sharp beveled edge, but because it's a cylinder, it only contacts in one spot and dulls almost immediately. A nice, flat carpenter pencil will let you make a lot of lines without breaking or dulling too badly....unless you use that stupid round sharpener contraption!

[Maurice Ungaro]

John, I'm definitely trying the previously mentioned method of sharpening a carpenter's pencil against the side of a grinding wheel.

[george wilson]

There was a Japanese drafting student who was making perfect,thin,even ink lines using a Japanese brush! When he was asked how he drew thicker lines,he said "Bear down harder!" That would have taken better nerves than I had!!!!

[Maurice Ungaro]

Well, just got this vintage Dixon, model 15 "Pointer" in the mail today. Works wonderfully, and looks cool to boot. Still use my drafting lead holders too.

[Alan Caro]

Harland Barnhart,

If you are very particular about pencil sharpening, and various diameters, different point depths for different hardness pencils and work then you might consider the Dahle Professional (mechanical). This is adjustable for taper / fineness and diameter. When I use a hard lead- drafting- I like a long taper / fine point, whereas colored pencils use a short, wide tip. The Dahle also adapts to pencils of different diameters automatically- without the diameter dial. The Dahle costs as much as a good electric, but the cutters are very high quality and last. It's the only sharpener I've found that doesn't constantly break off the tips of expensive color pencils. The numbers of times I've sharpened a Prismacolor three times and lost 3/8" to have a surviving point would pay for the sharpener. I don't use pastels, but the Dahle is supposed to be able to sharpen those too- so it's accurately made. This also comes apart for cleaning and this is an advantage.

[ Optional alternative to sharpening: Of course, if you're using pencils for marking out cuts and holes in a shop, this may not apply, but I've found a very convenient mechanical pencil. After decades of chewing up Faber-Castell wood drafting pencils I'm only using colored pencils these days, ast I've found Pentel "Twist Erase" mechanical pencils excellent for drafting and sketching. These come in .5, .7, and .9mm leads. Of course, as mechanical pencils they don't need to be sharpened, but this means no chisel point for lettering. These do have a reservoir for extra leads that feeds though new leads as they're used. When the lead is down to last 1/4", you pull out the stub end, shake the pencil and a new lead falls into the advance mechanism. The important feature of all is the eraser- my best friend- which is fed out by turning the upper half of the pencil. I can use one of these for months without adding leads or running out of eraser. The erasers are hard and pure white so they don't stain the paper pink- or harden. These are inexpensive so I have six of them, both .7 and .9mm and with different hardness leads. ]

Alan Caro

[Mike Null]

Paddles, wow that brings back memories. We used paddles in my 8th grade shop class--that was in 1949. Today I use an electric X-acto. Gave my Boston crank version to my grandson.