Posts filed under Pencil Sharpener

What Is In Your Perfect Pencil Kit?

As my pencil month experiment winds down, I’ve been thinking about some of my favorite products I’ve had in use. And, if I took some of these products and put them together as a kit, what would it include, and how would I set it up? Here are the options I settled on for my personal pencil kit:

A writing pencil. This should be the core of your setup, and your most-used pencil. What pencil do you want to use the majority of the time? For me, that means a dark, firm core with solid point retention. Bonus points for looks. The Mitsubishi 9850 comes to mind here, as does the Blackwing Eras - two of my favorite pencils to just pick up and write. There are no questions here, only solid performance every time I pick it up.

A sketching pencil. This could go a few different ways depending on your needs, but for me, it means something on the soft side, or B side, of the graphite scale. For example, the Tombow Mono KM-KKS 4B, which features a much softer core than the writing options above, but one that is rock solid for such a soft, dark pencil.

A detail pencil. This is my H side option. I’ve toned it down over the years from the 4H range to 2H, which is still plenty aggressive for what I need. This Tombow-made Tajima 2H - for hi-precision drafting, it says - is a perfect choice.

A fun pencil. Do you like a certain character that you can buy pencils for? A wild color? A unique material, either for the wood barrel or core? I always want to have some fun in any kit, whether it is my favorite Aggretsuko pencil, or the Caran d’Ache Stinkwood, which is always a good time.

A color pencil. Or three. Honestly, you can never have too many color options. A magic pencil works wonderfully here, as do the two-sided pencils, like the classic Mitsubishi Vermillion/Prussian Blue, or my favorite, The Editor, a collaboration between Caran d’Ache and the artist formally known as CW Pencil Enterprise.

A self-contained sharpener. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to make a mess unless I am prepared to make a mess. That means that unless I have a trash can handy to sharpen over, I want the pencil shavings to be stored inside the sharpener until I can empty them safely. The KUM Long Point is my favorite option for this. If you don’t care about containing the shavings, then you could opt for the open-blade KUM Masterpiece. The Blackwing One-Step Long Point Sharpener does do a fantastic job of sharpening and containing the shavings, as long as you get a good blade on order.

An eraser. This is a do as I say, not as I do moment. I don’t use erasers, even the ones attached to the pencil. I scratch out and move on, as if I were using a pen. That said, I do like having one on hand just in case. Tombow makes the best in this category, or you can toss in something cool like this Seed Clear Radar eraser, which comes in two sizes: small, and smaller.

A pencil cap. I mean, we are nerds about this stuff, right? I don’t put pencil caps on all of the pencils I carry (that’s why I carry a sharpener,) but I will usually put it on my writing pencil because it is likely the most used pencil. I feel better knowing that if I am banging it around the most that it is protected when I need to pick it up and write quickly.

Pencil paper. What is pencil paper? Take what you like for fountain pens, and choose the exact opposite. Ok, maybe that’s a bit much, but you don’t necessarily want a smooth, slow-drying paper for graphite. The paper doesn’t have to be toothy, but you want some grab from the pencil tip so that it leaves a solid and consistent mark. Field Notes fit the kit size perfectly.

A pouch. Is this the toughest part of the pencil kit? I think so. I made my perfect pencil pouch when Nock Co. was going (R.I.P.) which was exceedingly simple. It didn’t need to hold too much, but it needed to be long enough to hold an unsharpened Blackwing. That was the measurement we used because Blackwing’s are the longest pencil on the market, and longer than most standard pencils off the shelf. Rickshaw makes a nice option for this.

What else? I think I’ve covered my bases here - what else do you put in your pencil kit? Let me know in the comments below.


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Posted on October 21, 2024 and filed under Pencil Reviews, Pencil Sharpener.

Pencil Sharpener Battle: Classroom Friendly vs. Uni KH-20

Classroom Friendly (Left,) vs. Uni KH-20

I’ve been focusing on pencils in the month of October, and recently realized I’ve never reviewed either of my favorite two desktop pencil sharpeners: the Classroom Friendly Sharpener and Uni KH-20 Hand Crank Sharpener. Let’s break down each of these popular sharpeners, and see which one I prefer.

I’m looking for one thing with any pencil sharpener: a long point. That goes for hand-held and desktop sharpeners both. Not sure what the difference is? One image says it all:

The Dixon Ticonderoga (top,) is on the extreme end of the “short” scale.

The short point, top, is how many types of pre-sharpened pencils arrive. I knew there were sharpeners out there that offered a deeper sharpening, but what I didn’t know is that a long point sharpener was a thing. Once I found out, and shopped accordingly, I’ll never go back to a short or medium point wooden pencil. Long point only for me.

Both the Classroom Friendly and Uni KH-20 provide the point I’m looking for, with only slight differences between the two. Yes, I’ll go ahead and tell you up front that I rate these two sharpeners closely, but one does see more action than the other at the end of the day.

Classroom Friendly, top.

The Classroom Friendly sharpener blade provides a slight concave shape on the tip. If you look closely, you can see a slight swoop starting from where the barrel paint ends through the end of the graphite point. In comparison, the Uni KH-20 blade finishes its sharpen cycle with a straight line from paint to tip.

I’d say the very tip of the core is also sharper from the Classroom Friendly. That’s not always a positive. With softer graphite you’ll find that part of the tip crumble as soon as it hits the page. That’s not a huge issue since you are wearing down the tip the moment the pencil hits the page, but I don’t see that one first use from the Uni sharpener.

Every Other Facet, the new Alt-J song.

There are almost no negatives with they way either of these sharpeners do their job, with on visible exception: the teeth of the Classroom Friendly sharpener bite into the barrel. This is an annoyance, but it is fixable. I use washi tape to buffer the area where it clamps onto the pencil barrel to prevent the bite markers. Other have recommended products like Blu Tack adhesive to smooth out the teeth in a more permanent way.

Metal teeth!

Washi tape as protection. Is there anything it can’t do?

Other differences involve construction - the Classroom Friendly uses a mostly metal exterior, which the KH-20 is mostly plastic. Both have a large capacity slide-out shavings bin. The KH-20 does have a blunt tip setting that the Classroom Friendly doesn’t have, which is great if you use color pencils that don’t require the ultimate in stabbiness.

Blunt tip from the KH-20 for color pencils.

In the extras department, the KH-20 comes in three colors, while the Classroom Friendly has seven. The Classroom Friendly also ships with a clamp to mount the sharpener to a table or other surface.

At $25 for a single sharpener (plus discounts starting with three or more,) the Classroom Friendly checks in at $7 less than the $32 Uni KH-20 sharpner. The Classroom Friendly also offers a replacement blade ($15) if you ever need it, which Uni doesn’t offer for the KH-20 as best as I can tell.

In this battle between sharpeners, there needs to be a winner. There is no wrong choice for quality, but I reach for one of these sharpeners over the other about 80% of the time, and that’s the Uni KH-20. Why? It’s rock solid, quiet, and consistent. And I do use the blunt tip setting on occasion for color pencils, although I admit that’s not a deal-breaker. The bite marks on the barrel are my biggest hangup with the Classroom Friendly, and while fixable, the point it provides isn’t worth the extra fidgety-ness most of the time.

I will say I am glad to have them both at arms reach, and after many years of ownership, neither seems to be slowing down.


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Classroom Friendly vs. Uni KH-20 Shavings
Posted on October 14, 2024 and filed under Classroom Friendly, Uni, Pencil Sharpener.

Dux Adjustable and Single Brass Pencil Sharpener Review

Dux Adjustable and Single Brass Pencil Sharpener Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

As far as pencil sharpeners go, I've never been too picky. My go-to sharpeners include the T'Gaal adjustable point and the Sonic Ratchetta. They're incredibly easy to use and also collect pencil shavings for easy cleanup. They also require zero skill, which I didn't know could be a thing in terms of picking a sharpener.

I recently picked up a couple of Dux sharpeners to try out because they 1) look really cool and 2) are incredibly small and easy to store in just about any bag or pouch, making it easy to always have a sharpener on hand. The two I decided to try out are the Dux Brass Single Hole Block sharpener and the Dux Brass Adjustable sharpener. They're both made of brass (except for the blades) and have handy grooves machined into the sides for additional grip. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been struggling with using these two sharpeners, and I'm still not sure if it's pure user error or just the fact that these sharpeners require a level of skill that I'm not prepared to work up to.

Dux Single Brass Pencil Sharpener

Let's start off with the single sharpener. This is the smaller of the two and comes in at just $7, it's the more affordable of the two. Sure, it's expensive compared to other simple sharpeners, but it is made solid brass. The sharpener is pretty easy to use, but it can be hard to hold depending on how hard the wood is in the pencil you're sharpening. Since it's so small, I've noticed that it slips easily and requires me to use a firmer grip than I'd like. I quickly learned that this pencil sharpener doesn't have an automatic stop, or brake, that prevents you from over-sharpening a pencil. If you're wondering what over-sharpening looks like, check out the Field Notes pencil in these images. After the graphite point hits a certain length, it just keeps growing longer like Pinocchio's nose. Not a useful trait for a pencil since it will snap at the slightest pressure. Aside from that little gotcha, this sharpener works just fine. It's not overly pleasant to use, but it gets the job done.

Dux Adjustable Pencil Sharpener Review

Moving on to the adjustable sharpener, I was incredibly underwhelmed. Out of the box, the adjustable dial wouldn't budge. I spent several minutes trying everything I could think of to unlock the secret formula and gesture to dislodge the dial, but nothing work. Eventually, I got out a screwdriver and disassembled the sharpener. On a hunch, I decided to reverse the direction that the small pin faces that keeps the dial gently notched in to the three settings. Sure enough, after re-assembling the sharpener and trying out the dial, it worked perfectly. Now, I'm completely aware that manufacturing is a difficult nut to crack, but this level of quality control seems unfortunately low. This sharpener comes in at $22, which is quite a premium when compared to other options — especially when the expensive feature is (in my case) broken out of the box.

Dux Adjustable Pencil Sharpener Settings

After playing around with the different settings, I quickly learned that you have to experiment with different angles to hold the sharpener in relation to the pencil. In all honesty, I went through at least three pencils trying to improve my technique with this sharpener. I finally got it down, but it's important to note that I don't think it's reasonable that a purpose-built sharpener require practice. What really killed this sharpener for me was the fact that I couldn't successfully sharpen a pencil on the #3 setting, but more on that in a bit.

Dux Adjustable Pencil Sharpener Blade

The adjustable nature of this sharpener allows you to control (to a small extent) how "sharp" or pointy the graphite tip becomes when you sharpen it. Setting #1 is the more blunt option, with the brake positioned closest to the tip. This produces a pretty nice point, but it's a little dull for my taste. Setting #2 is my favorite of the three, but it takes care and attention to achieve. Due to the wide gap of the opening hole, you have to sharpen the wooden part of the pencil and then change the angle so that the graphite comes in contact with the blade. It's tricky, but not too difficult.

Dux Adjustable Pencil Sharpener Setting 3

Setting #3 caused me a lot of grief and is responsible for my wasted pencils. No matter what I did, I could not finish sharpening a pencil to a point without breaking the point halfway up the cone of the pencil (see picture for a good reference). After two and a half pencils, I finally gave up and decided to avoid that setting for good. It was really frustrating, and I'm not sure I'll ever forgive it.

One final nail in the coffin for both of these sharpeners is the lack of a shaving collection bin. This is completely due to the tiny and portable nature of these sharpeners, and I totally understand that. Just know that these kinds of sharpeners will make a mess — mostly from the graphite sharpening instead of the wood shavings!

Dux Pencil Sharpeners

Ultimately, I'm glad I tried these sharpeners out. I know there are other small, portable options for sharpeners that are cheaper and better. I also know that in a pinch, I'm much better at sharpening a pencil with a sharp knife over these two sharpeners.

I really can't recommend these based on my experience alone, but I'd love to know if I'm just "holding it wrong" or something similar. In case you're interested, you can pick up a single hole sharpener or the adjustable cousin over at JetPens, or you can look at much better options as well.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Dux Adjustable Pencil Sharpener Case
Posted on December 16, 2020 and filed under Dux, Pencil Sharpener.