Pencil sharpener

[JimBelair]

These?   

Yup, those are the ones.  For some reason they don't come up if you search for "pencil"  (their website isn't one of LV's strong suits)

[EricU]

I need to do that with my pencil sharpener.  The place it was mounted on the wall wasn't a good idea for me, but it's now sitting in two physically separated pieces.

[daddo]

Someone was trying to pass this off as a grinder, but I knew better and so bought it- it's a great pencil sharpener!

[mvflaim]

Dollar store pencils are terrible. I wish I had enough common sense to buy real pencils, but the ten for $1.00 is too tempting.

[Paul-in-Plymouth]

Hard to live without a good pencil sharpener in the shop.  For a long time I had an old WW2 military surplus desk model from my FIL.  Eventually, it expired, so I went looking.  Found this one at Staples or OD.  It says “Xacto,” but I think they must have bought the old “Boston” design. 

I screwed it into the furring strip under some pegboard on the wall behind me as I work at the bench.  The mount needed a standoff to give enough space for my hand to turn the crank.  A piece of MDF shelving worked.  The base must be designed for school children’s hands (Do they actually use pencils anymore?).  No matter, it keeps my pencils sharp and does some other important things around the shop too.

For example, when making dowels with a dowel plate, it’s nice to taper the leading end of the blank a little to ease entry to the plate.  

And if you happen to have a Veritas “Plugger” from before they discontinued it, then you need a pencil sharpener to taper the 16º plugs.  
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/pag...20&p=58874

I also have an older Boston vacuum-mount pencil sharpener in my study in the house.  The vacuum mount did not work very well with the open-grain wood in the furniture.  So when I added a pop-up writing surface to my teak computer table using Worktop Extension Slides from Lee Valley, I made the Baltic birch surface smooth and flat enough to work with the vac mount.
 
First, I stained the birch a teaky color that actually doesn’t look too bad with the teak table, then put on several coats of the Behlen’s Rockhard (the old phenolic formulation).  Then I ground the surface flat and smooth with mineral spirits and SiC paper to #600.   The surface is smooth and pleasant to write on, and the vacuum mount for the pencil sharpener sticks like a leech. 

[Mike Brady]

Favorite pencil =  Mirado Black Warrior, now made by PaperMate.  Pencils are today slightly downgraded in quality, like so much of what we buy.  Still, they are bargain, and may disappear from common use within our lifetime....maybe like saw files?

[John Clifford]

Faber-Castel grip 2001

[proSummus]

Here's how the pros do it:

https://vimeo.com/60718161

Note in the credits that Roy Underhill had a part in the production.

John

[Timberwolf]

Here's how the pros do it:

https://vimeo.com/60718161

Note in the credits that Roy Underhill had a part in the production.

John

...................................
This is the way I want to sharpen my pencils....................


http://pencilsforafrica.com/interview-wi...on-ghetti/

[AHill]

Mike and Jim, those are great old sharpeners!

On a related note, what are your favourite pencils?  Lee Valley used to sell house branded ones that I found nice but I can't seem to find them online now.

You can spend a fair amount on good pencils.  Here are my favorite wood pencils:

Blackwing 602's  - Quite costly, but write like butter.  Softer than most pencils.  The erasers are replaceable.
General Semi-Hex - Made in the USA, inexpensive, and very good.  Much better than the ubiquitous Dixon Ticonderoga's you see everywhere, which are no longer made in the USA.
Mirado Black Warrior - Excellent pencils.  They are round so they will roll off your workbench, but they are a pleasure to write with.

I don't think there's a single pencil eraser that's useful.  I use the Pentel Clic erasers.  The eraser material doesn't harden over time.  You can also remove graphite (pencil marks) on wood with plain denatured alcohol.  Works like magic.  Acetone (nail polish remover) works also.

I remember a while ago, Chris Schwarz recommending a 0.3 mm mechanical pencil.  He liked that the lead can fit deeper into the groove left behind for a marking tool, leaving something easier to see than when using a more blunt or thicker lead.  One thing about mechanical pencils is you don't have to sharpen them.