Giant Wooden Pencil

Product Information

Electric Sharpeners can use either a blade or helical sharpening mechanism, but the whole process is powered by electricity. These sharpeners require very little in the way of manual work – all you need to do is insert your pencil and let the machine do the rest. These heavy duty sharpeners are perfect for artists who use pencils daily, or for those who just don’t want to waste time manually sharpening their pencils. It’s pretty easy to sharpen a high volume of pencils with these sharpeners.

Read below to see a comparison of all our sharpeners and it should help you find the perfect sharpener for you. What are the different types of pencil sharpener? The Derwent Pastel Pencil Sharpener is perfect for artists working with pastel, charcoal or other soft pencils. If you work with these materials you’ll probably find that most standard sharpeners are too harsh and will break their soft lead. Our other sharpening tools include sharpeners and accessories suitable for non-standard pencils or specialist sharpening techniques.The wood around the point of your pencil should be smooth. If it is smooth then the blade in your sharpener is sharp enough. If the wood looks a little rough or furry then that’s a sign that the blade on your sharpener is dull. Some types of pencil require different types of pencil sharpeners. If you’re using larger or smaller than standard pencils you might need to get a sharpener with a different size hole. Some soft lead pencils may also require a blade that is a more gentle to avoid chips and broken leads. Soft leaded pencils, like pastel pencils, require a delicate touch. Use a standard sharpener and you could end up with a chewed up pencil and a pile of pastel powder. A blunt blade can damage your pencil and leave a less than satisfactory point on the lead. But how can you tell if a sharpener is blunt? Two good indicators are the wood around the point of your pencil and the shape and size of your sharpenings.

When Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell set one of the earliest records for the world’s biggest pencil he commissioned a miniature pencil that was 17.5mm in length and 3mm in diameter with a 0.5mm graphite core. A limited-edition of 50 miniature pencils was manufactured. Helical Sharpeners don’t really have a ‘blade’ as such. Instead they have a cylindrical barrel cut with a spiral pattern. This barrel moves around your pencil when you turn the crank, griding against pencil to remove the wood casing and sharpen the tip to a fine point. They’re a lot more heavy duty than a single blade sharpener, and much better for sharpening high volumes of pencils. Simple Manual Pencil Sharpeners

With manual sharpener it’s pretty easy to locate and get rid of any shards of lead or wood trapped in the blade. If there are any indications that your sharpener is dulling, most artists just choose to dipose of the old sharpener and replace with a new one. Especially given that most are fairly inexpensive. With more expensive models (like most of our M&R brass sharpeners) there are often replacement blades available. Using replacement blades is a great way to cut down on waste and keep your sharpener in tip top condition.