General Pencil Flat Point Sharpener,Black

I've been learning Biblical Hebrew and love calligraphic writing so I've been practicing with pencils before making the jump to expensive pens and ink. I have some flat lead mechanical pencils that I've been using, but the lead is small. Carpenter pencils solve that problem, but then you have to worry about sharpening. I can't bring a knife everywhere for sharpening so I wanted to have something I can bring with my stationery supplies.With this sharpener I can easily get a flat point, plus by playing around with the sharpening, I can create a more broad width or more narrow width as I please.I was also surprised to find that with a bit of adjustment to the sharpening process, I could sharpen my regular Blackwing pencils to a flat point, which means now I can keep the same high quality wooden pencils that I'm used too. (The lead of the included pencil is pretty soft, I prefer a firmer lead.)I have 3 wishes for this sharpener though:1. It would be nice if there was a cover for the pencil shavings on the top and bottom, and a removable cover for the ends while storing. My hands and the sharpener got pretty messy while sharpening. Sharpen into a garbage can if you are worried about the mess. I keep it in a baggie in my bag until I find something cuter to use as a case.2. I wish the blades were removable. The sharpener is plastic, but high quality. The blades are held in place by drops of melted plastic, which doesn't seem like it will be durable on the long run.3. I wish it came in different colors. A solid black color would hide all the pencil dust on it.Other than that, I love it!

This sharpener is just what I was looking for and give the kind of point you want on a flat pencil. The pencil that come with it is great! However the pencils (a different brand) I have a just smidgen wider and don't fit. So be aware this sharpener does not fit all pencils.

This is the first time I've written a review! I'm a techNO, so I've never wanted to figure out how to do it until now. (And, as is often the case, it's much easier than I thought it would be.) Anyway, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this flat-point sharpener! If I were using these pencils for carpentry, and was trying to sharpen them quickly, I wouldn't like the sharpener. But I use these pencils for calligraphy. If you use the sharpener slowly, it works wonderfully for calligraphy purposes. I can write a full page without having to resharpen; then when it needs resharpening, the sharpener stops sharpening at the right spot, so the pencil point doesn't get too thin. It's more fun than writing with a calligraphy pen, because the pencil gives a lovely brushed, airy look to the lettering. Also, the pencils last much longer than a marker does, and they're far less expensive. (At Home Depot, you can buy a carpenter's pencil for 18 cents.)P.S. I figured out how to best use this sharpener. Just sharpen ONE WAY. Don't sharpen back and forth. Turn the pencil around to sharpen it the other way instead of going back and forth. That way, the pencil doesn't get chewed up, and it goes much faster.

I've been frustrated with sharpening carpenter's pencils. All the other sharpeners I tried were rotary and they broke the leads or made narrow points that broke. This sharpener makes make a graphite wedge which is exactly what you need for durability and so that the pencil draws a straight line when you drag the flat edge of the pencil along a piece of wood to mark another. This sharpener is easy to use and is quick. Works perfectly.

Seems to be the only product for chisel-pointing carpenters' pencils. Works as expected; would be improved if the blades were removable/replaceable since I wonder whether the expected lifetime of blades might be short. Time will tell.

There are so many mixed reviews here that i hesitated buying this sharpener. To get to the point (bad pun), the artists sketching pencil which ships with this sharpener has a different cross sectional configuration - it is more squared off - while the Home Depot carpenter's pencils which I just purchased, have chamfers on the four corners. The artists pencils use the center part of the pencil guide and the carpenters pencils fill the chamfers on the guide. To center the point on the pencil, it is much like using a box knife - sharpen all sides evenly - the sharpener doesn't act like a conventional pencil sharpener on a round pencil to center the point.

I have been looking for an easy to use pencil sharpener like this for ages. It's a simple design that works very well.

It's an effective way to sharpen the pencil the way you like it without taking a lot more wood and lead off than is necessary. I have two shops and bought another to have one in each.