How to Get The Most Out Of Your Pencil Sharpeners

What can a pencil do for all of us? Amazing things. It can write transcendent poetry, uplifting music, or life-changing equations; it can sketch the future, give life to untold beauty, and communicate the full-force of our love and aspirations.

Adam Braun

They can also break our pencil sharpeners!!!! What teacher doesn't know the woes of pencil sharpeners? Over the last few years I have learned some tricks that make a pencil sharpener last.

Don't
Don't sharpen colored pencils in your class sharpener.
Don't sharpen foiled or decorative pencils in your sharpener.

Do
Use yellow #2 wood pencils.
Allow students to bring hand held mini sharpeners to sharpen their special pencils before school.
Choose your most responsible students to sharpen independently.
Watch over your children who need guidance while sharpening.

If your school purchased you one of these insanely expensive pencil sharpeners and you thinks it's time for a new one consider this, you can order just a new blade.  The blade for this one runs about $35.  I got three years out of this sharpener before it needed a new blade.

My favorite option is this beauty down below.  I paid about $20 for it.  It makes the sharpest pencils that I have ever seen.  The pencil sharpness seemed to last a lot longer than pencils sharpened elsewhere.  However, I did not conduct a scientific study.  This is all you need to know, after one year it's still going strong.  At one point I thought it was broken. After sticking a pen in it to free a mechanism that was stuck it worked brilliantly again.  It works a little differently than most conventional sharpeners.  Because of this I did not let my firsties use it independently.  2nd graders and up should be fine using it.