Awesome Pencil Sharpeners

Electric pencil sharpeners are plenty fast. But say you have 100 pencils to sharpen. Shaving a second or two off of each pencil can add up. Current Concept wanted to see how quickly a pencil could be sharpened by rigging up an off-the-shelf sharpener to various power tools. That exposed sharpener mechanism looks terrifying once it gets up to speed.

Did you know that a pencil sharpener can help you start a fire? John from Woodsbound Outdoors shows us how a the right kind of metal sharpener can provide magnesium to spark a fire and shave wood from branches for tinder. As a bonus, the leftover sticks have a sharpened tip you can use for hunting.

Engineers have come up with all kinds of pencil sharpeners. Shane from Stuff Made Here used his engineering expertise to see if he could come up with some new ways to achieve the sharpest point for his pencils. His six ridiculous pencil sharpeners include a 5-axis waterjet, a robot with a spinning X-acto blade, and a tiny chainsaw.

We don’t use pencils nearly as much as we used to, but we still enjoy sketching and drawing with a real-world writing instrument and not just on our iPad screen. This YouTube playlist of short videos from Rescue & Restore shows off a few very different antique pencil sharpener designs that date from the 1880s to the 1930s. Which is your favorite?

Datcrazy dusted off the designs from a Victorian-era pencil sharpener to create a version using modern techniques. Constructed from precision-engineered metal and wood, this 6.6-pound, hand-cranked contraption is the ultimate conversation piece for your desk. It’s being made in batches of just 100 units.

Makers Cabinet makes the fanciest pencil sharpener we’ve laid eyes on, and we want one. Made from solid brass with a carbon steel blade, the Høvel planes the tip of pencils to a precision point. Instead of twisting pencils, its flat blade action reduces broken leads. Upgrades include a walnut base and an Italian leather sheath.