Pencil Sharpener- What am I doing wrong?

[scrappyhappymama]

I bought one of the Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpeners that folks were raving about here. So far, I am not impressed. :confused:

 

It works well enough for regular pencils, although I wish it didn't make them quite SO sharp. My boys don't like their pencils that sharp, so they tend to try to break off the tip a little before starting and then sometimes it gets broken completely so we have to resharpen. This I could deal with.

 

But, the worst part is sharpening colored pencils. More than half the time during sharpening, the tip will break off in the blades and the pencil will not be sharpened at all. Then I have to take the entire sharpener apart and dislodge the jammed lead and put it all back together again. And even when it does sharpen a colored pencil, it often eats up half the pencil in the process.

 

What am I doing wrong? I know these can't be so highly regarded with this kind of result.

[fourcatmom]

I bought one of the Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpeners that folks were raving about here. So far, I am not impressed. :confused:

 

It works well enough for regular pencils, although I wish it didn't make them quite SO sharp. My boys don't like their pencils that sharp, so they tend to try to break off the tip a little before starting and then sometimes it gets broken completely so we have to resharpen. This I could deal with.

 

But, the worst part is sharpening colored pencils. More than half the time during sharpening, the tip will break off in the blades and the pencil will not be sharpened at all. Then I have to take the entire sharpener apart and dislodge the jammed lead and put it all back together again. And even when it does sharpen a colored pencil, it often eats up half the pencil in the process.

 

What am I doing wrong? I know these can't be so highly regarded with this kind of result.

 

 

I actually had never sharpened colored pencils in mine but I just did it as a trial and it worked fine. I sharpened four pencils and none of them broke off. I mostly use Crayola pencils - I don't know if that would make a difference. The pencils do get sharp though.

 

Have you tried to email him and ask him what he thinks? I would think that this is not normal. :confused:

[momofsbandeg]

But I have found that if the pencil is not made of 100% wood, it will gum up the sharpener and wreaks havoc on the sharpener and the pencils that follow.

 

Now I buy only 100% wood pencils. We have a prismacolor hand pencil sharpener for our prismacolor art pencils.

[JudoMom]

I actually had never sharpened colored pencils in mine but I just did it as a trial and it worked fine. I sharpened four pencils and none of them broke off. I mostly use Crayola pencils - I don't know if that would make a difference. The pencils do get sharp though.

 

Have you tried to email him and ask him what he thinks? I would think that this is not normal. :confused:

 

:iagree:

 

I haven't had any issues with Crayola pencils. I would email him--he's a super nice guy to deal with.

[Pippen]

Most teachers in the school I sub in don't allow floored pencils in crank or electric sharpeners because colored pencils ruin them.

 

I bought one of those pencil sharpeners and take it to school every time I sub. I'm like a pencil sharpener rock star around there because it makes such sharp points.

 

If it doesn't meet your needs right now, maybe put it away and they'll like it better in the future.

 

Are you using cheap colored pencils?

[Lara in Colo]

I am thinking about using this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Classics-Mechanical-Colored-TPG-330/dp/B001UHTF76/ref=sr_1_1?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1342732657&sr=1-1&keywords=mechanical+colored+pencils