Pencil sharpeners

[fan-of-fans]

When I was a kid for some reason I was fascinated with pencil sharpeners and wanted to collect them. We used to go to some kind of antique fair and they sold metal pencil sharpeners that were designed to look like various things. I think old clocks, cars, fans, globes, lanterns, etc. I have two of the fan style ones. I also have a plastic one that looks a lot like a Hoover Futura canister vac, has rubber "hose" power nozzle, a pencil for a "wand".

We also have an old Boston hand crank sharpener installed on the side of the built in shelves in our linen closet. Still works great!

 

[philcobendixduo]

I too...

.....was fascinated by pencil sharpeners in school. I would find any excuse to sharpen my pencil with the Boston hand-crank sharpener that was found in almost all school rooms back in the 1950's and 1960's.

I actually asked for one of the Boston sharpeners for my Birthday (or Christmas) one year and was THRILLED to get it. That one is long gone now but I do have a Panasonic KP-110 electric sharpener from the 1980's.

 

[parunner58]

I love old office equipment and things related. Growing up we had a Boston Pencil Sharpener bolted to the wooden shelves in our laundry room. It had an amber colored see through container for the pencil pieces. It was already 4 years old (we brought it with us from our old house) when we moved in the house in 1965 and when it was sold in 2015 it was still working. Never thought to take it. When my daughter started elementary school in 1990 we bought her this Nickelodeon one at Staples. It’s a Empire Berol made in USA. Still working fine.

 

[sudsomatic]

Same here...

 

 

Love older pencil sharpeners. I have a wall mount, Boston Model L, crank version taken from an old school, now mounted temporarily in the garage, and an electric Office model, Panasonic Point-O-Matic on my desk. I've had newer electric sharpeners that don't sharpen half as nice and precise a point as this 40 some year old machine.

 

I even borrowed from the Point-O-Matic for my user name here when I found out "Wishy-Washy" was already taken and glanced around the room for inspiration, much like Jan Brady with George Glass

 

[arbilab]

They smell really neat too.

 

[hobbyapocalypse]

In 1966 I had a pencil sharpener like the ones mentioned in the OP, in the shape of Lincoln's head. One day I took it to kindergarten and I think one of my classmates stole it. Also used to have a hand-crank one made to look like an old hand-crank telephone.

Now I have one shaped like a little space capsule, also a Panasonic electric sharpener, and a crank one made with only one reamer rather than the usual 2. It's a "Bulldog" made by the Hunt manufacturing company.

 

[circlew]

Back in the 80's I bought my dad an electric pencil sharpener for Christmas. I don't remember the brand, but it was a nice one.

 

Our schools mainly had Apsco  Giant (Berol) sharpeners, though a couple classrooms in the grades 4 - 6 building had ones made by Boston. I didn't like them as well as the Apsco, as they didn't seem to operate as smoothly.  

 

The only sharpeners I possess currently are the hand held type. I rarely use a pencil.

 

[fan-of-fans]

That Nickolodeon sharpener is neat, very 90s style.

The Boston looks very much like the one we have, except ours has the wheel on the side to fit different diameter pencils.

The little space capsule sharpener is so cool! Never seen one of those.

Like many things Panasonic had some nice sharpeners back in the day.

When I was in school we had the Boston ones mounted to the wall. The bracket part wasn't very strong it seems and they were always breaking off and the whole sharpener had to be replaced.

I also have a Boston electric sharpener. It's not very old, I think I got it in the late 90s but it is old enough to be USA made.

 

[parunner58]

Fan-of-fans. where about in Florida are you located? I am in Davenport about 30 minutes south west of Disney.

 

[askolover]

Back in the 70's, my sister and I each received a Snoopy doghouse electric pencil sharpener for Christmas. 

 

[fan-of-fans]

Mike, I am about two hours from there!

 

[fan-of-fans]

Or actually closer to an hour to Davenport, about two to Disney.

 

[parunner58]

Thanks, Fan, was wondering if there were members close by. I remember chatting with one guy, by Tampa. and Laundry boy in Orlando. Dishwashers and vacuums are my favorite appliances. I have 7 vacuums, but none are really old and just one dishwasher. I saw you collect fans, I have seen some really cool old ones over my 60 years, the same with vacuums. I was just never allowed to keep anything.

I would like to see you collection.

 

[whitewhiskers]

My only interesting pencil sharpener is the Home Depot carpentry sharpener. It accepts the flat pencil and possibly large diameter rounds. I've ruined perfectly good ball point pens marking wood, so the carpentry pencil is a must.

My regular pencils were sharpened with a Bostich electric. It does a good job, although the angle of the cut seems different from mechanical sharpeners. I'd love to get a non-electric crank sharpener, but most of the new ones on the market are junk. Sounds cliche, but they just don't make things like they used to.

In more recent years my primary lead writing instruments are mechanical. I used to buy Pentel but switched to BIC, which surprisingly is of high quality and value. With mechanicals I always have a sharp point.

I'm also very passionate about erasers. Anything pink is to be avoided as they smudge! The white erasers are excellent not only for removing pencil marks from books and walls, but also general dirt and sticky decal residue.

 

[wayupnorth]

I still use my 50+ year old Boston sharpener I got for Christmas as a kid