John, over at Pencil Revolution, saw my post on my pencils and Moleskine notebook and noticed the pencil sharpener in the pictures. He asked me to write a review of it for him. Here is what I'm sending him.

The heartbreak of a pencil sharpener

This is the second time I've written this review of the hand held Boston rotating lid pencil sharpener.

The little Boston hand held sharpener has a lot of things going for it. This biggest thing is that it has a container to hold the shavings. Even better, it has a rotating top that keeps the shavings inside.

It's big enough to hold a fair amount of shavings but small enough to fit in a pocket. It also puts a nice long point on the lead and the barrel shape makes it comfortable to hold while sharpening. However, there was one teensy drawback. I wrote the first review as I did this one, with my California Republic Palomino HB in my Moleskine notebook. I was almost finished when the little Boston sharpener started to eat my Palomino. The blade had gone dull.

No continuous curls of shaved wood — just sawdust and a broken lead. Oh, heartbreak! Was this relationship to end when it had barely begun? Apparently.

The blade was attached with a screw which means that the blade could be replaced if only I could find a replacement. I googled high and low and not a single replacement blade was to be found. I was looking for a long term relationship with my pencil sharpener and now it appears that I will be forced into a series of short term relationships and one night stands as I search the seedy environs of drug stores and supermarkets for the cheap plastic thrills they offer. I can't do this. I want a good sharpener that I can settle down with and make shavings.

So I googled for a sharpener with replaceable blades. There isn't much. Staedtler had some hand held pencil sharpeners with replaceable blades but I couldn't find anyone who carried the sharpener and the blades. What has this world come to?

Then I found the hand held sharpeners at Alvin — a fine assortment of spiffy sharpeners and their replaceable blades. Unfortunately, Alvin only sells the sharpeners in blister packs containing many sharpeners. I'm afraid I can't afford a polygamous relationship with many sharpeners. I am a one sharpener kind of guy. But they did sell the blades in affordable 3 packs. Alvin has Alvin and Kum sharpeners. The Kum sharpeners had a variety of models with containers. The Alvin brand has some nice metal ones including the sublime Bullet, a sharpener reduced to it's essentials.

I searched the web for an Alvin or Kum sharpener and it's replaceable blades. I only found two sites and the selection on both sites was minimal. Oh, where will I find the sharpener meant for me? Maybe there is hope. I had an exchange of emails with Charles Berolzheimer, aka WoodChuck the pencil pusher, President of California Cedar Products Company, from whom all Palomino pencils flow and I spilled my heart out to him about my fruitless search for a long term relationship type of pencil sharpener. He is going to see what he can do at the Pencil World Creativity Store. Good luck WoodChuck!

Maybe some day in the near future there will be the pencil sharpener of my dreams nestled in my pocket ready to make shavings. A guy can hope.