Crank-Style Mechanical Pencil Sharpeners Will Work for Most Types of Drawing Pencils.

Go to any public school classroom and you'll probably find wall mounted, crank-style mechanical pencil sharpeners in every classroom.

This type of sharpener has been the most used method of sharpening a "No.2" pencil for many years, and is best used for hard-leaded pencils.

Be careful,these styles of mechanical sharpeners can be pencil-eating monsters when a soft-leaded pencil is stuck into their hungry little holes.

Great care must be taken when you are using it to sharpen waxed-based, charcoal, or carbon pencils.

Which brings me to another point...

Wax-based pencils will tend to "gum-up" crank-style pencil sharpeners.

Some people suggest sharpening a hard-lead, graphite pencil through it every so often, so as to clear out the shavings from the blades.

Other artists use a sharpener designed for a mascara pencil.

You could also use a manual, hand-held sharpener to get the point started, and finish it off by using sandpaper or any other type of paper click here to go to the "Pencil Sharpener" page, and click on the "Sandpaper" or the "Used Printer Paper" links.

If you would rather not drill holes into your wall to mount a crank-style sharpener, there are desktop models that use a suction cup to hold it down onto a smooth, flat surface.

I have not used a desktop mounted, crank style, so I really can't comment as to the effectiveness of the suction cup's ability to hold the sharpener down securely.

Hand-cranked mechanical pencil sharpeners are not terribly expensive, but try and get the best quality that you can afford.

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