Alvin, 9866, Brass Bullet Sharpener, Replaceable Stainless Steel Blade

I trusted the reviews on this one. Looking for a good pencil sharpener for my Palminos, I needed something small and durable that wasn't an eyesore. This thing caught my eye, and I'm glad it did.1) The lack of a shavings cartridge is actually quite helpful. If you have a small trashcan next to the desk like I do, it doesn't hinder you at all, and you never have to dump a little container or deal with old shavings getting packed against the blade.2) The blade is amazing. As many others have said, this thing makes short work of unsharpened blunt pencils. Shoving a pencil in quickly, it lines up at the right angle, and ends up being faster than a cheap electric sharpener.3) The lack of plastic parts makes this thing solid as a rock, so you can "feel" when you're done sharpening. No checking the end and going back in.4) It's compact and hefty. The weight keeps it from rolling off my desk, the metal construction means I don't even think about it breaking when I toss it around, and the size allows me to stick it in my coin pocket if I'm heading out.5) Last (and probably least), it -looks good- sitting on my desk. I know this may sound borderline pretentious, but the generic look of plastic handheld pencil sharpeners really bothers me sitting next to a pen holder or a widescreen monitor. They just scream "elementary student" to me. That said, I don't go through pencils enough to justify a high-end automatic sharpener. This thing looks professional, and I have no shame about using it.

I needed a new and better sharpener for my Prismacolor Premieres. They are very soft so they basically tend to break off in most sharpeners. I am not a professional artist - I simply like to color, and I didn't want to spend an arm and leg on a good sharpener. I have tried most moderate priced sharpeners including: 1) Prismacolor Premiere Sharpener (terrible - I don't know how Prismacolor can sell that junk - it breaks every tip); 2) Pro Art Soft Sharpener (very good but blade gets dull quickly and plastic housing is not very stable causing pencil to move around during sharpening; 3) a cheapo small silver steel sharpener (made in China, but worked really well overall); and 4) the TGAAL (favored by a lot of you tube colorists - worked really well until the blade dulled two months into use - no way to replace blade). The Alvin Brass Bullet works great - extremely heavy and well made with a sharp blade. Like other reviewers mentioned, it does work best if you twist the sharpener while holding the pencil stationary, but you also get a very good (and unbroken) tip if you spin the pencil while holding the sharpener. As for the lead warning on the package, I do regularly wash my hands while coloring or before touching my face or food. I think that is a good idea regardless of the lead content of your sharpener because you don't know what chemicals are in the colored pencils themselves.

This is by far the best pencil sharpener I have tried yet. I enjoy coloring in adult coloring books. I own Prismacolor Premier, Prismacolor Scholar, Marco Raffine, Staedler, and Artist Loft colored pencils. I also own Marco Raffine and Artist Loft watercolor pencils. I have purchased one electric pencil sharpener. I have also purchased 2 Kum, 1 Prismacolor, 1 Fiskar, 1 Xcaliber, and 1 Artist Loft manual pencil sharpeners. The best of those were the Kum. But, they only work well for 2 - 3 weeks and then they just aren't sharp enough anymore. The pencil leads break and some of the wood gets chipped on some pencils making sharpening them a nightmare. I've read suggestions that say you should be turning the sharpener, not the pencil, warm the pencils a bit to help prevent breakage, try sharpening regular pencils occasionally. I've done all of those. So, I was searching Amazon for more pencil sharpener possibilities when I came across this little bullet sharpener. While it lacks the convenience of having a pencil shaving receptacle, I figured it was worth a try. I like the fact that I could order replacement blades for it rather than an entirely new sharpener. I received it in the mail & couldn't wait to give it a try. OMG!!! This tiny little sharpener puts every other sharpener to shame. Seriously, those others should be pulled from the market & their manufacturers should apologize for selling sharpeners that perform so poorly, for such a short period of time, for such a high price. If I've been doing very detailed coloring, I have been able to sharpen every pencil I've wanted to the sharpest point possible and with far less waste than any of the other sharpeners. If I'm coloring a larger area & I just need to sharpen my pencil a bit, I simply twist the sharpener less. I have not had a single pencil lead keep breaking over & over like I did using the other sharpeners. I keep a plastic cup near me & just sharpen the pencils over the cup. That put an end to the problem of having no handing receptacle for the shavings. I can't recommend this sharpener highly enough. Prismacolor Premier pencils are not cheap and I was getting very frustrated when a pencil would just keep breaking. I would even try to color w/ the little pieces of lead that would break off. It was ridiculous.Thank you so much to the makers of this sharpener. I have not had a single pencil lead break since I started using this sharpener and I don't have to waste my pencils trying to get a sharp point. I simply twist this sharpener a couple of times & I have a pencil with a sharp point. I can't believe that I am that excited over such a small thing. I've included photos showing a couple of pencils w/ before & after photos & showing the small amount of shavings. I took those the first day I had this sharpener. Now that I'm more comfortable w/ this sharpener, I can sharpen my pencils to an even finer point. I apologize for the photos being upside down or sideways. This just happens when you post them on Amazon. I don't know why. If you found my review helpful, I'd appreciate it if you'd click the button. Thanks.

Great Pencil sharpener. Works great

The photo at the top of the page on a 13" laptop is much bigger than the sharpener which is actually about the smaller than a 45 auto bullet. It is truly an excellent sharpener and the easiest I've found to sharpen a colored pencil by rotating the sharpener instead of the pencil. Will either buy more or replacement blades if available. Just don't expect a sharpener the size of the photo.