If you have kids in your house then you have crayons and pencils; most of the time we use the Boston School Pro Electric Pencil Sharpener but that is never a good pick when it comes to sharpening crayons. Someone tried that once and it ended up ripping her pink and purple crayons to bits so she sticks with one of the hand held –non-electric, non-threatening sharpeners. These sharpeners are inexpensive but hold up better than others; they don't crack as easily and so far the metal sharpener inside it hasn't come loose. I'd like to say that this is indestructible but it isn't; we've gone through a few of them and when one of the dogs gets a hold of it, you are better off letting them play with it then throwing it in the trash. For whatever reason they think these are toys so they bat them around and knock them into the walls. Beside all that, they slobber all over them and that is something that I just flat out refuse to deal with.

Staedtler Two Hole Pencil And Crayon Sharpener

Sure, this can be used for pencils and crayons but you can also use it for colored pencils and those awesome "My First Ticonderoga" pencils. You don't have to exert a lot of pressure or force to get a nice point on something and the holes are large enough to accommodate most pencils and crayons buy not fingers. About the only thing this won't sharpen are those mega chunky crayons, for those you will have to buy something specifically made for them. I've used this a few times for my expensive Prismacolor pencils and was pretty impressed with the point that I got from it but most of the time I use my own sharpener because I don't want to get crayon goop or pencil lead on the base of the colored pencil.

Emptying this is easy; the cap pulls off smoothly so you can dump it in the trash. There is a 'swoop' design to the top of the cup so getting a firm hold in it to open it is pretty simple. The problem with most sharpeners like this is that if you bump the sharpening element it starts to come loose and before you know it, when you dump the shavings in the trash, the sharpening piece ends up in there too and if you aren't paying attention, it gets lost and you are left with a cut cup that pretty much does nothing. The insides might need cleaned out from time to time, especially if you are sharpening a lot of pencils with this. So far we've never had this thing accidentally come apart in someone's backpack but most of the time this stays at home so the only time it leaves the house is when one of the kids is doing a field trip or academic day camp.

You can find these at most of the large office supply stores like Staples, Office Depot and Office Max but if you can't get them locally, Shoplet does carry them for a very reasonable price. The only drawback with ordering them online is that you can't pick out the color you want so you have to pray that who ever is filling the order picks out a good color for you. These come in blue, red, green, yellow, orange and clear. This is small enough about two inches high and an inch wide] that kids can take it to school with them or have it in an art box but not so small that it gets lost. This does cost a little more than the regular open-end pencil sharpeners but to me it's worth it to have something that catches the shaved pieces of crayon as well as the broken pieces of lead and the shavings. For under two dollars, this is something that is going to last at least one school year, that is unless you have dogs like mine that insist they are toys.

The Bottom Line

You might not think that there is a lot to picking out a pencil sharpener but there is. You have to worry about kids being able to put their fingers into the holes, if the sharpening element is going to stay attached to the plastic and if the base is going to start to get wobbly after it's been used for a couple of months. If it gets lost or damaged it doesn’t cost a lot to replace it but to me the safety issues supercede the cost of it. I would pay more for something that is safe for a child to use than to skimp on something and have them get injured. When Annabelle took this to one of her homeschool co-op art classes everyone wanted to use it and it filled up quick but even with ten kids using it, it never showed any signs of wear. If you are looking for a solid sharpener that will work on pencils and crayons, this is one of the best around.


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


Related reviews

Staedtler Hand Held Single Hole Metal Pencil Sharpener
Boston School Pro Electric Pencil Sharpener
Crayola Character Crayon Sharpener

Don't want to have to sharpen crayons? Then check out Crayola's Twistables!


Recommended: Yes