mickp's Full Review: X-Acto Boston Ks Adjustable 8 Pencil Size Sharpene...
Every classroom at the school where I am employed comes equipped with a wall or desk mounted X-Acto Boston KS Pencil Sharpener. I never thought I would develop such an intense relationship with a mundane device, but today I am here to share them from the perspective of a teacher.
When brand new, the sharpener seems sturdy and effective - it is constructed of strong metals and plastics and is equipped with a rotating frame allowing for the comfortable slotting and support of 8 different guages of pencil during sharpening.
The sharpening itself is perfomed by manually grinding a small crank handle (with rotating handle for easier cranking). This causes three bladed barrels inside he sharpener to turn and shave the point of the pencil. The sharpening mechanism is housed inside a metallic "shaving catcher" drum which is detached from he mechanism for emptying (when required) with a simple twist.
I won't say that the KS does not do its job, unfortunately I have a few serious misgivings.
To begin with, these sharpeners simply do not have what it takes to stand up to a heavy usage environment. Within six months of middle school use, pretty much all of them have handles loose at the arm connection or even bent handles and something (I have no idea what) seems to happen that prevents the catchment drum from remaining firmly affixed in place. The durability I am looking for just isn't there.
Operators will also need to use serious restraint when sharpening - this is a VERY aggressive sharpener and a pencil can be chewed away to nothing in no time at all when an over-eager student is in control. The roughness of the sharpening action means that the lead inside a pencil will often fracture, causing new tips to simply drop out of the sharpened pencils.
Unless you are very careful when emptying your shavings you could well end up with an unfortunate mess. This can be avoided by not leaving it too long between cleanings, however if your drum becomes loose as described above you'll run into these issues on a daily basis anyway.
Finally, this is a very noisy sharpener. Be prepared for anyone in the near vicinity to turn to stare at you as you grind away at your pencil. It's to a standard handeld sharpener as a hand held saw is to a heavy duty chainsaw. As a teacher, this can be a real problem for me as the slightest noise can turn a quiet, on-task class into a babbling mess of distraction and giggling.
Overall this sharpener works reasonably well with limited use, however I don't find the convenience of having a mounted sharpener makes up for the many inconveniences I have encountered.
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