Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

I got these for my classroom and love them. They do exactly what they say - great sharpening, quiet, quick. Would definitely buy more. Delivered promptly.

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

This is an excellent sharpener for anything around 2mm (your standard hard pencils, soft pencils, colored pencils, etc.). I have not found any other sharpener that creates a long, sharp point so well.

I noticed one reviewer said this sharpener breaks soft lead. That is NOT 100% true. You have to be careful with the second, finishing hole not to go too fast and create a chip in the lead. After sharpening a few pencils though, this comes easy. One person I observed using it pushed the lead in too forcefully, creating a chip in the lead. It is EASY to use this sharpener, you just have to do it right. Also, a larger soft lead or charcoal (say 4mm) WILL break in this sharpener (it would be nice if Alvin or Blick specified what types of leads sharpened well in these sharpeners). So for larger leads, you will not be able to use this sharpener. Bottom line though, you should buy this product. It works very well.

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

I use this to sharpen my higher quality graphite pencils. Also works well on Prismacolor and Nero (not using longpoint side for these softer pencils -- just the regular sharpening side).

The Kum blade is slightly convex and the sharpener is steeply angled. Excellent for exposing a long side on the pencil for covering large areas with the side of the pencil.

When using the other side (longpoint?) the sharpener strips off the wood so you can expose lead for a half inch or so, and then shape the lead any way you want in the regular side.

I also struggled searching for a good sharpener for sharpening the fragile Prismacolor leads. The Kum sharpener works well -- and hold the pencil shaft closest to the sharpener and turn with your whole wrist -- this totally reduced breakage.

2 spare blades in the case are the icing on the cake.
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to do both detail work and cover large areas with the same point.

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

Two things to know about this little sharpener:
1. You can get pencil points that are unbeatable for doing detailed work on drawings, especially colored pencil and pastel pencils.
2. This is a two stage pencil sharpener that first removes wood casing from the pencil and then sharpens the core. It is not sparing when you use it and it will eat up pencils in short order.

When I first bought one I was so enamored of it's sharpening capabilities that I used it exclusively. What I noticed was that I was going through pencils more quickly than before and it wasn't because I was drawing more. You would not want this as your primary sharpener by any means. Get one of the other nice sharpeners for general sharpening and only use this one sparingly for those times when you absolutely must have a needle sharp point for fine detail work. For this purpose alone it is a remarkable sharpener and worth the purchase. Absolutely a must have piece of kit.

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

I teach middle school math and have yet to find an electric pencil sharpener that lasts more than a year. Rather than spend $40-80 on one, I would rather spend half that amount on several of these great little sharpeners. They work great, last the whole year (unless I lose them), and come with replacement blades. In my opinion, this is the best manual pencil sharpener on the market. Blick has a great price right now!

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

You have to put your pencil in hole labled 1 which removes wood, move to hole 2 which sharpens lead. I used one in store and did great. Bought one and the very first time I use on my 120 set of Prismacolor pencils I broke the lead 4 times bringing a newly unsharpened pencil in a kit to 1/2 it's original length. I am not sure if the pencil was bad or what happened. I do know on my new set of Prismacolor pencils that come unsharpened, Prismacolor told me to sharpen the whole kit then call them and will replace all broke ones free of charge. Going to recomend based on that maybe it was me, not the sharpner or bad pencil.

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

I comes with 2 sharpeners. One is for long point and the other for standard pencils. What I have found is that by sharpening my pencils with the long point and then immediately with the standard point side, I get a point that could pierce skin!

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

This is my favorite sharpener. It comes with extra blades, is compact enough to easily carry and gives beautiful points. This is the same maker and design for the Palomino sharpener and uses the same blades.

Comments about Alvin Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener:

I was hoping for a long point on my softer lead drawing pencils. But, it kept breaking the lead even right out of the box. It is compact and it comes with spare blades.