November 30, 2004
I SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO GET INVOLVED
...yet I'm nevertheless compelled to dive into the fray in the Great Pencil Sharpener War
In this corner, we have BeeBee of Angle of Vision, touting the glories of her Boston 55 Ranger.
And in the other corner is Velociman pimping his Berol Giant so hard that you half expect to see the man wearing a purple ermine jacket and a ostrich feather hat.
But I'm here to declare that both of you ancient fops are worthless & weak with your outdated technologies.
Behold the glory of...
The Yikes!
(click to enlarge)
Made of the finest space-age materials and sporting a psychotically multicultural array of diverse colors, this little beauty has two features you won't find in either of your clunky tin cedar-shavers.
First, it has a CLEAR reservoir, thus eliminating the false alarms and "when do I empty this stupid thing" guessworkery.
Second - and this an untouchable bit of design brilliance - you see that little lever? That operates the suction pad at the bottom. That's right. You can attach this gem to ANY SMOOTH SURFACE. Just flip the lever and your sharpener if firmly adhered to your desktop using the same pressure-differentiated aerodynamic magics that make airplanes fly.
Once everything's sharp, you just unflip the lever and tuck this mechanical marvel away in your office-supplies drawer. No visible marks left behind, much less any unsightly screw holes to fill. Completely re-usable and transportable.
This ain't your mama's pencil sharpener. This is the kind of cutting-edge technological genius that won the Cold War and destroyed the Berlin Wall (CAUTION: Figurative speech only. Not for use in dismantling actual oppressive Communist regimes).
THIS... is a PENCIL SHARPENER!
» Velociworld links with: Dueling Grinders
» The SmarterCop links with: WEDNESDAY'S COMPENDIUM - Around the Blogosphere
Excerpt: I SO did not want to go here. But BeeBee tried to take me to school with a vintage old Boston pencil sharpener. Ah. Yes. A venerable old tool. I applaud it. Well, lookit what they put out lately: Tintype...
Weblog: Velociworld
Tracked: November 30, 2004 06:48 PM
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Tracked: December 1, 2004 10:06 AM
Now I know what to ask for this Christmas!
(New eyes, since the psychadelic colors on that thing have caused permanent damage.) :-P
I cannot believe you think that hunk of junk is a pencil sharpener. My Boston 55 Ranger has never, ever, let me down. I wallow in cedar shavings.
Both you and Velociman are simply blown away by my Boston 55 Ranger, you just don't know it yet.
Sharpen pencils? Sheesh... just get a mechanical pencil and be done with it.
Phht. I'm with J. That's the first thing I looked for at my new job... where they kept the mechanical pencils. OK, so maybe it's a geek thing...
I have one of those. The suction thingy doesn't work long enough to sharpen the pencil. You're all wrong anyway. The best pencil sharpener looks something like this, or maybe this if you really want to get fancy. These don't chew up the pencils so fast so pencils last longer. Yeah, I know, the little blade eventually wears out, but hey, they cost 82 cents for 2 of them!
As for mechanical pencils... I like the idea of mechanical pencils but using them just doesn't feel as satisfying as a good old fashioned wooden pencil.
Pencils?
Who the heck uses pencils anymore?
Pens are the only writing instrument my hands hold, computers not included and before anyone (Harvey) thinks of it, Peni$ not included also.
Machelle - Peni$ as a writing instrument? Only if you have a patch of new snow :-)
J - truth be told, I'm with you. Mechanical all the way if you have any serious writing to do. On the other hand, Lynn has a point. When I have just some minor pencil-jotting to do, I like the feel of a wood pencil better. Also, as long as it's freshly sharpened, you actually get a better line.
Part of my bitch with mechanical pencils is that the pocket clip digs into the webbing between my thumb & finger, making them a bit uncomfortable to use.
However, Lynn, you're overlooking the big advantage of the Yikes (and even the pathetically inferior Bostons & Berols) - you can sharpen varying SIZES of pencils.
A great source for mechanical pencils from Japan is JetPens: mechanical pencils
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