X-ACTO Pencil Sharpener, School Pro Electric Pencil Sharpener, With Six Size Dial, XL Shavings Bin, Black, 1 Count

A dream for artists – can do colored, pastel, even charcoal pencils – WITH precautions. This sharpener has been a total game changer for me because not only can it sharpen my colored pencils, it even sharpens my pastel and charcoal pencils (!!) WITH a bit of care. I’ve tried everything from sharpening these by hand with an x-acto knife to a million different manual sharpeners (including that crazy $100 hovel – UGH), and nothing sharpens them anywhere nearly as easily and consistently well as this.*** NOTE: This review is specifically about using this sharpener with artist pencils, which, in fairness, the sharpener does not claim to work on (but then, what sharpener does??). ***The biggest thing is to be gentle. Try to make sure you get the pencil in the appropriate sized hole so that it goes in as straight/centered as possible. And then – most importantly – never push/apply any pressure while it’s sharpening (which is sort of a natural/automatic response to do without even realizing it when you can hear that it’s not sharpening as well as you’d like). If you apply pressure – especially with a pastel, charcoal pencil, or an extra thick pencil – the tip is very likely to break off. And when this happens, it’s very likely to clog the sharpener and render it completely unusable (UGH). That is, the sharpener still runs and seems to be working, but it’s not actually making a dent in any pencil you put in – which can make you feel like you’re losing your mind. PLUS you’ve just lost a big chunk of an expensive pencil!This happens about once/month to me, and when it has in the past, I’ve been able to unclog it – but only after getting out a screwdriver to disassemble the sharpener (obviously after unplugging it!) and inserting a paper clip in and out and in and out and spinning the little internal sharpening mechanism by hand – trying to find and unclog the sharpener. It’s slow and tedious and you can’t really tell when it’s fixed except re-assembling it, plugging it back in, and trying again.This time (about the 6th time it’s happened) I’ve only been able to get it back to partially but barely working. I’m not sure if I haven’t been able to get it completely unclogged (it’s deceptively difficult to tell if it’s clogged or not!) or maybe I’ve just knocked it out of alignment from all the mucking around. So… I’m buying 2 more (so that I have a 2nd on hand for when it clogs again while I’m creating art so that I don’t have to stop in the middle of it!).It’s cheap enough (relative to the cost of artist grade materials) that I’ve just accepted that it’s worth it to me if I have to buy a new one every few months. Or, maybe I’ll eventually get better and stop clogging it (or get better at unclogging it quickly?!). Anyway – this might not sound like it, but I do seriously recommend it for artists who work with different types of pencils as even with all of the hassle, it’s still way better than any alternatives I’ve found! Just… maybe get 2 of them if you can afford it.

Very Great Quality. It works very well. The motor is very powerful and far outdo its smaller cousins. The extra feature, the triangular apertures enhanced it use. I would recommend it to teachers and those in art/drawing occupations.

Get this one. Work amazing for all my pencils! It’s a work horse and I can sharpen a large colored pencil set in no time. Doesn’t over sharpen my lead so they aren’t breaking as much! It’s not loud and I don’t have any issues with noise sensitivity with this one like I did with my Aftmat. A quick in and out and you have a sharp pencil. The bin is so convenient with its large capacity! Can go days between dumps! It doesn’t move around on my glass desk. I can pretty much sharpen a pencil without looking now!! Yay for sharp pencils!!!

Get this one. Work amazing for all my pencils! It’s a work horse and I can sharpen a large colored pencil set in no time. Doesn’t over sharpen my lead so they aren’t breaking as much! It’s not loud and I don’t have any issues with noise sensitivity with this one like I did with my Aftmat. A quick in and out and you have a sharp pencil. The bin is so convenient with its large capacity! Can go days between dumps! It doesn’t move around on my glass desk. I can pretty much sharpen a pencil without looking now!! Yay for sharp pencils!!!

Quickly sharpens, without twisting, and big bin. Twenty years ago, just as my children began to write, I bought an old school sharpener – you know the one! That old workhorse of a sharpener found just inside the door of every classroom from K-12! I hung it in the laundry room, and had a metal waste basket below it. It felt very much like the right way to begin the process of educating my little people! I am that mom that tried to have all the right tools & bought out the office supply store each fall. There are two items I never had to replace… my huge hallway bulletin board & my manual workhorse of a pencil sharpener!I loved the way that you could feel the pencil being sharpened just right… it took me a helluva long time to perfect my technique, and there was nothing quite as satisfying as getting the point just right! Even as a self-described expert, many times I would get distracted and not turn my pencil every few rotations and I would end up with one side of the pencil with a ridiculously long, half exposed, point that would break if you tried to even it out. I might get that perfect point on my first go, but I could just as easily end up with a stump of a pencil before it finally was usable. And don’t even get me started on the pencil shavings!! I have never figured out how to keep the area around the sharpener clean. I don’t care how careful or diligent you are when emptying that pencil sharpener… It’s a unique kind of mess that makes its way out of the holes and seems even when it’s empty! And the mess it makes if you accidentally bump it, or if your child decides to empty it for you!!!If you use the old standard for the classroom, there is no getting around the mess.Still, though, even with all the headache of using perfect technique the pencil debris, it It was worth it. I felt confident it would last forever & no matter what my kids tried to sharpen. It has performed 19+ years, and still going strong! My main requirement was to have a sharpener that would be reliable and was mounted so it could not get moved or lost!Recently, though, I went to sharpen a pencil & there where my sharpener was screwed to the wall was nothing except four empty screw holes. I stood with my dull pencil wondering whether it was the kids or my husband that decided to rob me of my pencil sharpener, and destabilize my life!!In that moment, I decided to indulge in a grown-up sharpener! I searched all the reviews and narrowed my choices down to a small group, and finally decided on the plug in X-acto “School Pro” model.I am very change adverse… so, even though I was going with electric I still wanted something that was meant to last! I also wanted something that could sharpen various sizes, and was pleased to find an electric sharpener that also did the triangular shaped barrel often used by small children or in construction.to be able to sharpen various sized pencils.My experience with this sharpener has far exceeded my previous experiences with automatic sharpeners. Up until now, I avoided buying an electric sharpener, because the ones I have used are finicky, had to push the pencil in hard, and often made the sharpened point easy to break when writing.I tend to write with enough pressure to make an impression through several pages. The main thing that I thought the old school model would be better for was the length and shape of the sharpened point of the pencil. Even though you had to be skilled at customizing the writing point, when you did get it just right, the point did not break easily and it would write for a long time without needing to be re-sharpened every few paragraphs.I was very happy to be wrong! I have been using this electric sharpener for a few months and the writing point is as near perfect. I might need to knock off the very tip, but it’s easier than getting your ball-point pen to start to write. Given the ease of used, and the ample (way less messy) catch bin… I am loving my new sharpener!! Also, it will not sharpen if the bin is not fully locked in place, and I appreciate that.I do put my hand on the back end to stabilize the sharpener and keep it from scooting back. I do not need to push the pencil in hard, you can easily feed the pencil in and you don’t need to turn it or keep pulling it out and pushing it back in. I don’t believe a toddler has long enough fingers to trigger the motor, but if you have young children around, maybe remove the bin when not in use to be extra cautious. I can’t speak to how well it would hold up against all the stuff my kids tried to sharpen on my trusty workhorse, but for use on regular use by teens/adults on pencils (different thickness, colored, and triangular shaped.)I recommend it, especially as an affordable upgrade to your household sharpener, for the ease of use, versatility, and easy cleanup!If I had known about this product twenty years ago, I would have bought it instead of my old standby. It is large enough to not be carted off, and even if the motor only last a few years, when considering cost vs. constant mess of old one… I absolutely would be willing to take that chance, and save myself the headache.However, manual sharpening uses no electricity and that, coupled with the fact that they have proven themselves as practically indestructible, are strong enough points to make the choice difficult!.

Quickly sharpens, without twisting, and big bin. Twenty years ago, just as my children began to write, I bought an old school sharpener – you know the one! That old workhorse of a sharpener found just inside the door of every classroom from K-12! I hung it in the laundry room, and had a metal waste basket below it. It felt very much like the right way to begin the process of educating my little people! I am that mom that tried to have all the right tools & bought out the office supply store each fall. There are two items I never had to replace… my huge hallway bulletin board & my manual workhorse of a pencil sharpener!I loved the way that you could feel the pencil being sharpened just right… it took me a helluva long time to perfect my technique, and there was nothing quite as satisfying as getting the point just right! Even as a self-described expert, many times I would get distracted and not turn my pencil every few rotations and I would end up with one side of the pencil with a ridiculously long, half exposed, point that would break if you tried to even it out. I might get that perfect point on my first go, but I could just as easily end up with a stump of a pencil before it finally was usable. And don’t even get me started on the pencil shavings!! I have never figured out how to keep the area around the sharpener clean. I don’t care how careful or diligent you are when emptying that pencil sharpener… It’s a unique kind of mess that makes its way out of the holes and seems even when it’s empty! And the mess it makes if you accidentally bump it, or if your child decides to empty it for you!!!If you use the old standard for the classroom, there is no getting around the mess.Still, though, even with all the headache of using perfect technique the pencil debris, it It was worth it. I felt confident it would last forever & no matter what my kids tried to sharpen. It has performed 19+ years, and still going strong! My main requirement was to have a sharpener that would be reliable and was mounted so it could not get moved or lost!Recently, though, I went to sharpen a pencil & there where my sharpener was screwed to the wall was nothing except four empty screw holes. I stood with my dull pencil wondering whether it was the kids or my husband that decided to rob me of my pencil sharpener, and destabilize my life!!In that moment, I decided to indulge in a grown-up sharpener! I searched all the reviews and narrowed my choices down to a small group, and finally decided on the plug in X-acto “School Pro” model.I am very change adverse… so, even though I was going with electric I still wanted something that was meant to last! I also wanted something that could sharpen various sizes, and was pleased to find an electric sharpener that also did the triangular shaped barrel often used by small children or in construction.to be able to sharpen various sized pencils.My experience with this sharpener has far exceeded my previous experiences with automatic sharpeners. Up until now, I avoided buying an electric sharpener, because the ones I have used are finicky, had to push the pencil in hard, and often made the sharpened point easy to break when writing.I tend to write with enough pressure to make an impression through several pages. The main thing that I thought the old school model would be better for was the length and shape of the sharpened point of the pencil. Even though you had to be skilled at customizing the writing point, when you did get it just right, the point did not break easily and it would write for a long time without needing to be re-sharpened every few paragraphs.I was very happy to be wrong! I have been using this electric sharpener for a few months and the writing point is as near perfect. I might need to knock off the very tip, but it’s easier than getting your ball-point pen to start to write. Given the ease of used, and the ample (way less messy) catch bin… I am loving my new sharpener!! Also, it will not sharpen if the bin is not fully locked in place, and I appreciate that.I do put my hand on the back end to stabilize the sharpener and keep it from scooting back. I do not need to push the pencil in hard, you can easily feed the pencil in and you don’t need to turn it or keep pulling it out and pushing it back in. I don’t believe a toddler has long enough fingers to trigger the motor, but if you have young children around, maybe remove the bin when not in use to be extra cautious. I can’t speak to how well it would hold up against all the stuff my kids tried to sharpen on my trusty workhorse, but for use on regular use by teens/adults on pencils (different thickness, colored, and triangular shaped.)I recommend it, especially as an affordable upgrade to your household sharpener, for the ease of use, versatility, and easy cleanup!If I had known about this product twenty years ago, I would have bought it instead of my old standby. It is large enough to not be carted off, and even if the motor only last a few years, when considering cost vs. constant mess of old one… I absolutely would be willing to take that chance, and save myself the headache.However, manual sharpening uses no electricity and that, coupled with the fact that they have proven themselves as practically indestructible, are strong enough points to make the choice difficult!.

Love it. I have been looking for a good colored pencil sharpener for so long, only to have so many fails. This fits ALL my needs. I have colored pencils of all different shapes and sizes. It does NOT eat up your pencils, gives a great point and is much quieter than any other sharpener I have had. It was delivered as promised, the next morning.. I have read pros and cons on the X-ACTO, I have nothing but great things to say, very satisfied. It came so well packaged and protected. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an amazing colored pencil sharpener and especially if you have a hard time with manual ones because of pain in your hands. Makes doing my Art so much more fun and relaxing.

The perfect electric sharpener. They’ve engineered the perfect sharpener. My last sharpener worked unevenly and left one side of the point wood. It also broke tips. This sharpener gives you the perfect centered point, no breakage, and it stops when you have the perfect point, so no wastage. Also has a big shavings box, and multiple pencil size adjustments. Bought this just for home use, so I expect it will last a long time. Wish I’d trashed that old one sooner!

Best pencil sharpener. This is the best pencil sharpener I’ve ever owned. The blades are super sharp. Sharpens Pencils super quickly. Pencils come out crazy sharp anf pointy which I love. Sharpens them smoothly without having to twist the pencil around as you are sharpening.The size isn’t bulky or heavy. Fits nicely on a bookshelf. It’s not the quietest pencil sharpener but definitely not the loudest. Yes it’s a tad expensive but definitely worth every penny in my opinion.One of my students even stuck a pencil that was too short in it which got stuck. I was worried that once I removed the stuck pencil, that it wouldn’t work properly or be as sharp but I was amazed to see that it still worked! It’s as if it had been fresh out of the box.

Best pencil sharpener. This is the best pencil sharpener I’ve ever owned. The blades are super sharp. Sharpens Pencils super quickly. Pencils come out crazy sharp anf pointy which I love. Sharpens them smoothly without having to twist the pencil around as you are sharpening.The size isn’t bulky or heavy. Fits nicely on a bookshelf. It’s not the quietest pencil sharpener but definitely not the loudest. Yes it’s a tad expensive but definitely worth every penny in my opinion.One of my students even stuck a pencil that was too short in it which got stuck. I was worried that once I removed the stuck pencil, that it wouldn’t work properly or be as sharp but I was amazed to see that it still worked! It’s as if it had been fresh out of the box.

Heavy duty metal pencil sharpener. It’s not a plastic light weight pencil sharpener. I do a lot of sketches and drawing, using different brands of colored pencils.I like the consistent sharpness of my pencils every time I use my sharpener.Multiple diameters for different size pencils is a plus.Functional and ease of use made this exceptional buy.

The best sharpener ever. This sharpener is large and convenient with multiple pencil size settings, a huge reservoir and works flawlessly! Strong motor and cutter, Not weak like the smaller ones I tried. I highly recommend it, even if you are not a school class but rather just one person like myself.