A funeral for my beloved pencil sharpener...

I did actually think about it...  A few weeks ago, my electric pencil sharpener died.  I was honestly sad.  It was trustworthy and faithful.  It had survived twenty plus moves all around the country and kept sharpening pencils for me through seven years of homeschooling.  

But, it died.  At first, it sputtered.  Then, it really died.  I couldn't fix it.  I didn't know what to do.  I needed a new one fast because of all the pencils my kids write with every day.  As a bandaid fix, I went to Walmart and bought a $7 Xacto manual sharpener that used suction to stay on the table.  Ugh.  It was a disaster!  $7 completely sadly wasted.  So, I started looking around and came upon a sharpener that a lot of teachers seemed to love.  

I was skeptical.  It was a manual sharpener.  It didn't look like anything that special.  Was it worth the price? It was comparable to a good electric sharpener.  Hmm...  

So, I waited for it to arrive in the mail.  

It came last Friday and I opened up the box hopeful that this sharpener would do the trick!  My kids looked at it as I did with puzzlement.  No directions were included, but there was a clamp that obviously inserted into the sharpener.  After a minute or two, I figured it out.

1.  Slide the clamp bar into the base of the sharpener.
2.  Pinch the black boxes on top together and pull the silver plate out away from the body of the sharpener.
3.  Pinch the black boxes and insert a pencil through to the sharpener.
4.  Turn the handle towards you with your left hand three or four times.  This is all it takes.  I thought the sound of the sharpening would change when the pencil is done and it doesn't.

Voila!  You have one very (!!) sharp pencil.  With children, you will want to be specific and tell them only to turn it three, maybe four times.  

The black knobs hold the pencil in place so that you don't have to.  The drawer comes out very easily when it needs to be emptied.  It's clear so you know when it needs to be emptied.  The sharpener feels sturdy.  

My kids love this sharpener--and so do I.  I still my old one--it had been with me for twenty-one years!  But, this one is a worthy replacement.

You can find this awesome sharpener at Classroom Friendly Supplies' website.  The sharpener is $24.99, but it has free shipping which makes this a good price if you check around.  

Please note that I received a complimentary sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies for review.