Sharpening Prismacolor Pencils

[kerrym38]

Does anybody have a good sharpener for their Prismacolor Pencils? I bought the small little portable sharpener Prismacolor sells, and it doesn't work worth a darn. So I purchased an electric sharpener and it worked great at first, but then didn't work so well. I then read the directions for the sharpener and it said not to use it for pencils with soft leads cause they'll clog it up, which is exactly what my Prismacolors did.

Any ideas?

Kerry

[buggainok]

I have the Prisma small sharpener also. I used it when I first got my pencils and just about broke my hand doing it. What a lot of trouble.

I think that's why I've hardly used my pencils since, and haven't had to sharpen them again, lol.

I do think they are hard to sharpen, whatever kind of sharpener you have. I've seen posts about different electric sharpeners that work, and then someone else has the same one and says it doesn't work. Go figure. Maybe it's all in how you hold the pencils, or how hard you push them into the sharpener.

All this is not terribly helpful, I know, but I do feel your pain.

[LittleSeaOtter]

I had this same question when I invested in my Prismacolor pencils. I talked with a graphic artist that worked in my office...she recommended that I go and buy an electric pencil sharpener. She recommended Panasonic with an auto-stop feature. I took her advice, and haven't had any of the problems you've experienced. I've been using it for two years.

Good luck!

[tamdawn64]

I do use an electric sharpener I bought it at Sams. I haven't had any trouble with this one -knock on wood! Hope that helps.

[kerrym38]

Thanks for your replies. Guess maybe I'll have to try a different electric sharpener and see if that works.

[Mahloumel]

I somehow managed to acquire three of the nekkid metal handheld pencil sharpeners that Prismacolour includes in their sets. I think so far I've just been using one of them and it works really well for me. Only one of my several dozen Prismas has not sharpened properly and instead of shaving away the wood the sharpener ripped away splinters instead. I have no idea what happened there; either I started off crooked, or it's just a fault with that one Prisma.

Now, I don't have the fancy-pants Prisma handheld sharpener that comes encased in black plastic and is shaped like some feminine hygiene product; just the bare-bones metal one that you have to hold over a garbage can or else you'll get pencil shavings all over.

[STAMPINGODDESS]

I just use a cheap handheld pencil sharpener that I stole from my son's pencil case. Nothing fancy or expensive-probably pad less than $1.00!

[cbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerrym38

Does anybody have a good sharpener for their Prismacolor Pencils? I bought the small little portable sharpener Prismacolor sells, and it doesn't work worth a darn. So I purchased an electric sharpener and it worked great at first, but then didn't work so well. I then read the directions for the sharpener and it said not to use it for pencils with soft leads cause they'll clog it up, which is exactly what my Prismacolors did.

Any ideas?

Kerry

I use a cheapo battery operated one I got at Staples ages ago - I read somewhere that when you sharpen Prismacolors in an electric sharpener, you should sharpen a regular graphite pencil every so often in between to keep it from clogging. I sharpened my entire set of 120 in one evening this way without a single problem.

[whoistracy]

I've been using Primas for years, took art classes in college. No one ever mentioned a specific sharpener to use. I think it's personal preference. I've used an electric sharpener and a cheap-o $1 store one. They all work well for me.

[luvpaisley]

I use the Prisma one and have no problems with it. I have worked with artist pencils in the past and always just use a handheld one. I just bought the Prisma one b/c i liked the shape and the cap. I thought I read somewhere not to use an electric sharpener with them, but I would suggest doing what works for u!

[tdodd00]

Okay, this is what I got straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I was recently at a stamp convention and Terry Medaris was there...if you are not familiar, he has some amazing stamps and he does incredible coloring with Prismacolor pencils (not OMS technique, but truly amazing). Anyhoo, he had his pencils super sharp and I asked him what kind of pencil sharpener he used and he told me that the Panasonic was what he used and recommended. Now, they do give a very "sharp" tip, so if you don't want it super sharp, don't buy it. It was totally worth the money I spent on it...love it! HTH!

[askagain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbet

I use a cheapo battery operated one I got at Staples ages ago - I read somewhere that when you sharpen Prismacolors in an electric sharpener, you should sharpen a regular graphite pencil every so often in between to keep it from clogging. I sharpened my entire set of 120 in one evening this way without a single problem.

This is what I do..... before i bought my pencils I jammed up 2 electric sharpeners at my DD's elem school with prisma pencils for an art project. The art teacher said it happened all the time and they just did the regular pencil thing and "cleaned" it out to keep it from jamming.

[Javablustamper]

I just bought my sharpener,literally, an hour ago. I bought it at Mike's right beside where I got my PrismaPencils. I got the one that was labeled for soft lead. However, it is made by ProArt. I just sharpened evry last one and it worked great! Hope that helps! Off to play; have a great night all!

[mnhyrkas]

I use my eyeliner sharpener with no problems

[ilinacrouse]

I use a regular hand held sharpener I got from Staples for $1 or something like that. It works great!

[kerrym38]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies! I'm going to try the trick of sharpening a graphite lead pencil in my current sharpener to see if I can unclog it before I go buy a new one. At least now I have some options!

[okstamper]

I bought my prima sharpener at HL in the artist dept. It's got 2 black ends and a silver part in the middle. Dont ask me why it only works great if it doesnt have the 2 black ends on it. Unscrew them off and you have the sharpener.

Bonnie

[stamps&cars]

Tdodd00 is right about Terry......he recommends the battery operated Panasonic KP-4 (I think that is the model). Because it doesn't use a razor blade to sharpen the pencil but uses the rotary type blades like the old school pencil sharpeners. If I don't want my pencil really sharp then I just don't press it in for as long or as hard. I've also heard that you should run a regular pencil through it every now and again so that the graphite from the pencil cleans out the wax from the colored pencils. I got my sharpener on the bay a couple of years back for about $15.

[ILdyson76]

My bro-in-law is an art school graduate and designer, and had sent me some of his extra pencils, and then I liked them and bought more on sale and with a coupon! I didn't know they were unsharpened new out of the box. I emailed him and asked if i needed the PC sharpener, and he said no. Electric sharpeners will do the trick, but don't push them in too hard or it will jam, and break the leads. He said not to sharpen it to a complete point either, or the leads will just break off. HTH

[craftyscrapr]

just bought a big daddy box of prismas and this answers a question of mine...thanks for the recommendations for pencil sharpeners...

[Nicole's Mom]

If the color in the pencil in not centered it will break off when sharpened. Look at the flat end of your pencil. Is the color in the center? If not you will always have a problem with sharpening the pencil. You can send it back to the manufacturer and they will replace it. The address is on the back of the tin.

I taught Art for 30 years and sharpened to many pencils to count. The one reason I loved crayola was because they do come sharpened and when you have hundreds to sharpen for your many students you learn fast.

I have the grand daddy of all electric sharpeners and the little hand held one that came with the set. I tend to use the little one.

[stampbystep]

I found this inexpensive Mapped sharpener to do a wonderful job on my Koh-I-Noor Aquarelles and Woodless pencils.
http://www.shop.stampbystep.com/prod...&productId=626