Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In the past few months, I have purchased at least 10 to 15 different pencil sharpeners. This little brass tiger out performs all the others. I go through a great many color pencils in the course of my work. It can become very costly. My most expensive sharpener was a large commercial electric model. It frequently dines on my pencils. It is almost always hungry. It quite often jams completely requiring a diligent cleaning. When I am in the creative "zone," I do not want to stop and clean the sharpener. I have bought several hand held sharpeners. These include all of the top brands from the US, England and Germany. All of them break the points off of my pencils on a regular basis. I think they may be planning an ambush. I have bad arthritis in my hands and fatigue sets in rapidly, when having to constantly resparpen pencils. I have brass models with 2 or 3 holes. I have aluminum models and "big name' models. I even have an antique model that came in a little leather case. They all work SOMETIMES. They often do not. At last, a simple tiny, brass barrel that does what it promises. I can sharpen a pencil with 3 to 4 quick turns. Very little of the pencil is wasted. It is easy to handle, even for someone with stiff, painfull fingers. It would be nice if it had a chamber to catch the pencil shavings, as long as that did not interfere with it's function. I keep a covered tin at my work station, and I sharpen the pencils over the tin. I empty the tin into the trash when I am done for the day. Do to the weakness in my hands, I drop items frequently. This little guy is hard to find and can sneak into the smallest places. It escaped night before last, and I could not find it anywhere. I had been working while sitting on the sofa. The next morning, I was determined to find the wicked object. I took the sofa apart and opened the sofa bed. It was hiding in the fold of the mattress. I will never understand the physics of how that migration occured! I mean, it had to WANT to go there! Oh well, everything else aside, it is an excellent product. I have seen it cheaper elsewhere. But the expensive shipping at most online art stores, makes this Amazon purchase a better buy. On ebay, I have ordered 10 replacement blades for considerably less then a pack of 3 costs at US supply stores. They are made in China, but the US replacement blades are also made in China. C'est la vie! I recommend this sharpener, and rate it as 5 stars for consistency, quality and longivity.