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Why are Electric Pencil Sharpeners Made in the '80s Better than New Ones?
And why do we have to shop vintage just to get something that works?
By Rain Noe - June 10, 2015
After graduating design school and finding work as a CAD jockey, I donated all of my studio materials to a young design student who needed them. Berol Prismacolors, Koh-i-Noor Rapidographs, circle and ellipse templates, French curves, you name it. I never missed any of that stuff, except one object I really regret giving away: My Panasonic pencil sharpener from the '80s. Lately I've been using more old-school pencils in my shop and could really use the thing.
The Panasonic was made in Japan and looked like this:
Enter a caption (optional)It had more metal than plastic inside it and was heavy. That, combined with its four rubber suction-cup feet, prevented the machine from moving backwards while you pushed a pencil into it. The motor ran strong and the shavings dish was a good size.
Enter a caption (optional)Electric pencil sharpeners come in one of roughly three form factors. The first has narrow frontage and a deep body, shaped like a Manhattan store.
Enter a caption (optional)The second is shallow in depth but wide.
Enter a caption (optional)The third type takes the pencil from the top.
Enter a caption (optional)I prefer the first type of form factor so that I can place the thing on a shelf in my shop and not have it take up a lot of side-to-side room.
I went online to see if Panasonic still makes it, and of course they do not. On Amazon I found a model with a similar form factor, this Chinese-made X-Acto model:
Enter a caption (optional)The reviews are horrific: "Stopped working within a month," "Often sticks, overheats," "Stalled the motor on the first pencil," et cetera. Here's the most damning one:
This "sharpener" won't sharpen. When you try to use it, the pencil tip comes out slightly lopsided, with the lead covered with wood on one side all the way to the tip -- wood beyond the farthest reach of the lead. Result: the wood-tipped pencil won't write, won't even deposit a mark on the paper….
The cause of the problem seems to be [that] the X-Acto 1818, with its single cutter, doesn't seem to hold the pencil at the correct angle….
I suspect that this model requires precision assembly, so that the cutter is installed at the perfect angle. Since other reviews suggest that this model sometimes works, my conclusion is that buying this model is a gamble…. You may get a properly assembled one that works, and you may get one that doesn't.
Yes, we now live in a time where even something as basic as an electric pencil sharpener cannot be relied upon. And companies will keep producing garbage like this as long as we keep buying it. There's no pride of design in the X-Acto model and there certainly isn't any pride of craftsmanship.
In the video below, a repairperson opens up a vintage Panasonic model similar to the one I owned, alongside a newer X-Acto model similar to the one above. You can see the inferior built quality of the X-Acto and most damningly, how poorly and weakly it performs. The lighter weight also means that the X-Acto slides backwards across the table as you push the pencil into it.
The X-Acto is priced around $17, because we Americans are suckers for stuff that costs less than $20. I've heard that below that price point, most people won't go to the trouble of attempting to return something that fails.
I just spent $30 on eBay to order a vintage Panasonic like the one I owned. I'd rather support some guy in Oregon than a factory that produces junk.
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
26 Comments
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I love mine from the 1970s. Works perfectly and sharpens the point quite nicely.
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Hey Guys. I run a blog about gel pens and recently expanded into other elements of stationary. I did a piece on <a href="http://gelpencentral.com/bostitch-electric-pencil-sharpener/">Bostitch electric sharpeners</a> . While doing research on this topic I came accross this post and it opened up a whole new world to me! Didn't even know there were vintage electric pencil sharpeners, it's awesome!
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Edit: I meant to just put the link in, the code above was a mistake
www.gelpencentral.com/bostitch-electric-pencil-sharpener!Report as spam
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Not electric, but El Casco is rumored to work well:
http://www.amazon.com/El-Casco-Sharpener-Metallic-M-430CG/dp/B002Q7Q4EQ!Report as spam-
Oh god the reviews for that sharpener are hilarious
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I've got two old panasonics in my shop, each found for less than five dollars from the thrift store or a garage sale - seek, and ye shall find (in time, with persistence and patience). I only use them to hone and maintain sharp points and they do a flawless job. To get a new pencil started from square, I only use my (even older) hand crank Chicago - quick and easy, and keeps the hard wear, heavy cutting, and motor strain away from my precious electrics.
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I prefer the Mitsubishi ES10 sharpener :-)
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It is now 4:30 am and since I can’t seem to get back to sleep, I sit here with a POS exacto pencil sharpener disassembled in front of me.
It is a unit from desk use at my job ( but not MY desk) that as you might imagine had prematurely stopped working after a short life of utterly dissapointing performance. It and several others are found around the offices because they are the only model available via the company standard purchase ordering system. Even when new you must hold them down with one hand while gingerly feeding your precious pencil in as not to overburden the feeble motor to the point of stopping it dead.On MY desk is a fine example of a long dimension Panasonic, just as you picture here. I got it at a garage sale , in mint condition, for one US dollar. I have one more at home in use on a shelf in my garage as well as a brand new wide body Panasonic as pictured above, also from a garage sale for 2 dollars. Also in my garage and in my basement workshop I have vintage “Boston” Steel cased hand crank models wall mounted for service. The wide body model is stored in reserve and I rest assured that I have it. I love them dearly for all the simple reasons you mention. A Number 2 pencil is so much more than just the least common denominator of the handwritten word. And Panasonic seemed to pridefully respect that back in the 80’s.Mine do seem to slide back on the desk when I push the pencil in to sharpen, as the dusty environment both at work and the home garage keep the suction feet from sticking. This causes the back of the unit to push against the wall both at work and at home. As you well know, the power cord is protruding back there, and care as I do I did not want stress on the cord to cause it to fail. I cut properly sized sections of foam and stuck them on the rear of the cases as bump stops and leave the power cord free and unstressed.The simple satisfaction I get when properly and efficiently sharpening a pencil, that I use heavily for daily mundane simple writing tasks, is immeasurable.The hateful Exacto unit I took from work was to the point that it did not sharpen at all and I wanted to take it apart to see if I can Frankenstein in a much more powerful motor just for fun. I have a couple of old hair dryers around here somewhere that I am looking to scavenge a motor from. Things could get a bit interesting for this sub par and expired Exacto. My beloved vintage Panasonics smugly and quietly mock it as they stand ready as always to satisfy.fieraci at hotmail dot commmmmm!Report as spam -
Can't agree more with the author on this. I've a Boston 296A electric sharpener and an electric stapler from the same too. It works flawlessly even after decades of use. It's not just this most appliances are made with just profit in mind and are meant to just die quickly. All the vintage appliances like room heaters, kettle, Soldering irons and various other equipments that i own made in the 60s to 80s (made in the US and Germany) work even now just fine.
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Absolutely agree. Recently
I bought a X-Acto. What a piece of crap. Hard to sharpen on center unless
you're really careful, but then the lead so sharp it can't be used. It's like
trying to draw or letter on paper with a needle. So I've gone back to using an
old Boston crank thing. What a disappointment in modern technology.What I really am sorry
about is that I threw away my old battery powered sharpener, the greatest ever
made - the Merz-O-Matic. Years ago I worked in the Detroit area engineering job
shops, thousands of us did, and most had Merz-O-Matics. Draw some lines, touch
up your lead, draw more lines. Lines were money. You could hear those Merzes
all over the room. They were made by a guy named Merz in his garage, and to buy
one you went to his house. Maybe later they were sold by Du-All Drafting
supplies. Anyway, there were thousands of these things. Why the hell did I
throw mine away?That was another time. Of
course we all went to cad eventually, mostly AutoCad. But, retired for some
twenty years now, I had a pangs of nostalgiaand bought a
beautiful Neolt drafting table with a Vemco drafting machine. Great stuff, much
better than we used in the job shops. Got a nice drawing room office set up
now, complete with a Steelcase tanker desk and Steelcase filing cabinets. And
then I bought the X-Acto sharpener. I mean come on now, X-Acto has such a name
and then make this thing?Guess I'll
have to check out the resale shops for a Panasonic.!Report as spam -
Hi Rain, I'm in the stationary business and during a recent factory visit in China it was made aware to me that I need to redevelop the battery operated pencil sharpener, or the plug-in version. Here's the thing.... I have all the manufacturing capabilities but lack the next best design element. I'm like you in the way that most anything good that worked perfect in past doesn't have its modern day counterpart with the same reliability plus any new tech the last 30 years should have provided. So... do you want to make a pencil sharpener with me? I'm as serious as a hard attack. I'm on a mission to take out the shit supplier that owns 60% of the market. This is why things don't change because he's not being forced. Contact me. Scott
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It's so funny to find this article. My trusty old Panasonic, exactly the model shown in your header photo, finally bit the dust this morning. When it broke I was telling my husband that all the electric pencil sharpeners I've purchased since this one have been absolute garbage. (The only reason I even purchased additional ones was to have one in our home office - the good old Panasonic has been at our business for years.) I was hoping to find a replacement gear for mine, that's what broke today - but it looks like I'll be scouring eBay and any other resources to find a "real" sharpener. What a shame it's come down to nothing but crap now.
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Great post. If you haven't already, you have to check out the book below. It's a classic.
"How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, & Civil Servants"http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/how-to-sharpen-pencils/!Report as spam -
My wife is a middle school english teacher, and she burned out many a new sharpener. I decided to end that, so I found an X-Acto model 41 High-Volume sharpener used on E-Bay. It is a juggernaut of a sharpener. You could sharpen a sapling with it if it had a big enough hole. I wanted to give it to her as a gift, but it was so.damn.ugly. So I got creative. Do a Google Image search for "Mystery Machine Pencil Sharpener". It is the only one, as far as I can tell......
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This is a great article. Brought back some memories for my pencil sharpener. In fact, I have two of these sharpeners. The original 80s and a black one. However, my 80s one does not sharpen as well has it used to but I still keep it for nostalgic reasons.
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My trusty old kp110 has metal speed increment gears from the motor to the blades. Today's electric sharpeners have plastic gears whose teeth wear out or the hub just breaks.
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I purchased the Panasonic KP-4A.
Battery powered, but powerful enough!
Had it since about 2007 used it in design school and it's still got the same juice. I use it quite moderately and I assume most who use this would take care to not use it like it's made of titanium and uses a diesel powered motor. Just common-sense I suppose for those in the know.!Report as spam -
I have an old Boston brand sharpener that's heavy and works amazingly after all these years (like 20!)
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Thank you for this. I was unbelievably pissed after paying cash money for an 'X-Acto' sharpener at the local office supply store. Completely useless garbage from the start; you have to hold the pencil just right, and not too hard, and you might get it to work for a few seconds. Worst new product experience I've had in years. Shame.
Thankfully, I had an old vacuum-mount Boston dual-burr model that still gets the job done. At work there are a smattering of Panasonics that still work well.I think the Xacto brand bought Boston and just made it suck. Screw you guys!!Report as spam -
I work in a office full of engineers. I can't spot one sharpener that was made after the 80s. Engineers are generally unconcerned with fashion, brand loyalty or the ethics of a company. They all have old-ass sharpeners because they don't need replacing. I highly doubt ANY of these plastic, 1lb sharpeners will be working in 30 years.
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What type of engineers? If they are mechanical engineers, perhaps they could 3D print a shell and a nice motor. And maybe a auto-sizing port that adapts to the shape and size of your pencil. And if you really want to bring it to the 21st century, maybe something like a arduino with a LED display to alert you when the container needs cleaning.
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Replace the words Electric Pencil Sharpener with the name of any other product and you will still be stating facts. Cameras, clothes, watches, cars... the list goes on.
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Still have an old Panasonic here and it is wonderful
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I absolutely loved my Panasonic until it died, and lamented when I couldn't find anything of similar quality. That was, until I found the Carl A-5 Angel Classic Manual Pencil Sharpener –http://amzn.com/B00WT4UD8Y
Ok, so it's manual, but the point is impossibly sharp and crisp, it takes seconds, and there is something very satisfying and guttural about cranking one out. The only downside, really, is finding a good place to secure it, as it requires an old fashioned clamp. Otherwise, it's awesome.
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This one is pretty good - at $30:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014CI10E?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage!Report as spam-
Marty, this suffers from the same occasional "Dies after one month" reviews. If you like it, it sounds like you got a "good one." I'm not interested in supporting a company with uneven quality control; I really would rather my money go to an eBayer who saw fit not to throw a working machine into the garbage.
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