I’ve been drawing almost daily now for about 5 years, and there’s no greater pain then watching coloured pencils disappearing into rubbish sharpeners that snap and break leads and give a blunt point.
For the detail orientated work I do, I love a long sharp point and finding a sharpener that not only lasts but gives you that glorious point time after time has been a long endeavour.
I’d been buying the ‘KUM Automatic Long Point Sharpener with Lead Pointer’ in bulk for the longest time, the issue was that because the casing was plastic, the metal screws that held the blades in place would eventually bald the screw thread, so you couldn’t tighten the screw to keep the blade snug and secure, which in turn meant that the pencil didn’t actually touch the blade as you turn it. It’s a two hole sharpener and I knew that was the type I wanted but I just needed the casing to be metal, a bit of internet browsing and the KUM Masterpiece came into my life! It’s a two hole, manual sharpener and I think at the time it was £13. I was doubtful, £13 for a sharpener that isn’t even electric?! I risked it, and you’ll be glad you did!
Okay, the image above shows an unsharpened pencil (green), a Masterpiece sharpened pencil (red) and then a pencil sharpened with the KUM Automatic Long Point 3 (pink). I’ve popped a ruler there so you can see THE LENGTH of that Masterpiece sharpened lead, unreal!
The first hole in each sharpener removes the wooden casing, the Masterpiece is the perfect size for a Polychromo pencil at 8mm. The second hole only sharpens the lead to a nice, long point and is 7mm wide.
I wouldn’t be without it now!
This is my first time using the Long Point 3 (kindly gifted by KUM – thanks so much!) but I really like the point it creates and I think it’ll be more stable than the longer Masterpiece point – I’ll be testing it out during my next few drawings and will update!
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I would love to know if you’ve found an art tool that you just can’t do without! And if you do try the Masterpiece – let me know how you get on!
Cherry xo