Replacement Pencil Sharpener Blades
Pencil sharpeners are an essential pencil accessory. They keep the pencil pointed and usable. Yet they are frequently a frustration to use, splintering, chopping, and breaking pencils. Sometimes this is the fault of a cheap pencil. And sometimes it is the fault of the sharpener.
The weak aspect of most portable sharpeners is the blade. The blade may be made very cheaply and be just barely usable a few times, or even if better quality, have become dulled over time. Rust and oxidation may also have had a role.
Yet, in years of frequenting art and office supply stores, I have never seen a replacement blade for sale. Art supply store staff tend to agree that this would be a good idea, but they have no place to order them.
What this means is that portable sharpeners are being sold as de facto disposable items - even fairly expensive ones with glass and metal housings.
I suspect that even a single sharpening dulls many blades, and that the working lifespan of a typical handheld sharpener blade in tip-top condition may be less than that of a single pencil. So there are a lot of blunt sharpeners out there in the world.
Laurentian, a colouring pencil brand that will be known to Canadians (now part of Sanford), states here:
We no longer recommend hand-held sharpeners for any of our colouring pencil lines. These sharpeners usually dull quickly and will chip at the wood instead of shaving the wood.
In the photo are some replacement blades (the KUM Standard 530S) that I ordered from the highly efficient Cult Pens in the U.K. Yikes - replacement blades from overseas. It is a shame that I couldn’t buy them locally. But I ordered them as part of a larger shipment, and now wish I had ordered more. It was the only realistic way I could see to keep some favorite sharpeners, like a DUX inkwell, usable over time.
Now some sharpeners truly are disposable - with no ability to replace the blade - but many are attached with a tiny screw, and will take this replacement blade.
Why aren’t replacement blades commonly available?
June 28th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
It’s a disposable world.
June 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Just an FYI…I bought a bunch of KUM pencil sharpeners at Pearl Paint in NYC and picked up bags of replacement blades there also. I can’t remember the cost of the replacements but they were inexpensive and the bag comes as a 12 pack with three different sizes.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Pencilthings.com carries replacement blades for Alvin and KUM sharpeners. They ship to Canada.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Indeed. I’ve got a saved cart at Pencilthings.com with a bunch of replacement blades in it. One of these days, I’m going to keep a tally of how many sharpenings I can get out of a blade before it degenerates to uselessness.
The bag o’ blades Patrick mentions sounds great as long as the blades fit whatever sharpeners you have lying around. As long as they’re the same manufacturer they should all fit, I suppose.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I’m actually pretty impressed with the performance of most sharpeners over time. A poor quality pencil won’t sharpen well in any case, but I have a couple of inexpensive sharpeners that still give a nice point after years of regular use.
That said, can anyone can recommend an good, portable non-blade sharpener?
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 am
I’d also like to add that for a two-blade sharpener like the KUM Automatic Long Point, rotating the blades between 1st and 2nd stages can increase their lifespan considerably, on the order of 50% in my experience.
July 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I’m just going to mention that Bob Slate in Boston has replacement blades in stock. I heart Bob Slate.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:57 am
I actually have picked up a flyer from one of the drawing pencil companies that recommends replacing the blade on your pencil sharpener when it begins to tear, instead of shave, the wood. I have been looking for replacement blades for a while now — with absolutely no luck. If they don’t want us to replace them, why make them replaceable? It’s easy to find X-Acto knive blades, this should be just as easy…. Grrrrrrrrr.