I think your technique of removing the lead from wooden pencils is not entirely nuts, it’s only mostly nuts. I’ve collected a few anecdotes from old-timers who would resort to such measures in a pinch. I suspect the technique was fairly widespread in the early days of removable lead drawing pencils when the naked leads cost more than the pencils which had much longer leads in them. For no good reason I can think of, the price of naked leads has almost always been only slightly less than wooden pencils with the same lead in them.

The process of making leads is: Make leads*. Stamp name on them. Package them.

Whereas the process of making pencils is something like this:
Make leads*. Harvest cedar. Dry cedar. Cut cedar. Mill grooves in cedar. Glue leads in cedar. Mill cedar with leads embedded to shape of pencil. Apply color finish to pencils (probably in multiple coats). Varnish pencils. Foil stamp name in pencils. Package pencils.

* There are many, many steps to making the lead, but the process is the same whether they are sold naked or not.

Moving on… I’m wondering what technique you used to remove the wood from the lead?

There exists a trianglar shaped 3-hole handheld pointer that does this job, though it seems to be designed for pencils with only 2 mm leads. I must say it is strangely-fun to see if you can remove the wood entirely without breaking the lead.

The pointers used to be sold as Koh-I-Noor, though there was no name on them: http://www.leadholder.com/cat-kin-1985b-5.html (could the OEM be KUM?)

You can still buy them here: http://www.reuels.com/reuels/Alvin_Three_Hole_Sharpener.html

The description at Reuels is out of date. The 3-hole model has not had the lanyard loop since the early 1990s, I think, and the three holes work as follows: one hole sharpens a pencil in the usual way. One hole strips only the wood away. One hole is a not-very-good lead pointer.

Cheers.

I have been doing a lot of research and wasn’t having any luck finding something to sharpen the 3 mm [3.15mm] leads I have. After reading your reply I found one [ttp://www.leadholder.com/point-gedess.html]. Still having a hard time finding a place where I can purchase it/order it.

Question on the Gedess pointer, do you think its better or comparable to the sharpness you get with the Rotary style pointers ? I guess it doesn’t matter as there doesn’t seem to be much of a choice for 3mm lead sharpeners.

Yes… I have had some funny looks when people see me removing ALL the wood from my “B” pencils. This strange process all started when I received my first vise-grip jaw lead holder. I recieved a lot of 2 mm “HB” leads and over a year… use them up. I loved using the lead holder so much that I just started taking regular pencils and removing the woods and using the leads. When I began to learn to shade and understand value… I just started removing the wood from all my pencils and using them in my lead holder.

I didn’t understand why the leads in my “B” pencils weren’t fitting in my lead holder and I set out researching on the net on a vise-grip jaw lead holder that would fit the 3/3.15mm leads I was getting out of my “B” pencils. I purchased my second vise-grip jaw lead holder, Alvin TECH DA Lead Holder – for 2mm to 3mm Leads, a few months ago and am forced to use sand paper and the hand held plastic sharpener, as I call them… to sharpen my 3 mm “B” leads.

As you can tell… I am self taught and take a non-traditional approach. I am sure the you and the majority of the readers here purchase 3.15 mm leads and do not use my wood removal methods. I wouldn’t even know where to get a 3.15 mm lead…:)

As I am researching I just now realize that I can purchase 2mm leads in the full range of “B” softnesses… lol. I am silly sometimes, but I do have fun.

Thanks again. Sorry for all the brain droppings. Hope this helps someone. I appreciate all your help.

The Gedess pointer will work with 3.15mm lead, though as mentioned, it is a different concept than the Staedtler 502.

Your wood removal technique is also interesting, as these leads can be quite expensive.

Has anyone found that its very hard to find a Rotary Lead Pointer for 3 mm leads ? I was thinking about getting another STAEDTLER Rotary Lead Pointer and just drilling out the hole to 3 mm to see if it will work with my 3 mm leads.

Comments and recommendations please.

P.S. I commonly remove the wood from my standard “B” drawing pencils and they are 3 mm. I use them in my 3 mm lead holder.