Unsharpened pencils were preferred, with the final tally being 35 for unsharpened, 17 for sharpened.

fixedgearfiend asked, “How are the pencils that come pre-sharpened, sharpened?” Staedtler’s Pencil Facts website has a video that very briefly shows factory sharpening. The machine is moving quickly, and the video is quite small, so it’s hard to give too much description – but it seems to be capable of sharpening several pencils in a second.

Kent mentioned the retail experience. Stores often have scratch pads to try out pens, pencils, and markers – but that won’t work with unsharpened pencils. So retail needs may be another factor in a manufacturer’s decision.

I wonder what the subject of the next poll should be.