When I was a child, I use the handle crank pencil sharpener to ground up pencils. You would simple turn the dial (if it had one) on the sharpener to fit the pencil and then manually turn the handle to sharpen your pencil.Sometimes the lead from the tip of the pencil would break off inside the sharpener and jam it up, but for the most part they took lots of punishment and kept sharpening. We also had the smaller sharpeners that barely fit in our fingers that you put the pencil into and twisted the pencil until it was sharp.

Mechanical Sharpener:
The classic look sharpeners that mount on the wall or desk are still great buys. The Boston KS Pencil Sharpener ($14) is very versatile with 8 sizes of pencils accepted into the sharpener. The 30 cutting edges will sharpen all pencils quickly and efficiently. Features a black stand and a nickel plated barrel. There are screws included to help you mount the sharpener to the wall or on your desk. You will find this model at Dickblick.com.

Basci Manual Pencil Sharpener:
Not everyone needs a fancy pencil sharpener and the manual types are lightweight and function just fine. They are not meant for more than a few sharpenings here and there, but at less than $5 what do you expect. Office Depot carries the Staedtler 2 Hole metal pencil sharpener for $4 and the Foray single hole sharpener for around $1. They are cheap and fit nicely into your little ones backpack for school purposes.

We found many teachers recommending the Boston brand on several websites, but the Panasonic electric pencil sharpeners win out as the “best electric sharpeners” on the market.

Basci Manual Pencil Sharpener
Not everyone needs a fancy pencil sharpener and the manual types are lightweight and function just fine. They are not meant for more than a few sharpenings here and there, but at less than $5 what do you expect. Office Depot carries the Staedtler 2 Hole metal pencil sharpener for $4 and the Foray single hole sharpener for around $1. They are cheap and fit nicely into your little ones backpack for school purposes.

Electric Pencil Sharpener:
We found many teachers recommending the Boston brand on several websites, but the Panasonic electric pencil sharpeners win out as the “best electric sharpeners” on the market.

For office and work environments where the sharpener will get used often, consider going with a more durable, heavy duty electric sharpener like the X-Acto Heavy-Duty 41 Pencil Sharpener which is sold on Dickblick.com.