Browsing through the
Target Back-to-School supplies section, I spotted these neat pencil accessories for $1.19:
the Maped Tip Top cap pencil sharpener and pencil cap eraser set. They strike me as a value alternative to the
Faber Castell Perfect Pencil without the extender function. They were available in several bright colors, but I naturally picked the yellow orange one to match my
Maped Zenoa eraser.
When attached to the back of the pencils, the cap sharpener and cap eraser allow the pencils to be clipped to a sheet of paper. Can't imagine this to be a particular useful function, but thought to mention it since this feature is highlighted on the back of the packaging card.
Both accessories fit nicely as pencil toppers on the
Mitsubishi Hi-Uni and
Mitsubishi Unistar pencils.
Time to test the effectiveness of the cap eraser on this HB graphite doodle.
The cap eraser works quite nicely though it tends to get soiled fairly easily as shown by the graphite smudges on its side.
Tested the new sharpener blade sharpening a few
Caran D'Ache Pablo colored pencils and a couple of graphite pencils.
The cap sharpener yields some nice sharp pencil points and can effectively double as a point protector.
I am pretty happy with the initial performance of these inexpensive pencil accessories and have made a place for both of them in my premium graphite pencils case.
As you shop for "Back to School Supplies" might be a good idea to take a gander at the Clearance bins that you might come across. Found this Foray Battery Operated Sharpener for 56 cents in the marked down rack at the entrance of a local Office Depot store.
Did this little video review for it.
The white sharpener could be used for regular graphite pencils, and the gray sharpener could be used for colored pencils to keep the individual colors from getting soiled with graphite dust. The dial on top allow for clockwise adjustments of the barrel opening to accommodate different diameter pencils: 8, 9, 10, and 11 mm. The unit is powered by 4 AA batteries, and it is a tad loud. Since pencils are held vertically for sharpening, it reduces the chance of breakage due to side stresses.
By adjusting the red knobs on the bottom of the unit, you can control the sharpness of the resulting pencil points from blunt to sharp. The longer taper on the pencils on the left is meant for regular writing pencils while the shorter taper pencil style would be suitable for colored pencils.
I suppose it is nice to have the option of sharpening pencil tips in different styles, though I tend to prefer working with sharp ones. Still this Foray Sharpener was a pretty good pencil accessory buy for under a buck.
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