Angel-5 (Black) Heavy-Duty Artist & Teacher Pencil Sharpener – Precision Manual Crank with Auto-Stop, Colored Pencil Compatible, Quiet Operation, Durable Japanese Design.

This sharpener has earned all its five star reviews. I thought they were kidding, or paid fake reviews. They're not. I've never seen anything sharpen like this--not even the heavy duty classroom sharpeners in the 70s! The points were razor sharp. You could kill someone with it. I'm not kidding. For this reason, and because sharpening it until the sharpener stops grinding (as the instructions others give) chews up HUGE amounts of the pencil, I usually just give the sharpener 4-5 turns, then stop and check the point. Most of the time, 5 is enough, depending on the pencil, and how dull it started out. As other stated, you don't need the clamp. Someone on Amazon gave a great review with directions (it comes with none, how stupid). It might have been on the the page for the green version of this sharpener. I'll give you my own quickie tips. 1. Pull metal face plate away from sharpener until it clicks into place. 2. Squeeze the two black knobs on the top together and hold while you insert pencil. 3. Insert pencil in until it stops. 4. Hold one hand flat on the top of the sharpener while you turn the handle with the other. 5. The sharpener will pull the pencil in as it sharpens, and you'll be able to hear/feel when the pencil is "done" (i.e. it is now a wooden stake capable of killing any vampire...except that it is now too short plunge in that deep) 6. If you don't want a vampire-killing pencil stub, then stop after 4-5 and check the tip, by squeezing the black knobs together again and pulling the pencil out. 6. If, after 4-5 rotations, the tip still needs a bit more sharpening, re-insert carefully and go another rotation or two, until you are satisfied. 7. Remove pencil again by squeezing black knobs together and pulling pencil out. 8. If faceplate is still sticking out, turn handle and it will retract 9. Empty the pull-out acrylic shavings drawer, or else the world's finest pencil shavings will end up falling out of the cracks and dusted across the room, no matter how careful you are. 10. Put it where your kids can't pick it up and throw it at each other, because I'm pretty sure someone is going to the hospital if this hits someone's head. 11. Hide any vampire-killing pencils from younger children or children/people who can't be trusted with stakes. p.s. This is fun to use. Too fun. I want to sharpen everything in the house. So do my kids. They are not allowed to use it, because they will make stakes of every pencil in the house, and I'm not buying new colored pencils each week. Let your kids use this at your own risk. Joking aside, I love this sharpener. It's so stupid to be this happy over a pencil sharpener, but when was the last time you bought something after 1980 that actually did an awesome job, and looked like it would last longer than a month? I bought it with much trepidation, because of the price, but the reviews convinced me it was worth it. I'm not sorry I spent $25 on this. Even though--ouch--that's a lot. Totally worth it, and better than constantly losing $2 cheapie manual sharpeners, or paying $12 (still a lot) and having one break. ETA: No vampires were harmed in the reviewing of this product. I tried, but the really-sharp pencils were too short. Okay, so maybe they were harmed a little. But they were just flesh wounds. UPDATE 6/26/16: Wow. This thing is a tank. Naturally, my husband let the kids all use it, because apparently he WANTS them to stab each other with deadly pencil weapons. Fortunately, they have refrained from doing so. They have also learned that if they sharpen them too much, their pencils disappear, and we'll run out too soon, so they have learned to stick to the 4-5 rotation rule. In the meantime, this sharpener has seen some major abuse. The little rubber foot pads are long gone, and it is scratched up a lot on the bottom. Sometimes the face plate wants to retract before I get the pencils in (no biggie, I just pull it back out again), and they've slightly bent one of the black handles on the top. However, despite the abuse heaped on this sharpener, plus the heavy use (my kids looooove drawing), it is still going strong. I have no doubt that no other pencil sharpener would have held up this well. And surprisingly, the plastic drawer has neither been lost, nor cracked. It stays in there pretty well, considering that nothing is holding it in. I still love this sharpener, and my only problem now is finding a little sharpener that I can take with me when I'm away from home. This thing spoils you.

My wife and I laughed out loud the first time we used this. My sons and wife then began scouring the junk drawer for more pencils to sharpen. To put it simply and bluntly, this is the best pencil sharpener we have ever used. It is so good, wardens would not allow it to be used within prison walls because it puts such a sharp point on pencils, they could be considered dangerous weapons. We have an electric sharpener I bought on Amazon about eight years ago. It has been okay but takes too long to sharpen a pencil and does not sharpen pencils on center. Instead, it leaves wood along one side of the pencil lead. Being a woodworker, I like to have several pencils lying around in multiple places in the garage while I work. The sliver of wood along one side of the pencil was becoming very annoying. So I decided to invest in a new sharpener. After researching several models on Amazon, I found this one and was intrigued by the high ratings. At the recommendation of another reviewer, I looked up the sharpener's operation on YouTube. Even after seeing how it operated, I was still a bit reluctant to spend $24.95 on a gadget as simple as a pencil sharpener, but I decided to take the chance anyway. My family and I were rewarded with a superb sharpener that I do not regret purchasing one bit. Pros: - Perfectly sharpened pencils with on-center leads. - Very smooth operation... it is sharp! - Easy to use... even if it does look more complicated than other sharpeners you are accustomed to seeing. - The pencil is gripped by the sharpener itself after insertion and self-feeds while sharpening. When it reaches the sharpest point, the sharpener stops automatically. Cons: - Unlike electric sharpeners, you will have to use two hands... one to hold the sharpener steady, and one to crank the handle. While it comes with a table/desk clamp, I think the clamp is probably too small to fit around most tables & desks (this really isn't an issue however, as the bottom of the sharpener has rubber feet and does not slip while being held steady). Recommendation: Stop searching for the perfect sharpener. You have found it.

It's amazing. I was tired of buying new pencil sharpeners for my classroom at least once a year. After reading the reviews, I decided to spend a good piece of money for this. Luckily another teacher in my department had one to try out (discovered this after ordering). The Carl Angel Pencil Sharpener does the following: - super sharp points - since "Carl" holds the pencil for you, it doesn't jam the pencil in. The result is no over sharpening. It's amazing how little pencil is actually used when you use this. It just stops sharpening. - causes a little learning curve as you need to learn how to use it as it will hold the pencil for you. - you students will be enthralled. Students would use "Carl" as they dubbed it every day. One student sharpened all of his pencils for the day before school. Carl got jammed one time so I had to take it home to get fixed (and in reality, it's the easiest thing to do. Replacing the blades will be a breeze should I ever need to but given the fact things aren't being jammed into it dulling the blade, that will be years from now). My students were visibly depressed. One even said, "it's stupid I miss Carl but I do." Another set up a Twitter feed for it (@Carl_Sharpener). It's the silliest thing. Another while sketching Carl on the blackboard during his, "surgery," decided the sharpener could be made to look like it had a face. So she added post it notes on to make a bow tie.Teenagers - what can you do? - your colleagues will be jealous. The teacher with whom I shared my room has had to buy one for her new room because she liked it so much. - only downside is it doesn't attach to a desk or wall easily. But that doesn't matter because all of the above makes up for it. So order one, keep it on your desk, and just watch Carl win you over and your students. You will want to keep him safe and hide him when your classroom gets used for ACT testing. He's that good

Omg this is the best thing I have ever purchased. I use it with my pastel pencils and colored pencils it sharpens perfectly. I have tried many sharpeners but this one wow . The points are perfect and just a couple of turns and the points are beautiful. I wish I had discovered it years ago. I feel like I won the lotto with this gift to myself.

I have a love/hate relationship with this sharpener. First of all, the A-5 is hands-down the most consistent sharpener I've ever used. I'm a 5th grade teacher and have plowed through automatic and manual sharpeners alike. This one is pretty bulletproof. With that being said, I still keep it at my desk for "request only" use. Given enough time, kids will break a Sherman tank. Put a pencil sharpener in front of them and it's toast in a matter of weeks. Our class procedure is that I have them try the automatic and then the manual sharpener in the class first. If they still can't get a point (typically because it's a dollar store pencil combined with a crappy sharpener), they ask me to pull out the big gun. It sounds like me being anal but until you've been a teacher and had to deal with the hassle of pencil sharpening you honestly have no idea what a nuisance it is. Anyway, I haven't had a pencil that we couldn't sharpen yet. No grinding it down to the eraser, no half/one side sharpen issues, no phantom leads that look sharp but break when you touch them...nothing. It sharpens to a point and will not sharpen or grind down the barrel any farther. The specs on the blade work must be pretty dialed in because it not only creates an incredibly sharp point (many sharpeners can do that), but it sharpens the perfect angle of the barrel that can support that sharp of a tip without it instantly breaking off when you start using it. My inner geek is actually pretty amazed. With all the technical thought that went into the sharpening component, it amazes me how little went into the casing design. The sharpener is designed to be easily disassembled in the event you break a tip off in the sharpener. If your sharpener won't appear to sharpen any more, this is probably what happened. The broken tip is hitting the "stop" on the sharpener preventing the pencil you're tryng to put in from engaging with the blades". Anyway, I digress. While the disassemble involves simply a quarter turn of the handle to remove the sharpening blades, its design leads to other issues. When I was first using the sharpener, I noticed shavings and pencil 'soot' all over my desk. I thought that maybe the shaving catcher was overflowing but it wasn't. Upon closer inspection, while I was sharpening, I noticed shavings coming out the center of the handle itself. The design of the tabs on the, easy-to-remove- handle leaves just enough of a gap that shavings and black lead powder leak out of the handle itself and onto the sharpening surface (my desk). This doesn't affect the sharpening ability of it whatsoever but whatever your surface you sharpen on will get a nasty black powder on it and some shavings. After a while, the feet of the sharpener get all black and leave 4 little circular footprints everywhere you set it to sharpen as well. It seems to me that it could have been fixed/prevented with a $.05 gasket of some sort in the handle mechanism. Like I said, it's a love/hate relationship. I love it because I know it's going to sharpen whatever I throw at it but I hate that I know it's going to make a mess of my desk every time I take it out.

This review has been updated to reflect over three years of use. I ordered this sharpener at the end of August, 2014. It is now mid march, 2018; so we've had this sharpener for about three and a half years. It's been used, regularly by three school aged children, one of whom thinks anything that can be picked up must be tossed, caught, and dropped on the floor. We have no carpet, and while I wouldn't say it's been dropped regularly, I do know it's been dropped several times in my presence. My wife and I also use it, as well as others. It sharpens common pencils as well as colored pencils with no problems, and that's really about all you can say about a sharpener, isn't it? Well, no, not really. When I first reviewed this sharpener I was rather disappointed in it's lack of mountability. I wanted to stick it on a wall and always know where it was. Over the first year or so, that desire faded to the point where I now consider it utterly irrelevant. It's large enough and distinct enough that it doesn't hide from us. We keep it on top of our piano and it's sort of fitting that two such high quality items are together. The piano is over a hundred years old, and still keeps on working pretty much like it should. The pencil sharpener is just a few years old, but for a device that I'd come to expect might work as few as two times, if at all, it's still working pretty much like it should. And I've now come to expect that that's exactly what it will be doing in another 3 and a half years. The fact of the matter is that sharpeners of good quality seem to be in truly short supply. Some blame the Chinese for building garbage. I blame Americans for consistently making purchases based on price. I was somewhat concerned when I bought it, knowing that it was made in China. But after more than three years of use and not the slightest problem, I have no reservations. This is a quality pencil sharpener! If, like me, you're disgusted by paying good money for what turns out to be garbage, (like the sharpener I bought that sharpened maybe a couple hundred pencils at most and had to be thrown away) then get this sharpener! No, the mounting system isn't very good. But, it can be mounted to the edge of a desk. And if you're inventive you can build a good mount for it with a little thought. No, it's not made in the U.S. (the design is Japanese), but rather China. Yet it is still the highest quality sharpener I've been able to find for anything like a reasonable price. I could throw it away today, buy a new one, and it would still be less costly than buying cheaper sharpeners.

What comes in the box (March 2021) sharpener with mechanism detached, desk clamp. No directions. First the cons: * No directions * Cost, in my opinion the Pros: * Sharpens my Prismacolors, Artezas and Polychromos like a champ. (Bites a bit into the Polychromos) * Brings lead to long, true point (see pic), perfect for coloring small areas or defining a line. * Easy to crank and smooth * Quiet * Portable the Mehs: * the pencil holding mech is handy-dandy but doesn't always gauge when the pencil is sharpened. Note here that it works 95% of the time for me. So where has this been all my life? I generally use my Xacto School Pro multi-barrel-sized classroom electric sharpener (https://tinyurl.com/dwcm2v8) despite that electric sharpeners are not recommended for colored pencils. I'm just too lazy to use a knife or hand sharpener. Enter the Karl. I saw it on a YouTube video and needed a sharpener for work. It took me a bit to figure out how it works but most people would find it intuitive. I had it set up and ready to use in under a minute. I know that revelation is an overused word, but it was a revelation to use it. It has enough heft that I didn't have to find a desk to clamp it and it was easy to crank. The pencil holder meant I just laid a light hand on top of the Karl while cranking with the other hand. It was pretty easy to establish when the pencil was sharpened as the holder mech quit drawing back into the main part of the machine. I have posted a picture of what the point looks like. May not be sharp enough for engineering or fine art but great for me as a colorist/cardmaker. I just bought another one for home. I don't see using my Xacto anymore except as a last resort if a barrel wouldn't fit in the Karl. Very pleased with this purchase and am now eyeing one of the ones that allow you to adjust the point. That could come in very handy for colorists.

The Carl pencil sharpener works so much better than the brand X that there is no comparison. The Carl sharpener uses a unique method to hold the pencil as you insert it to keep it straight, avoiding getting a crooked point like other brands. You just pull out the pencil support squeeze the black tabs, and insert the pencil. Then crank it until there is no resistance. Squeeze the tabs again to remove the pencil and it is perfectly sharpened and STRAIGHT. This only costs a bit more than the others, but it is worth 2 to 3 times more, because it works so well. The only improvement I would suggest is that they make a wall-mount version, which would make this a reccomendation for all of our school classrooms. The desk mount works fine for me, although in a classroom setting I used a 1/4" threaded rod approx 10" long that I put all the way through the pencil sharpener, bent both ends down 90 degrees, and then drilled a hole in the counter and bolted it down with washers and nuts on both ends of the threaded rod through the cabinet top. This works great, but did require the threaded rod, 2 washers and 2 nuts, plus drilling 2 holes through the countertop... but this is now totally secure and noone will take my sharpener! Students love using this because they think using it is fun, and it also does such a great job at sharpening their pencils.

Recomiendo mucho este producto, llego perfectamente, incluso antes de lo previsto y funciona de maravilla.

This was a recommended sharpener that has been popular for a long time. I arrives pre-assembled but you may need to tighten the sharpener mechanism. Well made in metal and plastic. It sharpens plain & coloured pencils to a sharp point, rarely breaking the lead. I think this is value for money and I should have bought it years ago.

El sacapuntas de los sacapuntas una maravilla vale lo que vale , pongo un pero porque se atasca la pieza que extiende . Lo demás la punta una maravilla si te dedicas a pintar .

it can sharpened the pencil smoothly.the metal blade and body makes it very sturdy.

Not just for the classroom, nor just standard graphite pencils but satisfies even an Artist's needs. Sharpens: Thickest pencil - Caran d'Ache Luminance, Fragile pencil- Charcoal, Polychromos, Hexagonal pencils, All graphite pencils with ease. Pros: Versatile, sturdy construction, nifty table mount, good size, auto stops works like a charm, easy to disassemble and reassemble should one need to get the occasional broken nib out, it's quiet and easy on the hands too, on day one - I love it! Cons: broke one 7b pencil nib twice perhaps because of its thicker core and softer lead, leaves bite mark. Given that I use MANY types and brands of pencils - Carl Angel sharpeners high performance rate makes it easy for me to overlook the cons. After having read so many good things about this sharpener I decided to take the plunge. It's day one so I hope that the performance withstands my usage. The desk clamp SEEMS as if it would be loose but try locking it on a desk. I've seen people say that it doesn't work, not sure if they decided that before trying because mines sits sturdy. Edit: just bought another one the day after! Artsy Regards SP