I was very excited to find CW Pencil Enterprises and to see that they stocked the Dux Varibel brass sharpener in the leather case ($22). It can be dialed in to three different sharpnesses depending on the type of lead. The #1 position is for soft pencils and colored pencils, #2 is used for standard graphite pencils (“#2 for #2 pencils!”) and #3 for the sharpest point for harder leads or pencil weaponry.
(Pictured above is Mirado Black Warrior pencils sharpened with #3, #2 and #1 settings from top to bottom)
The sharpener blade is sharp and fits standard round, hex and triangular pencils. The leather carrying sleeve just makes it awesome.
The point is still not as sharp as a Classroom Friendly sharpener or my old Boston hand crank sharpener but for a portable pocket sharpener, the quality of the points is good and I didn’t have any breaking issues while sharpening.
If you are a pencil enthusiast or know someone who likes a fine tool, you might want to pick one of these up.
Cheaper and more useful than an Apple watch!