Just a quick “review”/rant of a product I decided to try: the Möbius & Ruppert “brass bullet” pencil sharpener. I’ve been looking for a good, basic hand sharpener. I have about a million of them kicking around but they all seem to last about a week before the blade goes dull on me, and have weird blades that I can’t find replacements for. So, I’ve been in a market for a sharpener for “hardcore” pencil pushers.

I swung by the art supply store and found a jar of these, going for $4.25 each. Not a bad price, they looked solid, and I’ve heard good things. Also, they had boxes of M+R replacement blades available, which I figured would be great if the bullet sharpeners were as good as I’d heard. Sadly they just didn’t live up to the hype.

My gripe with them is that, well, pencils never seem to actually get sharp. Which is kind of the point of a pencil sharpener. You can sharpen them to a blunt, squared-off tip and then…snap! I managed to get a Blackwing 602 sharp, so maybe this is only for people who write exclusively with fahhhncy pencils. But I tried several other makes and models of pencil and the M+R bullet sharpener repeatedly broke the cores off every single one until I gave up and used a different sharpener. Am I doing something wrong? Do I really want to use a sharpener that I need special instructions to use? Did I get a lemon?

I don’t know, but I’ll be moving down on the list to the next candidate in my quest to find a great sharpener.