by David Rees
What looks like a man repeatedly overcome with enthusiasm and celebrating with the traditional “thumbs up” gesture is actually a sober professional engaging in an important warm-up exercise before using a hand-crank sharpener that requires hand-stabilization of the pencil. (Hand-stabilization of a pencil can place strain on the thumb.) (See Chapter 10.)
Similarly, the reader is forgiven for assuming these photographs show an enraged business owner struggling to contain his desire to backhand a subordinate who has given offense. In fact, the event captured in these images is a happy one: The artisanal pencil sharpener stretches his deltoids in anticipation of a busy day’s work!
If you plan on sharpening pencils while sitting at a desk or worktable, it is incumbent on you to monitor your posture and sit with your abdominal muscles flexed so as to reduce strain on your lower back. You should also stretch your lower back at the beginning and end of each day in your workshop, as well as before and after each individual sharpening job and in between any other activities.
You will find further utility in the above posture when it comes to using wall-mounted sharpeners. (See Chapter 15.)
Fully 95% of the body’s movements while sharpening a pencil occur in the wrists and fingers, except for those movements located elsewhere, which range between 10% and 80% of other movements spanning 50% or 65% of the body. Your fingers are on the front lines of every traditional pencil-sharpening technique—it is said the secret motto of electric pencil sharpeners is: “First their pencils, then their fingers”—and must be up to the job. Do not neglect your fingers while warming up for an afternoon of work.
There are, famously, almost as many finger warm-up techniques as there are fingers, but I have found this exercise to be especially efficient and elegant:
A profitable quarter-hour can be spent in the performance of this repeating gesture. Your rewards will be many; perhaps the most important will be fingers from which the cobwebs have been thoroughly shaken—fingers that are limber, strong, and primed for both pencil and blade.
Carpal-tunnel syndrome is as serious a threat for the pencil sharpener as it is for the guitarist or golfer, and stretching your wrists is a crucial component in any pre-sharpening warm-up ritual. Take care not to overtax your wrists while warming them up. An effective way to monitor wrist pain while doing this exercise is to watch yourself in a mirror—if you notice signs of discomfort in your face, you’re probably straining your wrist.
As you develop your practice, make note of any sites of agony that reveal themselves during or after a job. Consult with a physician or yogi to develop a strategy for strengthening and otherwise conditioning those body parts. Each body is different, after all, and some of the more defective among us may need further regimens to ensure peak performance.
3.1: HOW SHARPENING PENCILS CAN ENRICH THE SENSES
Sense: SIGHT The shape of a properly sharpened pencil can please the eyes
Sense: SMELL The potpourri of graphite and cedar found in pencil shavings can please the nose
Sense: TOUCH The smooth, unblemished cedar of a properly shaped pencil collar can please the fingertips
Sense: HEARING The steady whisper of sharpener blades moving against the pencil shaft can please the ears
Sense: TASTE The food you buy with your income from sharpening pencils can please the tongue
3.2: PARTS OF THE BODY THAT CAN BE DAMAGED AS A RESULT OF INCORRECT PENCIL SHARPENING TECHNIQUE
Fingers Forearms Shoulders
Palms Throat Neck
Wrists Ears Feet
Elbows Lower back Eyes
1 There is an exception to this claim; see Chapter 18.
CHAPTER 4:
USING A POCKETKNIFE
EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST:
• Whetstone
• Mineral spirits
• Emery board
• Sandpaper
• Pocketknife
• Pencils
• Additional pencils (for beginners)
WE SHALL BEGIN WITH THE OLDEST METHOD of sharpening a pencil. Long before the dawn of the hand-crank sharpener; centuries before the domesticated whine of the Boston electric; in the days when “pre-sharpened” pencils sold in flimsy plastic boxes were the stuff of fever-dreams, if a man wanted to ready a pencil for use, he reached for a knife.
In our age of abundance, when we are spoiled for choice with all manner of pencil-pointing technologies, what does it profit a man to take up this old tool? After all, compared to other pencil sharpeners, the knife carries the greatest risk of physical harm and the slimmest guarantee of a proper point—at least for the novice. Shouldn’t we be content to let this centuries-old technique continue its lonely hobble towards irrelevance?
The happy fact of the matter is that sharpening a pencil with a straight blade (here, a pocketknife; other times, a box cutter) offers satisfaction and variety unavailable to other tools. In skilled hands, the humble pocketknife—that old wizard—can conjure as many pencil points as the human mind can picture.
It also behooves us to remember the adage that “Whensoever a member of our modern world sharpens a pencil using a pocketknife, he or she moves forward and backward through time simultaneously”: forward, insofar as the knife is deployed concurrently with the world’s temporal flow and anticipates a future state of affairs (i.e., the sharpened point, itself suggesting astronomer Arthur Eddington’s “arrow of time”); backward, as the persistent movements of the knife function as pistons in a nostalgia-engine which delivers its user to the distant past.
Indeed, when I tell people about my artisanal pencil sharpening business, I am often rewarded with their vivid memories of grandfathers, art teachers, or other beloved forebears sharpening pencils with pocketknives. Sharpening a pencil “the old-fashioned way” allows the modern enthusiast to reconnect with all those who have sharpened pencils in centuries past, and further sustains a rich tradition of pencil-pointing that would otherwise run the risk of disappearing entirely.
Addressing all the ways of applying pocketknife to pencil—and the points produced thereby—could fill a book, if not a library. For this chapter, it will suffice to provide a basic understanding of the tool and its technique. Readers are encouraged to take this chapter not as an exhaustive reckoning, but as a firm foundation upon which to build edifices of their own experience.
STEP ONE: OPENING THE POCKETKNIFE
Take up your pocketknife. Notice that it fits easily in one hand. The blade is hidden within its handle; it will make itself known soon enough.
Carefully open the blade of the pocketknife. The blade should open smoothly and quietly. It should be clean. Its base (or tang) should enjoy a snug fit within the handle, not subject to wobbling when pressure is applied anywhere on the blade.
Here, then, is the pocketknife as you will use it: blade open, handle resting comfortable in the hand. (If you’re having trouble distinguishing between the blade and the handle, ask a more experienced friend or relative for help.)
STEP TWO: PREPARING THE BLADE FOR USE
The cook in his kitchen, the bandit in his alley, and the hunter standing over his steaming game can all agree on one thing: a dull blade is more dangerous than a sharp one. A dull blade requires a superabundance of force in order to cut—which increases the risk of error, slippage and injury.
The knife in the hand of the pencil sharpener is no different from that wielded by our friends the cook, the bandit, and the hunter. It must be kept sharp. If you plan on making pocketknives part of your pencil-sharpening practice, you must learn to keep them in peak condition. A whetstone is the simplest tool for sharpening your pocketknife, and should travel as its constant companion.1
STEP THREE: “A TREAT IN EACH HAND”
After sharpening your knife, it’s time to do the same to your pencil.
Holding the knife in your dominant hand, use your other hand to pick up a pencil. You should now have one object in each hand.
Unlike the other techniques discus
sed in this book, sharpening a pencil with a knife requires discrete movement from both elements, for which the user alone is responsible. You’ll need to maintain a light, flexible grip on your knife as well as your pencil, and will likely find yourself using your fingers more than your palms.
4.1: PROPER LOCATION OF PENCIL AND POCKETKNIFE
DOMINANT HAND: Pocketknife
NON-DOMINANT HAND: Pencil
If you’re worried about your ability to successfully manipulate pocketknife and pencil in concert, ask yourself this question: Are you able to navigate and consume a standard American dinner—soup, salad, meatloaf, dessert—using silverware? If so, your hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills are up to the task; it’s a simple matter of setting off on the long and winding path to proficiency. (See this page.)
STEP FOUR: CHOOSING YOUR COLLAR BOTTOM
Unlike most other sharpening techniques, in which blades engage the pencil’s wood (and later, graphite) at an angle more or less parallel to the shaft, the pocketknife’s blade is applied perpendicular to the pencil’s shaft. It creates the pencil’s point directly and from the bottom up, as opposed to obliquely and from the top down.
This means you begin at the collar bottom, instead of ending at it. Before you make your first cut, therefore, you should determine how long you want your point to be, as this will determine where to start, i.e. the location of your collar bottom.
The longer your desired point, the further down the shaft you should begin, and the lower the angle of the blade relative to the pencil.
For this demonstration I will produce a standard pencil point; this means my collar bottom should lie approximately ¾" from the top of the pencil.
Observant readers will protest that this photograph shows my knife resting approximately 1 ½" from the top. Let me explain the inconsistency: When using a pocketknife, it’s appropriate to give yourself a little breathing room, especially the first few hundred times. After all, it’s better to find yourself with too much space between the collar bottom and the hypothetical tip of the pencil than too little—in the first case, the tip can be easily shortened and the entire point re-shaped; in the second, you will likely have to start again from scratch, as it is difficult to graft additional wood and graphite onto a half-sharpened pencil.
STEP FIVE: THE FIRST INCISION
There is a lively debate among pocketknife pencil sharpeners as to whether it’s preferable to place the blade flush with the plane of the pencil shaft, or to run it along the ridge between two sides. Both options have their appeal: Begin flush with the plane, and you can be sure of an even stroke. Begin on the ridge, and you may find the first stroke easier to make. Experiment with both options before making a public declaration of your preference.
In this photograph, we see the knife blade attacking the ridge. The cutting angle is low, due to the length of point desired (remember, the longer the point, the lower the angle of incision) and the simple reality that the first incisions need only remove the finished wood from the exterior of the pencil. There’s no need to “strike oil” at the outset. A sharp knife in a patient hand will get the job done.
RELATIVE DIFFICULTY OF KNIFE-BASED ACTIVITIES FROM EASIEST TO MOST
DIFFICULT, WITH SHARPENING A PENCIL REPRESENTING THE MEDIAN
If you can REACH FOR A KNIFE then you can PICK UP A KNIFE
If you can PICK UP A KNIFE then you can DIP A KNIFE IN A BATHTUB
If you can DIP A KNIFE IN A BATHTUB then you can SMEAR JELLY WITH A KNIFE
If you can SMEAR JELLY WITH A KNIFE then you can CUT A LOAF OF BREAD WITH A BREAD KNIFE
If you can CUT A LOAF OF BREAD WITH A BREAD KNIFE then you can CUT A STEAK WITH A STEAK KNIFE
If you can CUT A STEAK WITH A STEAK KNIFE then you can CARVE A TURKEY WITH A CARVING KNIFE
If you can CARVE A TURKEY WITH A CARVING KNIFE then you can CARVE A TOTEM POLE WITH A CHAINSAW
If you can CARVE A TOTEM POLE WITH A CHAINSAW then you can SHARPEN A PENCIL WITH A POCKETKNIFE
If you can SHARPEN A PENCIL WITH A POCKETKNIFE then you can WHITTLE A DUCK WITH A POCKETKNIFE
If you can WHITTLE A DUCK WITH A POCKETKNIFE then you can SHAVE A THREAD WITH A STRAIGHT RAZOR
If you can SHAVE A THREAD WITH A STRAIGHT RAZOR then you can REMOVE A CORNEA WITH A SCALPEL
If you can REMOVE A CORNEA WITH A SCALPEL then you can MAKE A LOT OF MONEY
If you can MAKE A LOT OF MONEY then you can HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH YOUR SECRETARY
If you can HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH YOUR SECRETARY then you can BE BLACKMAILED
If you can BE BLACKMAILED then you can IMAGINE COMMITTING A CRIME
If you can IMAGINE COMMITTING A CRIME then you can REACH FOR A KNIFE
Use the thumb of your “pencil hand” to push the knife forward along the shaft. It’s one of the ironies of this technique that the hand holding the knife will be only minimally involved in its propulsion.
I prefer to work opposite sides of the shaft in sequence, to maintain conical symmetry.
STEP SIX: REVEALING AND SHAPING THE CEDAR
After you remove the painted outer surface of the pencil shaft, the unfinished cedar will take the knife easily. Continue shaping your pencil point, beginning each stroke at the collar bottom you established earlier.
One risk associated with the pocketknife is cutting too deeply into the pencil shaft and hitting the graphite core. The inexperienced pencil-pocketknifer will quickly come to know the frustration of gouging the graphite below the desired location of the pencil tip. As well as weakening the graphite, whenever these marks catch the light they blaze as unfortunate testaments to overzealousness, like divots on a golf green.2 It’s best to err on the side of caution, not digging too aggressively into the pencil.
In this photograph we see the cedar-removal process nearly complete. The graphite core awaits the first hint of spring within its cocoon.
STEP SEVEN: EXPOSING THE GRAPHITE
Continue shaving away the wood of the pencil shaft until the core is exposed. Turn the pencil in your hand to confirm that no cedar tendrils still cling to the graphite, as they could interfere with final shaping of the point. If you do find a stray sliver of wood extending from the collar top, you can remove it with a delicate application of the knife or emery board.
Now is also a good time to even out your collar bottom, should you see fit. I rarely touch up my collar bottoms after using a knife; one of the aesthetic pleasures of the technique, after all, is the rustic quality it lends a pencil—and an uneven collar bottom is a sure sign that a #2 did not come to its point via electric sharpener (see Chapter 13).
This is not to say that we should take imperfection as our goal. One of the dysfunctions of our age is the conflation of shoddiness with authenticity, and we must resist this confusion in our practice—especially in those circumstances where sloppy craftsmanship could diminish a pencil’s utility. Having said that, collar bottoms exhibiting uneven borders between finished and unfinished cedar don’t pose a threat to functionality and may be left as they are found.
The graphite is exposed.
If you’re satisfied with your work so far, take a minute to drink a glass of water and celebrate your accomplishment: The wood of the pencil has been shaped; it may now serve as the “launching pad” for your graphite pencil point.
STEP EIGHT: FINISHING THE GRAPHITE
Now that the graphite is exposed and ready for shaping we find ourselves with multiple options. If your pocketknife is the only tool available, you may finish the point by shaving it with the knife blade angled away from the top of the pencil.
Don’t make the mistake of shaving the graphite with the knife blade facing forward: as mentioned above, the risk of gouging into the graphite is too great, and would require further abrasion to maintain consistency. (Such a perpetual “escalation of abrasion” is one of the most frustrating dysfunctions associated with the use of a pocketknife—anyone who has tried to cut his own sideburns will be familiar with this agony�
��and has led many a novice to throw away their knife in despair.)
A safer bet is to shape the graphite with high-grit sandpaper or an emery board.
If you desire a relatively clean point, in which the graphite flows seamlessly from its cedar sheath, be sure to follow the angle of the exposed wood while shaping the point. (You may find it easier to do so if you position the sandpaper over the edge of a table and engage the graphite along the top edge, leaving the cedar untouched.)
Congratulations! You have sharpened a pencil using a pocketknife, and now stand as heir to a proud tradition. Don’t worry if your first attempts look less like functional pencils and more like beaver-savaged branches; after a few weeks of practice you will find your stockpile of intuitions and sense memories increasing, and, as the anxiety of the neophyte falls away, you will enjoy greater confidence and ability each time you take your knife in hand and apply it to an unsharpened pencil. (Alternately, you can ‘hone’ your knife-skills using a Little Shaver-style sharpener.) (See this page.)
Four points are submitted for review, each of which was produced by a pocketknife. Of course, these represent only a fraction of the styles that can be created by a skilled hand—readers should try replicating each of these points before branching off into their own distributaries of exploration.
On the left we see a long, elegant point with a shapely collar that curves as it approaches the graphite. (This effect is achieved by lowering the blade’s angle in a scooping motion as it approaches the top of the pencil.) The graphite was finished using sandpaper; its form is smooth and muscular. This pencil recommends itself to the architect, graphic designer, or any other professional whose vocation entails a narrow line and an abundance of vanity. I trust you’ll agree it also holds its own as an object for display. (I call this point “the poor man’s El Casco;” the reference will become clear in Chapter 10.)