Before I buy anything, I do a lot of research on it. A lot. So this Stanley sharpener came to my attention. I needed for my 7th grade classroom and if I were ever going to invent something and check it for durability, I'd put it in a 7th grade classroom for about a month. If it can last that long, you can bet it'll last just about forever.
I've had several manual sharpeners in my classroom, you know, the type you screw to the wall. They don't hold up. One was torn from its stem, the base still screwed to the wall. Another had its handle bent so much that when you went to sharpen a pencil, you'd have to crank it in an oval instead of a circle.
I didn't really want to spend too much for a sharpener, since my classes have a "reputation" for how they treat prior sharpeners. But the Stanley LOOKED heavy-duty enough. And Stanley tools are pretty rugged, right? Besides, the only other choice that seemed like it might hold up was an Xacto one, but that was over $100! I am a school teacher, after all.
So I bought this Stanley Bostich EPS12HC SuperPro 6. What sold me was that it could could take all pencil sizes and it boasted of a motor so rugged, that it actually had a FAN to cool it down! It had suction cups for feet to keep young 7th grade bodies that throw their weight against their pencils from pushing it off the table. It looked as if it could sharpen colored pencils too, something that always jammed other electric sharpeners. The only drawback I could see was it didn't really have an auto-stop feature, you had to "feel" it as being sharpened as you were sharpening your writing instrument. Oh well. Let's take a risk.
This machine is the new Class Pet. It does everything it promises and more. The kids LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. It's fast and the blades are sharp. Why, because the container is see-through, the kids actually empty it when it gets full of pencil shavings too. They've gotten over grinding pencils down to stubbs.
The only drawback is that it sometimes sharpens a pencil's wood along with the graphite, so that you either have to peel it away with a fingernail, or put it back in and twist the pencil. No big deal either way.
I would DEFINITELY recommend this machine for you. It doesn't matter if you're not a teacher - I'd get one for my home even. Worth every red cent!
UPDATE - 1 year later.
OK, so as I mentioned above, if you ever want to check the durability of nearly anything, put it in a 7th grade classroom for a year. Here's the result of having the Stanley Bostich EPS12HC used by seventh graders for 9 months.
At first, it was a wonderful machine: it sharpened pencils to a pin-point, it could handle colored pencils (something that would cause other sharpeners to bog down). But then Monica jammed her stub of a pencil into the sharpener and it got stuck. I had to use a paperclip to slide what was left of her pencil out from between the sharpening gears, after taking out the shavings bin and getting to the gears from underneath. But it was never quite the same after that. Maybe the blades grew dull; I don't know. What happens now though, is that when it sharpens pencils, it sharpens the WOOD around the point, bringing the lead AND the wood together to a sharpened spear. If you don't have fingernails to chip away the wood to get to the lead, forget using the pencil.
Also, it seems to have given up trying to get colored pencils sharp. I'm not sure why this fine-looking machine is going the way of all pencil sharpeners in my classroom. I'll see if maybe its the blades that need replacing (after only ONE YEAR?!), but that seems unlikely. Stay tuned!
Well, this is, I'm sorry to write, the final review on this pencil sharpener. It's given up the ghost and I've given up on it. So much so that I actually went out and bought a similar version made by X-acto. And I did not buy it from Amazon for the simple reason that, for less than $10, I could buy a one year, if-it-breaks-bring-it-in-and-get-a-new-one warranty. How can a 7th grade teacher beat that?! So, sorry, Stanley Bostich EPS12HC SuperPro 6, our relationship is now over....
Stanley Bostitch EPS12HC SuperPro 6 Commercial Pencil Sharpener, 7.5"h x 9"d x 5"w, gray, 1 UnitI bought this for my classroom, after spending $20 on a new sharpener just about every month. (It still amazes me how often students have to sharpen their pencils) This sharpener is INCREDIBLE and indestructable. It's so quiet and very fast. I do a 10 pack of pencils in about 1 minute. It definitely seems like it's going to last many years...not months. I like the auto shut off feature because you can hear when their pencil is done. The dial to select a different size also comes in handy with some of the fancy pencils or thick pencils. Would HIGHLY recommend this sharpener! Worth every single penny
This is a very heavy duty pencil sharpener. My children have burned out several inexpensive sharpeners, so I wanted to find a very heavy duty sharpener. I bought this and it wonderful. It has its own fan to cool the engine. This means that when my son sharpens all of his colored pencils, the engine happily complies. No funny smells or "sick engine" sounds.
I bought it on sale for about $80 and have been using it heavily for almost 6 months. Since the cheaper sharpeners run about $30 and we have burned out 3 in 3 years, I am looking at it as an investment.
excellent sharpener. bought for my dad who has arthritis in his hands and he can use easily. It is a drag to empty as the plastic reservoir for shavings does not slide in and out without A LOT of effort.
I purchased this for our homeschool classroom after getting blisters from sharpening colored pencils by hand. We had used a battery powered one but it never worked well and completely stopped working after just a few months.
The good:
- it's fast, really fast
- it handles pencils of all sizes, including the huge 'my first' pencils and tri-writes
- it's powerful enough to sharpen dozens of pencils without stopping to let it cool down
- it handles colored pencils with ease and doesn't clog
- the shavings bin is large and lasts us through a solid month without emptying and doesn't slide out if bumped or tipped
- it's super sturdy, it's fallen on the floor many times and is still going strong; I can see it lasting through a decade or more of frequent use
The not so good:
- it's fast and doesn't turn off on it's own when the pencil is sharpened and is so powerful that it can eat through an entire pencil in 10 seconds if you're not careful
- it's too powerful for me to feel comfortable allowing young children to use it, I leave it unplugged for safety the same way I unplug the paper shredder after each use, an annoyance so I only use it when I have several pencils that need sharpening at once
- it sharpens far up on the pencil, no neat little point but a full inch of exposed wood with a super sharp point; doesn't bother me with colored pencils but I often sharpen writing pencils by hand so they'll last longer
- sharpens well when used very quickly, maybe 1/2 a second to 1 second but makes the pencil uneven if left in for more than a second
- it's really big and bulky with enough weight that it can't be left on top of a bookshelf because the cord can be pulled on and it could hit a child on the head, needs to be on a low shelf if used in a home or classroom with toddlers or preschoolers (which means it must be unplugged in case they stick their fingers in)
- must be plugged in and has a short cord which limits where it can be put, unlike battery powered sharpeners that can be put anywhere'
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