{"id":266,"date":"2012-05-02T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paperstone.co.uk\/Wordpress\/?p=266"},"modified":"2012-05-02T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T23:00:00","slug":"how_to_sharpen_pencils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paperstone.co.uk\/News\/articles\/how_to_sharpen_pencils","title":{"rendered":"How to Sharpen Pencils"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" src=\"\/images\/NewsImages\/2012\/david-rees-how-to-sharpen-pencils.jpg\" alt=\"How to Sharpen Pencils\" \/><\/p>\n<p>David Rees&#8217; <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/How-Sharpen-Pencils-Theoretical-Contractors\/dp\/1612190405\" onclick=\"PS.Core.Popup(this, 800, 600);return false;\" title=\"Opens in a new window\">How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical &amp; Theoretical Treatise on the  Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, &amp; Civil Servants<\/a><\/i> is a 144-page essay on,  erm, sharpening <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paperstone.co.uk\/pens-pencils\/pencils-accessories\/c-3232\">pencils<\/a>. Or at least that&#8217;s what its ostensible content is about.<\/p>\n<p>We came across this book <i>via<\/i> <a href=\"http:\/\/boingboing.net\/2012\/04\/13\/how-to-sharpen-pencils-a-prac.html\" onclick=\"PS.Core.Popup(this, 800, 600);return false;\" title=\"Opens in a new window\">Boing Boing<\/a> and have so far read only <a href=\"http:\/\/craphound.com\/HowtoSharpenPencilsch2.pdf\" onclick=\"PS.Core.Popup(this, 800, 600);return false;\" title=\"Opens in a new window\">this chapter<\/a>, but it is already apparent that Rees&#8217; work is a mixture of conscientious fastidiousness, philosophical excursion and probably, as Cory Doctorow writes at Boing Boing,  satire.<\/p>\n<p>Thus Rees pays genuine and caring attention to the functional minutiae of sharpening a U.S. No. 2 pencil. (The American numbered pencil classification is different from the &#8216;HB&#8217; system employed elsewhere.) He&#8217;s done his research and is mindful of logistical pitfalls:<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;<i>The hexagonal shaft of the pencil must be straight, as bowing can lead to &#8216;shudder&#8217; in hand-crank sharpeners and irregular collars produced by pocket sharpeners.<\/i>&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But poetic and existentialist tendrils sprout from the didactic and explicatory task at hand:<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Remember: <i>A pencil point enjoyed by the writer may not be suited for the draftsman; the ideal point for the standardized-test taker laboring in an over-lit  classroom may not please the louche poet idling on a windswept peak. No point can serve all needs. The unsharpened pencil is, in contrast, an idealized form.  Putting a point on a pencil &mdash; making it functional &mdash; is to lead it out of Plato&rsquo;s cave and into the noonday sun of utility.  Of course, life outside a cave runs the risk of imperfection and frustration. But we must learn to live with these risks if we want enough oxygen to survive.<\/i>&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The later chapter titles promise an intriguing mix of accuracy beyond the call of duty and farce and we can&#8217;t wait to read, &#8216;Using a Double-Burr Hand-Crank Sharpener&#8217;, &#8216;Decapitating a Pencil Point: Radical Treatment in the Service of a Greater Good&#8217; and &#8216;A Few [ascerbic, we hope] Words about Mechanical Pencils.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Rees&#8217; How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical &amp; Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, &amp; Civil Servants is a 144-page essay on, erm, sharpening pencils. Or at least that&#8217;s what its ostensible content is about. We came across this book via Boing Boing and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Pencils_and_Accessories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Sharpen Pencils<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paperstone.co.uk\/News\/articles\/how_to_sharpen_pencils\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Sharpen Pencils\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Rees&#8217; How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical &amp; Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, &amp; Civil Servants is a 144-page essay on, erm, sharpening pencils. 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