Recently acquired three crank sharpeners (for studio, home and holidays home + backpack), since I’m using colour pencils more and more in my drawing activities
My method to evaluate them (0 is shit 5 is great) is the average of four simple criteria:
1 - Build/Design (how it’s put together, features and easiness of use)
2 - Position on a table (where the clamp can be attached)
3 - Performance (the result in terms of smoothness of cone tip, overall results)
4 - Price
I use 2 kinds of professional colour pencils normally:
Faber-Castell Polychromos
Derwent Lightfast
Derwent Super Point (€35)
Build - ✭✭✭✭✭
Clamp - ✭✭✭✭✭ — sharpener can be set to face inside or outside the table, great
Performance - ✭✭✭✩✩ — it doesn’t always leave a smooth tip cone
Price ✩✩✩✩✩ — costly, maybe even disappointing if you compare with other sharpeners
Average: ✭✭✭✩✩ (3.25)
EVAL: It is a heavy duty crank sharpener but lasting long is not always desirable — it is a pricey instrument that not always yields obvious results.
MUJI Sharpener Small (€10)
Build - ✭✭✭✭✭
Clamp - ✩✩✩✩✩ — there is no clamp
Performance - ✭✭✭✭✭
Price ✭✭✭✭✭
Average: ✭✭✭✩✩ (3.75)
IMHO best performing crank sharpener of all that I’ve tried so far, with only one glitch
M+R (€15)
Build - ✭✭✭✭✩
Clamp - ✭✭✭✭✩ — sharpener must always face inside table, arguably not great
Performance - ✭✭✭✭✭
Price ✭✭✭✭✩ — reasonable
Average: ✭✭✭✭✩ (4.25)
Nice one, and you can adjust the tip (pointy or cut). Probably the best buy of these three, despite the fact that the others have a more solid and compact feel.