Kartro 1930s-1940s mechanical pencils

Well… I would say this question should get a “yes” for an answer about 99.99% of the time, but… (of course, there is always a “but” somehow, in the strange world of pencils).

In my pursuit of the perfect pencil pointer, I ended up gathering a number of specialty tools from Faber-Castell within their “Minfix” range — see here for an almost complete catalogue. Now, most of the Minfix I have present one or two holes, allowing for sharpening the standard 2.00mm (10H to 3B) and 3.15mm (4B to 6B) lead cores. When equipped with freshly honed blades, these objects work flawlessly, and deliver what I consider the best writing tips available in the realm of palm-and-fingers-held pointers (the only exception may be a pointer from Theo Alteneder I saw in the inventory of our Dan Linn, but that is an otherworldly beautiful piece with super-short blade whose effectiveness I cannot assess, unfortunately).

There is an exception, though: model number 50/64 (not commonly seen for sale) has indeed two holes, and one opens to accommodate a typical 2.00mm diameter (with an actual section diameter of 2.15mm), but the other one, on the opposite side, is smaller; a precise measurement sets the true diameter of the hole at 1.98mm, which is in my opinion the size expected to sharpen 1.80mm or even 1.50mm lead cores.

So, while it is true that, in the common parlance, smaller diameters do not enjoy dedicated pointing tools — save perhaps the rotary sharpeners or the sandpaper sticks, but those work with any diameter — it is also true that there has been a very, very niche exception, from a company known for its super-wide range of specialty solutions. :slight_smile:

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