Recommendation for the perfect pencils / pens and pencil sharpeners

[SunflowersVanGough]

I know boring thread.

Recommendation for pencils that are comfortable and don’t break and sharpen without you needing to have blisters.

I will preempt this by saying my children sling their bags around and around, repeatedly drops pencils and is not careful with them 🤣I love all my children so we are hard on pencils (and shoes). We all have hypermobility but dyspraxia also is present so it will get dropped over and over! (Combined with lack of care!)

These are the only pencils I’ve found my youngest can use properly (hyper mobility and hates writing) these seem to be ok so far
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07HFLM566?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

For me hyper mobility, adult and left handed these are the only thing I will use now and everyone in the house has at least one
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07Y5GVDTX?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

But I’m still on the hunt for the perfect pencil sharpeners - can you guess what I’ve been doing all morning??
I did have an electronic pencil sharpener one somewhere but we’ve moved so I need to hunt it out - my fingers though, I have a blister after trying to sharpen them all this morning.

Thrown about about 10 pencils from my child’s room in the bin as they just constantly break!

Still not found perfect pens though - I’ve just cleaned all my fountain pens but thinking of chucking them - they dry up and need maintenance (argh) but I do like a Parker fountain pen.

Any recommendations?

The only pencil sharpeners I find any good are the basic metal ones. If you are using those pencils with the dents, they are a bit fatter than normal pencils so you need the metal ones with one small hole and one large hole.

Our double one is made by Helix

That’s a good call. Thanks I will get one. Still need some nice pens though!

Pens, my kids use the Frixion pens as they can be rubbed out. I like Uniball Eye pens, lovely to write with

I like the old school red black and yellow striped Staedtler pencils best. Also have the matching Staedtler pencil sharpener.
From Amazon.

@minipie like these? Erasable is a good call too!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rollerball-Ballpoint-Handwriting-Colouring-Resistant/dp/B07WT396P6/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=212FW9IXW7EBB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2IDay-K3Y0P_fdOPe7uaR-bkZGDsdJQGDNaik4dRa37B_5yJ_Z186pAcHac-cRDGNxoSL819Rkoy5GHTnE6mr1ykBL8hv-DatZ7o3TTH90dM2nfF6sJnOBlqmukmpVfk5OauxwLhe2Rez-8iHExFI9c4VlmIAS6z0e8VSuherJBrTvefpmVHpsFhVk5-Mbti13xJowUYlKlGe3WkcENjX7wuVdLiC09HeuZqQC35iiCOJmZN9hSi307EZ1jghbHWMvGQf8cJ1-uIDJgydHYjJIKxHjDx7ovow5c8b0kmCg4.Pl-U0-o49OS7ZEnu-i9wz2PUSpzmeQhHtfF9TcXvPTg&dib_tag=se&keywords=uniball+pens&qid=1745314466&rdc=1&sprefix=uniball+pens%2Caps%2C246&sr=8-5

My favourite pencils are Staedtler Mars Lumograph HB pencils. My dad used them in his job and they were the ones he bought me to use at school. They're the ones I always go back to.

My pencil sharpener is a DUX brass one. I can buy new blades for it when it gets blunt.

Edited to add: I love my Parker fountain pen too.

My DH bought me this as an anniversary present. Best.Present.Ever. (But be prepared to faint at the price)

Weird - not sure what happened to the link…

www.amazon.co.uk/Caran-dAche-Metal-Pencil-Sharpening-Machine/dp/B0013F5R0Y/ref=asc_df_B0013F5R0Y?mcid=777a990ddf7d3e0aae53b50f72d58be4&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697349425595&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13632783027988112874&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198104&hvtargid=pla-305550003080&psc=1&gad_source=1

Yes those ones Sunflowers, I really like them, they feel fluid like a fountain pen (not slightly sticky like a biro) but thinner and neater

Arthistorian love it! Suspect my kids would use it so much we’d have no pencils left 😆

@Arthistorian Reminds me of when I was a TA in a junior school. Kids couldn't wait to get to sharpen their pencil with the electric sharpener. Most of them ended up with "stubbies" and from what I remember, the smaller the stubbie, the more more prized it was.

It is pure mindfulness sharpening pencils with it (but yes, you can go through pencils quite quickly… )

I second what @ICantBeDoingWithThat said.

Me too.