Discussions

I have Crayola pencil crayons you need to sharpen them a lot what is the best sharpener to use ?

Any pencil sharpener would do. If you're tired of manually sharpening your crayons you can always use an electric pencil sharpener.

Genevieve said "Any pencil sharpener would do. If you're tired of manually sharpening your crayons you can always use an electric pencil sharpener. "

the sharpeners I have tried break the crayon I guess the blade gets to dull quickly so what would be a better brand to get ?

What brands have you currently used?

dollar store ones

Not sure if it helps or not but if you can afford to spend a little more money, I recommend going to Michael's Arts and Craft store and picking up a decent set of pencil crayons. I find it doesn't matter what I use to sharpen crayola pencil crayons, they always break super easy.

Check out the Michaels Store: invest in a good sharpener and/or a good set of pencil crayons.

I have little metal pc sharpeners from dollarama and I find that they work well alot better than other ones. i think that then come in a pack of 5.

I wouldn't waste my money on crayola pencil crayons. I find that the lead always breaks. I used to be a huge fan of Laurentian pencil crayons. I read somewhere that they were bought out by the stedler brand. It just so happens that the staples brand pencil crayons are stedler and are around $5. I have them. Amazing quality and the lead doesn't break like crayolas.

I spend half my life sharpening Crayola pencil crayons, we have not cycled through all of them in my classroom yet and they are constantly breaking. For the past two years we've been ordering the Staedtler pencil crayons instead. They are similar in price but much easier to sharpen without breaking. I tell parents to avoid the Crayola pencil crayons when they are buying school supplies. They seem to be the go-to brand for markers and crayons but they make terrible pencil crayons.  
 
I love my electric pencil sharpener but it just chews up cheap the cheaper pencils and pencil crayons. I find it is easier to use a hand sharpener, especially for coloring when you really want a sharp point.  
 
You can get a Staedtler cylinder-shaped metal pencil sharpener at Staples for about $4. Those work quite well and don't come apart as easily as the cheaper ones. There is another Staedtler sharpener that works even better but it is a little more expensive, made for people who do pencil sketching.

It's probably not that your sharpener is breaking the pencils but the lead is already broken inside. I'm a teacher too and this is a problem with most cheaper pencils and pencil crayons. I second the advice to try a different brand.

april said "I wouldn't waste my money on crayola pencil crayons. I find that the lead always breaks. I used to be a huge fan of Laurentian pencil crayons. I read somewhere that they were bought out by the stedler brand. It just so happens that the staples brand pencil crayons are stedler and are around $5. I have them. Amazing quality and the lead doesn't break like crayolas. "

Laurentien was bought out by Sanford and they discontinued them. So no the "Stedler" brand at Staples are not the same as the Laurentien brand.  
But the Staedtler brand are better than Crayola, in my opinion.  
 
Edited by Cheezies, 2017-01-24 22:57:42