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Thanks to our amazing friend Lenn (Pitchy) and his wonderful posts of incredible creations, I have become aware of things in my possession that qualify under the general, but rather loose, definition of what constitutes a collection. I've heard it said, or seen it written, that if you have three or more of a specific kind of item, then you have a collection. If that be true, then I truly have an astounding number of collections, and now that has been stated it seems that even more collections have appeared right out of the woodwork.
I have always said that I collect collections, but it is slowly dawning on me, just how true that seems to be, and how much trouble I in as a result!
Lenn created and obtained a number of interesting and varied types of Pencil Pointers and Sharpeners, and posted about them here:
https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/off-topic/pencil-pointers-and-sharpeners/
That got me to thinking about the different ones that I have, so I started digging around and found a fair few, but by no means all that I have, as shown here:
I do have another Boston hand crank of a noticeably different style than the one shown above at top center, but it's mounted on the side of a desk and not easily photographed. I also have several of the little razor blade type that you hold between finger and thumb and twist the pencil in to produce a shaving while sharpening, but oddly enough none of them came easily to hand when I went to make the photo. They are just like the one that is inside the caboose sharpener that is shown. The carpenters pencil sharpener is sort of an odd bird, but it does do the job and I do have a couple of others of the type, but in all honesty my pocket knife or a utility type box cutter usually gets the call to sharpen these large rectangular section pencils, and does a better job of it. There are also other sanding board types of pointers in amongst my drafting equipment collection (oh no ... yet another collection), mostly for wedge pointing leads held in compasses.
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an interesting collection of sharpeners Daniel, I love the quality in these older ones, they just don't make them like that anymore 😊
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I will point out that although nothing I have created along these lines, or most any others for that matter, even approaches Lenn's fantastic folk art work, I have in fact made a couple of different pencil or lead pointers in my day. On the low tech end of things, I have made some compass lead sanding boards, that are little more than a fine grained, multi-layered, small board mounted fingernail file. Didn't run across any of those while gathering items to photograph this morning, but they are just like the K&E example that is in the center foreground of the photo in my prior post.
On the other end of the tech spectrum, I did design and build, or rather helped to build, a monster machine in the form of a pencil pointer that points hundreds of gross of pencils per hour. Of course this is a machine built as a job of work for an employer a few years back so I most certainly don't own nor otherwise possess it. But it does run on a nearly continuous basis during normal working hours, and I can go visit it if I wish, though I tend not to as I don't wish to be conned into just fixing some little thing or other while I'm there.
Here then is the "Stewart" pencil pointer, named in honor of a coworker who past away during its construction:
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Interesting collection and I never realized there was a need for a mass pencil pointer machine - why do they need thousands of pencil sharpened?
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Interesting collection and I never realized there was a need for a mass pencil pointer machine - why do they need thousands of pencil sharpened?
Ask golf courses and lottery ticket sales counters, school districts and national parks, general businesses and stationary stores. We made plenty of pencils that were not pre-pointed, but the majority of the customers wanted them usable right out of the box! -
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I've always wondered and now it looks like there is the perfect person to ask......how do they get the 'lead' in the pencil?
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Basically the "leads" are glued into the precut grooves in slabs of cedar.
Here are a couple of videos that show it way better than I can tell it, though there are slight differences in process which is why I'm including both.
https://youtu.be/Zsnw98aTWOM
https://youtu.be/zZHp1fGdAWE -
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Enjoyed those videos Daniel, fascinating how the humble pencil is made.
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A very nice collection you´ve accumulated there Daniel.
That pencilpoint sharpener looks like an impressive beast...
Should you ever decide to take the chance of getting conned, and revisit the "Stewart" pencil pointer, please do shoot a short video of it working.
Thanks for sharing those pencilmaking vids as well, never actually speculated on how they were made.
...and that even if i am very well known (and at times laughed at), for always bringing one with me.
Through the years, doing so have saved me a lot of running around to fetch one, whenever the need for measurement marking, or general scribbling of thoughts and ideas comes up. -
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A store in New York City dedicated to the Pencil.
https://cwpencils.com/
Nice collection Daniel. Thanks for sharing.
Your post got me thinking about my non-steam collections. And this is the list I came up with:
Toy Soldiers
Vintage Cameras
Russian Lacquer Boxes
Player Piano Rolls
Teddy Roosevelt Ephemera
18th and 19th century Hand Colored Lithographs (mainly birds)
Nutcrackers
Pottery
Hand Made and Limited Production Knives
18th and early 19th Century Railroad Stock and Bond Certificates
Cufflinks
Sports Memorabilia
Vintage Oilers
Blow Torches/Lamps
Hand Carved Duck Decoys
19th Century American Clocks
Friends call our house “The Museum”. 🤠
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And i thought i was the only crazy collector, nice bunch of sharpeners Daniel.
They do make a sharpener for carpenter pencils that leaves the flat point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MldWXYRuiKA -
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Yep, but I still find my pocket knife or a utility knife like a box cutter to be quicker and better on these carpenter pencils, especially when only resharpening ... but maybe that's just me?!?!
Lenn, I want to be sure you understand that I started a new thread with this diverant topic so as not to sully your original threads featuring your wonderful craftsmanship and ingenuity. Your threads just made me think of things that I had along those same lines, but mine are mostly just commercial items that don't hold a candle to your delightful creations!!! -
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Wow Charlie, that's quite the list, and we do share a couple in common, but I'd have to guess that mine is at least four to five times longer. Of course yours is almost certainly quite a bit longer too, if you were to think on it longer. Like I'll bet you have collections of flies and lures at the very least!
I'd actually be afraid of trying to make a list of my different collections, but my office room where I display parts of many collections has achieved the sobriquet of "The Cluttertorium", if that gives you any clues.
Sure hope you have a player piano to make use of them rolls! -
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Hey buddy no problem, was happy to see your collections.
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That pencilpoint sharpener looks like an impressive beast...
Should you ever decide to take the chance of getting conned, and revisit the "Stewart" pencil pointer, please do shoot a short video of it working.
Jan, I have no need of going back in there anytime in the foreseeable future, and we both know of my seriously limited ability to put videos up on here, so I wonder if you might be placated to some extent by a couple of views while the "Stewart" was under construction?
If that may be the case, then I'll hope you can enjoy the following:
These photos were fairly late phase assembly and finishing. I likely have some earlier phase photos as well, and will post some of them up if I stumble across them. There were many other machines and mechanisms that I created, greatly modified, or otherwise worked on while there, so if there is any interest in such strange machines, I could post some of those photos as well. -
