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Swordfish Icon pencil sharpener

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Keith Melling

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I have been using these for years to sharpen my pastel pencils. I have acquired three of them and regularly buy replacement blades. However recently the performance of all three with brand new blades has deteriorated. Normally I would buy more replacement blades. However the last three such blades I bought lasted only about two weeks each and kept breaking the pencils. So I am wondering if over time the mechanism of the Swordfish sharpener itself deteriorates after a few years and no new blades will last very long. It is a fairly flimsy looking thing after all. I know pastel pencils are very hard on sharapeners, and so I expect to have to replace blades regularly. But every couple of weeks seems excessive. I have had no problems with these sharpeners before and I am considering buying a new unit to see if that resolves my problem. If it works I'll throw the other three away. Comments from anyone who has experience of the Swordfish Icon would be much appreciated.

Edited
by Keith Melling

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Carol .

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Posted
I haven't used the Swordfish Icon. At the moment I'm using the Swordfish the triple. I've used this sharpener for a few years and it's still nice and sharp. I purchased a second as I was impressed with the point it produced on my graphite pencils and the Cretacolour Nero, a waxy waterproof pencil. For pastel and coloursoft I use Derwent's own pastel sharpener. I know this isn't the item you have asked experience of, but I hope it helps.

Keith Melling

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Thanks for your reply. I have also had a Derwent sharpener. It was very good, but when the blade wore out, I had to throw the whole thing away. There were no replacement blades for it.
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John Graham Inkson

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As I am using a lot of coloured pencils these days I invested in a M+T Möbius Ruppert. It has three settings of sharpening. It was expensive but I am very pleased with its performance. Got mine from Bromley’s art supplies.

Keith Melling

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Thanks for the tip. I'll look into it.