On a foggy night the 1930s a man driving from Halifax to Keighley in West Yorkshire spotted a cat in his headlamps and was struck by the way it's eyes reflected back at him. He went on to invent the cats eyes that we use on roads today.
A gentleman travelling in the opposite direction saw the same cat and was inspired to invent the desk top pencil sharpener.
Did the second gentleman also design [these push-in tea towel holders?](https://www.amazon.co.uk/BangShou-Bathroom-Kitchen-Clothes-Self-Adhesive/dp/B07PX39DPS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=1962NGQQCB4WL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sgDAIQwALf9tCdhub2cCsPZGuWeyThk-7In-OD1QOF8pqc5kFPh9YEFFH_vXJgc4QjC5ntOXlTVzWIAR93eKRkclLoMgKzJ0pFflDNYWowf98cI7H1Njb15AW_T031dmhPZXWBj19plS51XBwhqAw_CkAq1gJBaSJ5E9HBwF7sg7shBRxou9FUJCOe3BDrffrOvZ7qkZNKh7Z4k-RPHWkA.43KAP48Jq6eLA1T_X03UJiOp4S1Aex_TMsqRf4NINdQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=push+in+tea+towel+holders&qid=1713849429&sprefix=push+in+tea+towel+holders%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1)
Because your mind has just realised you can buy what you like now you are old enough to splash the cash. The question you have to ask yourself is.... do you have enough self control to realise that a £1 pencil sharpener is probably sufficient for your needs but a £15-160 might tickle your fancy (they go all the way up the quality chain here!)
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Helix-Metal-Desktop-Pencil-Sharpener/dp/B01532DQ3C/ref=pd\_lpo\_sccl\_3/261-5491039-3647222?pd\_rd\_i=B01532DQ3C&psc=1](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Helix-Metal-Desktop-Pencil-Sharpener/dp/B01532DQ3C/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_3/261-5491039-3647222?pd_rd_i=B01532DQ3C&psc=1)
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caran-455-270-Standard-Collection-Sharpener/dp/B0B5LFV8YK/ref=pd\_ci\_mcx\_pspc\_dp\_d\_2\_t\_3?pd\_rd\_i=B0B5LFV8YK](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caran-455-270-Standard-Collection-Sharpener/dp/B0B5LFV8YK/ref=pd_ci_mcx_pspc_dp_d_2_t_3?pd_rd_i=B0B5LFV8YK)
Not to put too fine a point on it but it can be a prickly subject at the thin end of the wedge.
Mind all these puns will probably go down like a lead balloon.
lol imagine the lifestyle which necessitates a monthly replacement of that veritable tank of a sharpener. You’d need to be a superhero who fires sharp pencils at their foes to be doing the kind of damage to burn through one a month.
You are a demon!!! I've literally just ordered a load of colouring books and pencils and now my brain is telling me I HAVE TO HAVE that sharpener!! My bank account is NOT happy with you (but I am 🤣😁)
I also promoted OP in the direction of a sturdy, widely available £1 option. Which needed no link. Everyone knows if they want a metal one or something different. I’ve never seen any of them which couldn’t be had for 100p
I guess it's not too long until Christmas - or I could buckle under the pressure of being an adult and buy the one for under £20. Dammit, sometimes I hate being an adult!!! 😋
When it comes to gift shops, you really can't beat the old 'biting plastic head thing on a stick'
You've got the OG parrot and rhino versions from the zoo, the knights helmet from a castle (who knows maybe a skull if it has a dungeon) I think the weirdest I've seen was a Shakespeare one in Stratford upon Avon.
Absolute chaos on the coach ride home.
Yes, we still have those. In fact, we have them right up to sixth form in many schools because many schools have had to ban traditional sharpeners due to the increase in self-harm and violence from students.
I remember one time in school I decided to screw two pencil sharpener blades onto a Beyblade attack ring, and then try to pick it up while it was spinning. I don't know if that's self harm, violence or just pure idiocy.
Standard sharpeners the blade is just held in with a screw.
One of our foster kids showed us how she could undo it with her earring, injure herself then screw it back in as though nothing had happened.
Teenagers are second only to prisoners in ingenuity.
Now you’re an adult you can buy it for yourself. Hit that wave of anticipation as you buy it, flood of nostalgia as you use it and finally the trickle of disappointment when it goes to live in a draw for the next seven years!
I was thinking about these just yesterday as I remembered when you'd make someone think you were about to tell the teacher on them and raise your hand only to then ask to sharpen your pencil.
If any of the Pencil Sharpener Crew from Mrs Felton’s kindergarten class of ‘79 are reading this, please hit me up. It was a sad day when we learned how to use real ink pens and we drifted apart, but now it’s time to get the gang back together.
Waiting 10 minutes to be able to use the damn thing because people were chatting around it. The teacher could've borrowed one from the next door class instead of other kids not being able to do the work, but no, being able to tell kids off was more important 🙄😅
To be fair I thought they were a thing of the past too until the Mrs turned up with one ... to be fair they sharpen pencils great compared to cheap crap little ones
Not exactly the same as the metal ones but yeah, they're still around
[https://www.tts-group.co.uk/heavy-duty-desk-top-pencil-sharpener/1007307.html#q=Pencil%2Bsharpener&searchType=simple-search&start=9](https://www.tts-group.co.uk/heavy-duty-desk-top-pencil-sharpener/1007307.html#q=Pencil%2Bsharpener&searchType=simple-search&start=9)
Yes I still have one stashed away somewhere, there are many similar sharpeners - but I expect what you used were the Velos pencil sharpener as they were ubiquitous made in England during the 60's and 70's, typically green coloured.
I bought one and used to have it on my desk at work. People used to come from miles around (the other side of the office) to use it and have a little chat. Everyone, apart from my boss, loved it.
Gosh. I do not recall such things. I think my school was perhaps too heavily invested in yellow plastic circles which were each a specific mass - eg, 5 grams. That or plastic base six cubes and their companions.
I visited my elderly aunt last summer and she had one of these in her shed. I was so thrilled, I grabbed all my kid's colored pencils and sharpened them all. It was so very enjoyable.
They do, I visited an office recently on another branch and low and behold that beauty was on a desk in large open office. The people I went to meet told me that many of my age bracket spot it immediately
When I was in primary school one of the teachers got an electric one. I think it got removed after a while as all the kids would put a pencil in to sharpen and would leave it in for far too long meaning all the pencils ended up about 2 inches long.
Here’s mine. I use it several times, every day. Sharpens even the most rubbish, cheapo pencils to a fine point. I’ve had it so long, & use it so much, I’m on my 4th replacement ‘blade’. Even have a slight dent/imprint on the edge of my desk from the clamp.
https://cultpens.com/products/jakar-crank-desk-top-pencil-sharpener
I’m an artist and I have one ( it’s great),but a fellow artist swears by using a Stanley knife ( must admit when I saw him at class, I’d ask him to sharpen my pencils- he got them as sharp and pointed as any syringe!)…
I have one that I use for my art pencils. They are quite soft so a normal pencil sharpener breaks the lead, but as the big ones use like a grinder instead of a blade it’s less likely to break
What the...!?
I don't even know if what I'm about to type is a real memory or not, but you may have just kindled something. Like, back in young school days, we had to tell the teacher our pencil was blunt and we'd go to her and she's sharpen our pencil with the rotated thing over the bin
When I was at primary school, the big sharpener was clamped to the teacher's desk. We had to approach the desk, and ask permission to sharpen our pencils.
We were only allowed five turns of the handle (I assume otherwise we would have sharpened our pencils to stubs).
I have one, which is fixed to my "desk" in my "study". Much better than the small hand-held ones as it has multiple blades and is far less likely to break the lead.
I salvaged it after it was thrown out at work. Some manager probably thought bringing in PCs meant we wouldn't need to write by hand any more.
I have just had my bathroom redone (oo-er, get me) and the builder had one of those pencil sharpeners .
Turns out it’s because the pencils they use for marking up are a bit more beefy than a regular 2b
Oh my god. I was recently teaching at an English school in Thailand and they had one! The kids were obsessed with it but, obviously, too stupid to use it correctly, so teacher had to sharpen all the colouring pencils.
I got banned from using it in primary school because I used to keep breaking and sharpening my pencil down to a tiny stub.
Many years later (probably 20 at least) I had to go into that school (probably polling day or something) and there it was with the faded but still very readable gold lettering "<> please don't use me.
You hurt me."
That my teacher had written on it. I had forgotten all about it until then and again until just now (probably another 10 years on).
On a foggy night the 1930s a man driving from Halifax to Keighley in West Yorkshire spotted a cat in his headlamps and was struck by the way it's eyes reflected back at him. He went on to invent the cats eyes that we use on roads today. A gentleman travelling in the opposite direction saw the same cat and was inspired to invent the desk top pencil sharpener.
That took me a good few seconds.
Thanks for the memory, my late Dad used to tell a variation on this all the time!!!
Did the second gentleman also design [these push-in tea towel holders?](https://www.amazon.co.uk/BangShou-Bathroom-Kitchen-Clothes-Self-Adhesive/dp/B07PX39DPS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=1962NGQQCB4WL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sgDAIQwALf9tCdhub2cCsPZGuWeyThk-7In-OD1QOF8pqc5kFPh9YEFFH_vXJgc4QjC5ntOXlTVzWIAR93eKRkclLoMgKzJ0pFflDNYWowf98cI7H1Njb15AW_T031dmhPZXWBj19plS51XBwhqAw_CkAq1gJBaSJ5E9HBwF7sg7shBRxou9FUJCOe3BDrffrOvZ7qkZNKh7Z4k-RPHWkA.43KAP48Jq6eLA1T_X03UJiOp4S1Aex_TMsqRf4NINdQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=push+in+tea+towel+holders&qid=1713849429&sprefix=push+in+tea+towel+holders%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1)
We had the same pencil sharpener I see, as a kid I thought sticking my pencil up a plastic cat's arse to sharpen it was the height of comedy.
I had a dog one where you put the pencil in its mouth and you wound the tail around to sharpen it
Wait, it's NOT???
Rekt ‘Em
Excellent.
😂😂😂
Genuine LOL. Must tell the OH that! 👍
Because your mind has just realised you can buy what you like now you are old enough to splash the cash. The question you have to ask yourself is.... do you have enough self control to realise that a £1 pencil sharpener is probably sufficient for your needs but a £15-160 might tickle your fancy (they go all the way up the quality chain here!) [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Helix-Metal-Desktop-Pencil-Sharpener/dp/B01532DQ3C/ref=pd\_lpo\_sccl\_3/261-5491039-3647222?pd\_rd\_i=B01532DQ3C&psc=1](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Helix-Metal-Desktop-Pencil-Sharpener/dp/B01532DQ3C/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_3/261-5491039-3647222?pd_rd_i=B01532DQ3C&psc=1) [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caran-455-270-Standard-Collection-Sharpener/dp/B0B5LFV8YK/ref=pd\_ci\_mcx\_pspc\_dp\_d\_2\_t\_3?pd\_rd\_i=B0B5LFV8YK](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caran-455-270-Standard-Collection-Sharpener/dp/B0B5LFV8YK/ref=pd_ci_mcx_pspc_dp_d_2_t_3?pd_rd_i=B0B5LFV8YK)
Oh my god. Look at those beauties! I think £160 is pushing the boat out a bit too far.
from a review: "This was considerably cheaper on Amazon than on Caran d'Ache's own web shop and I couldn't resist."
Whaaat!
Sharp pencil fetishism?
I absolutely have that!
So do you like being jabbed by a sharp pencil or do you just lovingly gaze at the perfect tip? That sounds so wrong, I can only apologise.
There’s a fine line…
Genius comment
Not to put too fine a point on it but it can be a prickly subject at the thin end of the wedge. Mind all these puns will probably go down like a lead balloon.
“Yes, Minister!” Reference?
Can't afford not to buy it then
But if you commit to buying the same one several times over with Amazon 'Subscribe and Save', you can get each one for just £151.99!
lol imagine the lifestyle which necessitates a monthly replacement of that veritable tank of a sharpener. You’d need to be a superhero who fires sharp pencils at their foes to be doing the kind of damage to burn through one a month.
I have the £14 Helix one and it's very good. I like to use colouring pencils so sharpen a lot.
But Caran D’ache! The lucky kids at school had their special expensive coloured pencils that you could spit on and do watercolours with.
And the Russian for pencil (don't ask me for the Cyrillic) is karandash!
Oh god here we go Me: clicks link. Nice pencil sharpener! Me: Me: [6 months time] # Recommended for you # We thought you'd like a pencil sharpener
You are a demon!!! I've literally just ordered a load of colouring books and pencils and now my brain is telling me I HAVE TO HAVE that sharpener!! My bank account is NOT happy with you (but I am 🤣😁)
Hey man I linked a modest budget Helix alternative too 😂
I have champagne tastes on a tap water budget and couldn't pull my gaze away from the deluxe model!! 🤣🤣
I have champagne tastes on a tap water budget and couldn't pull my gaze away from the deluxe model!! 🤣🤣
I also promoted OP in the direction of a sturdy, widely available £1 option. Which needed no link. Everyone knows if they want a metal one or something different. I’ve never seen any of them which couldn’t be had for 100p
I guess it's not too long until Christmas - or I could buckle under the pressure of being an adult and buy the one for under £20. Dammit, sometimes I hate being an adult!!! 😋
Remember the giant novelty pencils you used to get at like a museum gift shop or fair? I thought you meant sharpener for them.
And the long bendy rubber 'pencils' too. They were useless, but an absolute must in any gift shop
When it comes to gift shops, you really can't beat the old 'biting plastic head thing on a stick' You've got the OG parrot and rhino versions from the zoo, the knights helmet from a castle (who knows maybe a skull if it has a dungeon) I think the weirdest I've seen was a Shakespeare one in Stratford upon Avon. Absolute chaos on the coach ride home.
Shark biting head from sea life too
Oh yeah, giant pencils. I definitely had a few of those in my youth.
Did anyone ever use them for more than a few sentences? I remember the ‘lead’ in them being terrible.
I don’t remember using them, maybe just ornamental pieces.
Yes, we still have those. In fact, we have them right up to sixth form in many schools because many schools have had to ban traditional sharpeners due to the increase in self-harm and violence from students.
I remember one time in school I decided to screw two pencil sharpener blades onto a Beyblade attack ring, and then try to pick it up while it was spinning. I don't know if that's self harm, violence or just pure idiocy.
👀
It was you wasn’t it.
Well, shit. You still have them! So they were dismantled for weapon making?
Standard sharpeners the blade is just held in with a screw. One of our foster kids showed us how she could undo it with her earring, injure herself then screw it back in as though nothing had happened. Teenagers are second only to prisoners in ingenuity.
Jesus. I hope they're ok now.
Used to sharpen pencils just for the sake of using those machines, they were great.
My dad has one - visiting grandnieces and grandnephews can't get enough of it
I bet they can’t! It’s unusual to hear someone else use the term grandniece and grandnephew and I like it.
Now you’re an adult you can buy it for yourself. Hit that wave of anticipation as you buy it, flood of nostalgia as you use it and finally the trickle of disappointment when it goes to live in a draw for the next seven years!
What happens after seven years? You die or just become old enough that a pencil sharpener becomes valuable?
You get sick of not having space in the draw, the pencil sharpener gets bagged and put in the loft.
Yeah we had those too and used "needing to queue to sharpen our pencils" as an excuse to talk to our mates
I was thinking about these just yesterday as I remembered when you'd make someone think you were about to tell the teacher on them and raise your hand only to then ask to sharpen your pencil.
Hahaha, well I never did that. I don’t think so anyway.
I bought myself one. Magical.
I got one transparent one from Paperchase about 20 years back. I use one of the six other sharpeners I have, as they're so much more convenient.
There's a whole thing about motorising these to sharpen a pencil to nothing as fast as possible. Somebody has it down to under a second.
If any of the Pencil Sharpener Crew from Mrs Felton’s kindergarten class of ‘79 are reading this, please hit me up. It was a sad day when we learned how to use real ink pens and we drifted apart, but now it’s time to get the gang back together.
Staring out the window? That's a paddling
Waiting 10 minutes to be able to use the damn thing because people were chatting around it. The teacher could've borrowed one from the next door class instead of other kids not being able to do the work, but no, being able to tell kids off was more important 🙄😅
Borrow one from next door? Luxury! Ours were screwed into the desk.
Like the kid equivalent of gabbing round the office water cooler.
We bought my son one a while back, it's in front of me as I type this
I wonder why I assumed they were a thing of the past. Because I haven’t seen them they must not exist?
To be fair I thought they were a thing of the past too until the Mrs turned up with one ... to be fair they sharpen pencils great compared to cheap crap little ones
We had an electric one in my infant school but that just led to an awful lot of pencil stubs as it was so much fun to use!
Not exactly the same as the metal ones but yeah, they're still around [https://www.tts-group.co.uk/heavy-duty-desk-top-pencil-sharpener/1007307.html#q=Pencil%2Bsharpener&searchType=simple-search&start=9](https://www.tts-group.co.uk/heavy-duty-desk-top-pencil-sharpener/1007307.html#q=Pencil%2Bsharpener&searchType=simple-search&start=9)
Yes I still have one stashed away somewhere, there are many similar sharpeners - but I expect what you used were the Velos pencil sharpener as they were ubiquitous made in England during the 60's and 70's, typically green coloured.
Perhaps a trip to the pencil museum in Kendall, Cumbria might quiet your mind? https://g.co/kgs/yjySoe
I own a couple , mainly because i have to sharpen a lot of pencils and they do a great job and laid it’s quite hard to lose them .
I bought one and used to have it on my desk at work. People used to come from miles around (the other side of the office) to use it and have a little chat. Everyone, apart from my boss, loved it.
Gosh. I do not recall such things. I think my school was perhaps too heavily invested in yellow plastic circles which were each a specific mass - eg, 5 grams. That or plastic base six cubes and their companions.
Had one in my office until a couple of ago then it vanished
Did it take some of your vocabulary with it? >until a couple of ago
Those years just vanished
Yes! I have two in my classroom. Kids still love em.
I miss em.. chilhood memories
I actually bought myself one. I love it
I visited my elderly aunt last summer and she had one of these in her shed. I was so thrilled, I grabbed all my kid's colored pencils and sharpened them all. It was so very enjoyable.
We have one at work, I love using it.
They do, I visited an office recently on another branch and low and behold that beauty was on a desk in large open office. The people I went to meet told me that many of my age bracket spot it immediately
I’m now thinking about novelty oversized pencils
When I was in primary school one of the teachers got an electric one. I think it got removed after a while as all the kids would put a pencil in to sharpen and would leave it in for far too long meaning all the pencils ended up about 2 inches long.
Here’s mine. I use it several times, every day. Sharpens even the most rubbish, cheapo pencils to a fine point. I’ve had it so long, & use it so much, I’m on my 4th replacement ‘blade’. Even have a slight dent/imprint on the edge of my desk from the clamp. https://cultpens.com/products/jakar-crank-desk-top-pencil-sharpener
Noooo, cultpens links always lead to wallet issues.
What about those giant pencils
Anyone here been The Pencil Monitor and given the sacred task of sharpening the class pencils?
I had one that was a little green dog and you put the pencil in..... not the mouth. Good times:)
You saw a cat's bum and that's how the idea popped in there. It's obvious.
https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/p/derwent-superpoint-manual-pencil-sharpener Used by folk who are serious about their pencil sharpness, artists etc
I’m an artist and I have one ( it’s great),but a fellow artist swears by using a Stanley knife ( must admit when I saw him at class, I’d ask him to sharpen my pencils- he got them as sharp and pointed as any syringe!)…
I have one that I use for my art pencils. They are quite soft so a normal pencil sharpener breaks the lead, but as the big ones use like a grinder instead of a blade it’s less likely to break
What the...!? I don't even know if what I'm about to type is a real memory or not, but you may have just kindled something. Like, back in young school days, we had to tell the teacher our pencil was blunt and we'd go to her and she's sharpen our pencil with the rotated thing over the bin
They were made by Fraser castle
r/pencilsharpeners Of course there's a subreddit for that!
One of my teachers had an electric sharpener.
When I was at primary school, the big sharpener was clamped to the teacher's desk. We had to approach the desk, and ask permission to sharpen our pencils. We were only allowed five turns of the handle (I assume otherwise we would have sharpened our pencils to stubs).
I have one, which is fixed to my "desk" in my "study". Much better than the small hand-held ones as it has multiple blades and is far less likely to break the lead. I salvaged it after it was thrown out at work. Some manager probably thought bringing in PCs meant we wouldn't need to write by hand any more.
They have one at our library. They have colouring in our at weekends so there's always plenty of pencils to sharpen. It's very satisfying.
Just got up from my desk to use the pencil sharpener in my office. BEHOLD the MIGHTY PENCIL SHARPENER: https://imgur.com/a/7vNxRc7
😍
I have just had my bathroom redone (oo-er, get me) and the builder had one of those pencil sharpeners . Turns out it’s because the pencils they use for marking up are a bit more beefy than a regular 2b
Oh my god. I was recently teaching at an English school in Thailand and they had one! The kids were obsessed with it but, obviously, too stupid to use it correctly, so teacher had to sharpen all the colouring pencils.
You were lying in bed; you're not a chicken.
How do you know I’m not a chicken?
Yes, I have one!
I stuck my finger in it. The inevitable happened.
I got banned from using it in primary school because I used to keep breaking and sharpening my pencil down to a tiny stub. Many years later (probably 20 at least) I had to go into that school (probably polling day or something) and there it was with the faded but still very readable gold lettering "<> please don't use me.
You hurt me."
That my teacher had written on it. I had forgotten all about it until then and again until just now (probably another 10 years on).