STAEDTLER Mars Lead Pointer: Rotary Mechanical Pencil Lead Sharpener for 2mm ...

A very neat little gimzo that works great once you get the hang of it. Staedtler does not do a good job of putting instructions with their products -- perhaps this is because they make professional drafting gear and assume everyone already knows how to use their tools. However, it's easy to figure out. You release the lead into the little holes that match the angle of the tip you want (sharp for lines/writing, broad for drawing/shading), I assume these are traditional 23° and 30° tips. Then, you feed the pencil into the large hole, making sure the lead has threaded through the internal chute. Then you gently grip the pencil with two fingers and use it as a crank (like a ice cream maker or a kitchen mill) to engage the sharpening burr. Once you no longer feel the lead scraping the grinder, your lead is done. It is important to know that this is designed to fit the German Staedtler 780 and 788 Leadholders. Or, rather, it's a traditional design and as such they designed those pencils to be compatible -- these are designs from probably 50+ years ago, so it's hard to know which came first. That said, I imagine it is more-or-less compatible with most traditional slim leadholders. Regarding German/Japanese pencil compatibility: One of the things that has come up in the comments on this product as well as many of the Japanese Staedtler products is that this Staedtler 502 Lead Pointer is not compatible with anything wider than the 780 and that includes being "incompatible" with the popular Japanese 925 25-20 and 925 35-20... you will see that many people discuss how to sharpen those in the reviews. First, I will say, there are many stand-alone 2mm sharpeners. If you really want a standalone sharpener, the Staedtler "egg" or "oval"-shaped sharpener from Japan (513 85DS BK), which fits 2mm and 3mm leads However, I can tell you, as I literally just used this 502 sharpener to sharpen my 925 25-20. The simple solution is to make the lead flush with the sleeve, then click the pencil 16-20 times, and then thread the pencil into the grinder, and go for it. You will have to experiment on the angle, the longer the lead the sharper the tip. Start at 16 and work to 20 clicks. If it is too long you will likely snap your lead. I can confirm that this works with HB leads; different degrees may have different results. If you want to be 100% certain, then buy a cheap 780 and use it as a sharpening body, or buy the egg sharpener.

I've been using this sharpener for over 2 and a half years now and it is awesome! It works best work a clutch pencil rather than a click one because you use the 2 depth holes to bottom out the lead and then sharpen and you'll never get the right depth with a click pencil! I use 2H, 2B and 4B 2mm leads and it works very easy on the first 2 but the 4B needs a little finesse (light pressure) to not break the lead a lot! What i do is if the lead breaks i put it in the the wider depth hole and slowly lower the lead in the sharpener hole until it bottoms out, then back off the pressure until it's barely touching the sharpening blade then i start my circles to sharpen the lead but I'm putting more pressure on the outside of the circle (not strait down or toward the center) until it feels like it's not sharpening anymore and then i push a little harder and repeat that until it is sharp! This is nothing like the pencil sharpeners at grade school so don't approach it that way and you will get good results almost every time!

Sharpens my drawing pencils to fine points.

I have a small sharpener for my 2mm leaded pins but iit is. to small. This one is bigger and as I find so much better. No instructions on this thing what so ever. had to you tube how. to do it. . Nice thing is the sharpener stops sharpening lead when finished. You can feel it in the casing when the grinding stops. Should not brake the lead. has a white sponge for cleaning point with 2 pair of spare sponges. Has two self gauging holes which alter the length of the lead to be sharpened. One gives you a finer point and the other a shorter point. Take mechanical pencil insert in bigger hole and start turning the barrel. You will feel when your lead is sharpened as you will hear no more abrasion sounds. not all mechanical pencil barrels will fit in barrel \. There is nothing on the packaging to tell you what size barrel that is.

Works very well, wish I had bought sooner.

Excellent addition to my art supplies. It leaves my Staedtler leads extremely sharp and ready for adding fine details to my drawings

I needed a good sharpener and this is doing the trick.

Muy útil y cómodo

Works very well.

Muy bueno, cumple.

Esse apontador obviamente só funciona com a lapiseira da staedtler, mas faz rápido pontas cirurgicamente finas como nenhum outro que tive já fez. É incrível e não estraga/cega fácil até por como as lãminas funcionam.

This sharpener is the most expensive but probably the best one for 2mm leads. I postponed buying it in favor of smaller ones from another respectable brand, but they dulled quickly on my 4H leads. I haven't used this one for long but it seems it sharpens really well. You have the options to sharp really sharp for fine line or a bit duller for shading and you sharpen your lead with rotating your lead holder inserted in main hole. You sharpen it with clockwise rotation and after you're done you can clean your tip from graphite dust, by sicking it in little white round circle between tip selection holes. It can hold a large amount of graphite dust, just remember if you carry it in your pocket it will release the dust through sharpening hole, so keep it in patent bag or something.

This leaves the smoothest, cleanest point on my 2mm pencil leads.