A pencil sharpener that creates a never-ending pencil (2015)

https://www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/04/01/tsunago-sharpener-never-ending-pencil/

by wholeness • 5 years ago

173 63 5 years ago

Udik• 5 years ago

Cerium• 5 years ago

This is a pencil sharpener that creates a splice joint between two pencils allowing short pencils to be joined to create one of usable length.

perryizgr8• 5 years ago

Also you can keep sharpening and using the resulting pencil as usual without pausing even when you switch from the old pencil to the new.

kencausey• 5 years ago

It's on this page

http://www.njk-brand.co.jp/en/new/

Addendum:

Here it is on Amazon.co.jp

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Nakajim-Jukyudo-TSUNAGO-Tsunag...

banana_giraffe• 5 years ago

Watching the demonstration video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubwPm9UK4F8

Makes me think of people I've seen that make silly products.

Now, does the whole mottainai attitude require you do something about the wood glue you can't use out of the bottle?

k_sze• 5 years ago

Syringe

developer93• 5 years ago

Then you need a use for the syringe you can't use again because it's full of hard glue

tyingq2• 5 years ago

I know that song in the video is something from the 70s with a female singer, but I can't remember which song/singer.

Edit: Got it! Janis Ian - At Seventeen. https://youtu.be/ESS0eKJpEZQ

fatboy• 5 years ago

That is a quality song, thanks!

Your link wouldn't play in my country but this one did:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KCp-ymJpRP4

tunesmith• 5 years ago

The song is way better than this clip in the pencil video, that arrangement is awful. If you're going to play a V/ii, don't play the root note!

tyingq2• 5 years ago

That may be why it took me so long to remember what it was. It also sounds like it might have been played on some Japanese stringed instrument other than a guitar.

throwawaytemp27• 5 years ago

I’ve never ran a pencil down to a nub. You’ll lose it longer before that

schwartzworld• 5 years ago

True for like #2 pencils, but I have a whole case full of expensive artist grade pencils that I will not lose.

gmiller1234562• 5 years ago

When I draw, I like the lead to be extremely sharp. It's always bothered me that in reality I'm only using a hair thin cylinder of the center of the lead, and the rest gets turned to powder.

RotaryTelephone• 5 years ago

Not when you've paid $10/fancy pencil.

rgovostes• 5 years ago

In my experience, especially when you've paid $10/fancy pencil.

prennert• 5 years ago

Maybe that is because you start with pencils that are too long to start with?

This machine allows you to start off with shorter pencils that you can extend on demand. This way you are likely to loose less pencil whenever you loose one.

sidpatil• 5 years ago

I use a pencil extender to get more out of the stubs. I like the Staedtler 900 25 for this purpose.

Jorengarenar• 5 years ago

Just to note that a $2 extender will work as well.

amelius• 5 years ago

But you'll need a wider grip.

Wistar2• 5 years ago

I bought one of those Staedtler holders but none of my pencils fit. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

shard• 5 years ago

Yes. The pencil sharpener removes the last 2.5cm of the pencil lead anyway, so why not just use a pencil extender? This seems like an overengineered solution looking for a problem.

You're using a really classy extender, but one of those $0.10 plastic pencil caps would work as well.

alias_neo2• 5 years ago

What is the benefit of using a wooden pencil over a mechanical pencil? Does it also depend on whether you're doing engineering drawing vs art?

I am a (Software) Engineer so I've had no need to use a pencil/pen for many years now other than to write gift cards and sign things.

skytreader• 5 years ago

Software Engineer here who loves to draw/sketch. The biggest difference is stroke consistency and handling weight. So an ideal handling weight will let you exert more control over your strokes; your straights are cleaner, your curves are more fluid. Think of how some gaming mouses are weighted.

If you find the right mechanical pencil (i.e., not a cheap plastic one), it wins in both aspects. Plus a mechanical pencil never becomes too short that it does not rest stably on your grip.

But still, there is a certain charm to a drawing produced with the variable stroke widths of a wooden pencil. So I guess it depends what you're going for.

alanbernstein• 5 years ago

My mottainai demands an equivalent solution for mechanical pencil lead.

Wowfunhappy2• 5 years ago

I can't quite explain why, but I was really into this until I saw it required glue.

I don't like glue. It's messy, it takes time to dry, and it's not reusable. This pencil sharpener is still a neat party trick, but the glue downgrades it from something I'd actually want to buy.

Wistar2• 5 years ago

It'd be really cool if the sharpener tapped and threaded the stubs.

4gotunameagain• 5 years ago

I am unsure if you can create a thread with such a small depth on pencil wood, but I don't understand why it couldn't be press fit?

Just make the hole a bit smaller so the tip fits snugly inside. Maybe it wouldn't work on cheaper pencils due to cracking?

Cthulhu_• 5 years ago

Given that it's wood, you could probably shape it into a wedge and clamp it in.

soperj• 5 years ago

I was the same. Too bad it doesn't do notches that fit together.

makeitdouble2• 5 years ago

Japanese maker have a weird love for wood glue. For instance flat pack furnitures come with glue for extra strength, where Ikea just sizes the bits tight enough to not need any.

To play the devil's advocate, their wood glue doesn't smell and is pretty easy to use. It's less messy to me than regular scotch paper glue for instance.

_carbyau_• 5 years ago

I look at the Ikea furniture I buy and apply wood glue as and where I can.

Some bits are really not ever meant to come apart ever again.

beermonster• 5 years ago

I thought the same thing. If only there was a novel way the two could connect. I was expecting it to say something like ‘then twist the two pencils together until they click’ but nope. Glue. :(

NiceWayToDoIT5• 5 years ago

I think wood glue is most harmless type [1], and you do not need as much as it shown in video for the presentation purposes.

On the other hand, maybe friendly (non-glue) version would be with the contra-screw or clicking mechanism at the end. But it would be very hard to maintain lock while you cut the pencil/s pass the joint.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_glue "It is chemically similar to edible gelatin and is non-toxic if ingested."

But on the other hand you have different types: https://impressionsofaholobiont.com/2018/09/03/non-toxic-wat...

dmos62• 5 years ago

Wood glue is fine. Even cutting boards use it. It's cheap too. And you can use it on your wooden chair when the joints weaken.

supermatt2• 5 years ago

pencils are made with glue. Thats how they get the "lead" inside them. I appreciate if you dont want to handle it (but you wouldnt need anywhere near as much as is demonstrated, a couple of drops inside would do fine), but from a "reusable" perspective, its still better than throwing away a pencil stub (if you keep the glue well sealed!)

Wowfunhappy2• 5 years ago

Ah, by "not reusable," I wasn't referring to environmental concerns. Rather, it's a "consumable" substance that will eventually get used up, and I'll have to remember to buy more! So are the pencils of course, but the glue adds another thing.

IntrepidWorm• 5 years ago

This is just the sort of product to invoke the ire of "big pencil." Mark my words, and watch as the insidious cabal of global pencil subsidiaries (Ticonderoga, Staedtler, Mitsubishi, and others) slowly smothers this product in its crib.

bingidingi• 5 years ago

The pencil extender industry hates this one weird trick

ARandomerDude2• 5 years ago

A pack of 48 pencils is $1.88 at Walmart. While I certainly congratulate the engineers on their creativity, as a product this seems like a solution in search of a problem.

muzani2• 5 years ago

It's in the spirit of not wasting.

ARandomerDude2• 5 years ago

I get that, but is it even accomplishing that job, once you factor in petroleum for the plastics, the glue, the packaging, etc.? Is all that money, effort, and environmental impact worth it to salvage the last inch of a used pencil? I doubt it.

markvdb• 5 years ago

A pencil is even 0€ at Ikea, but that doesn't make this less neat.

nisse72• 5 years ago

Last I checked, Ikea pencils are those stupidly short ones. Now you can take two or three and use this tool to make a full size one!

Tijdreiziger• 5 years ago

So the point is to solve wasting pencil ends (mostly made out of wood), by introducing... a device made out of plastic, and glue (which also comes in a plastic bottle)?

grkvlt• 5 years ago

this introduced me to the awesome 凹 and 凸 kanji characters in japanese/chinese, meaning concave and convex respectively; plus 𠱂 which apparently means 'to rebuke/retort' i.e. a 'sharp' response (lol?) - see https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%B9 and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%B8

mro_name2• 5 years ago

lego letters :-)

NiceWayToDoIT5• 5 years ago

This is an idea so simple that just stumps me in awe. For entire life I was looking pencils being thrown as they are short to write with. Simple amazing.

I like ideas as such, where someone rediscovers long standing problem everyone forgot or they are not noticing anymore as a problem, and then they make potentially very successful product.

mro_name2• 5 years ago

it requires sharp, precise, durable, affordable blades. They are available now not since decades.

Stunned me 2 decades ago with click/woodloc parquet.

NiceWayToDoIT5• 5 years ago

I beg to differ:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_steel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_swordsmithing

And: The PVA adhesive was invented in the early 1950s (Elmer's glue). Since then it has been improved and now we have the yellow glues (Carpenter's Glue, Titebond, etc.) and even now the cross-linking PVAs (Titebond II).

so 7 decades...

While the modern pencil was invented in 1795 by Nicholas-Jacques Conte.

nemo1618• 5 years ago

And here I was hoping that this sharpener created a fractal point :(

kleiba• 5 years ago

Next iteration: cut a thread in both pencils so they can be screwed together.

A pencil sharpener that creates a never-ending pencil (2015)

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