Kum Masterpiece Pencil Sharpener Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

I'd heard legends of the Kum Masterpiece long before it landed in my mailbox. When it arrived, I was anxious to see if it would live up to its reputation--and the layers of packaging only served to heighten the anticipation. The handmade magnesium block sharpener sits inside a clear plastic box that slips into a neoprene sheath with a snap closure. Overkill? Maybe. Or maybe it's there to keep this precision device from sharpening the very air you breathe into stabby spears of oxygen death.

You see, this doesn't just sharpen pencils--it weaponizes them. It does this with a two-step process. Step one uses hole #1, the wider of the two. This blade strips the wood from around the graphite core. When the tip of your exposed lead touches the blue barrier at the end, you're ready for step #2. The second blade sharpens the exposed graphite to a needle point. It took a little practice to hold the pencil at just the right angle to engage the blade, but when you've got it lined up, you'll see a little pile of lead shavings appear.

Everyone has one of those pinprick pencil lead tattoos from where they accidentally stabbed themselves with a pencil, right? Well, you're about to get a few more. In fact, you might not want to give this sharpener to your kids, or junior's third-grade class might end up looking like the stone men from Game of Thrones.

I tried the sharpener on several brands of pencils of varying hardness. All the pencils I tried--from a very soft Blackwing, to a very hard pencil of indeterminate brand, to a Prismacolor Verithin colored pencil--sharpened beautifully. Each had a very small piece of the tip break off when I started to write, but the remaining tip was, in each case, still what I would consider an ultra-fine line. How long that fineness was maintained was more due to the lead hardness than anything, but the long narrow point that the Masterpiece creates definitely prolongs the writing session between sharpenings.

Things I will definitely use this for:
Sketching charts and diagrams for my knitting and crochet projects
Helping my son with his math homework
Sharpening all of my colored pencils into an arsenal of fine-tip fun

I'll also do my best to keep this powerful tool out of the hands of those who would use it for evil. Namely, the aforementioned third-grader.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on September 15, 2016 by Sarah Read and filed under Kum, Pencil Sharpener, Pencil Reviews.

Bung Box Blue Black Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

As I experiment with more blue-black inks, it's becoming more clear that "blue-black" can mean a number of things. It doesn't always mean that the ink is just a really dark blue. Sometimes, the ink also has some green, gray, or purple hints as well. Some are darker than others, some shade well, and the list goes on. Blue-blacks are not created equal, which has made the process of trying new ones pretty exciting.

Quite a while back, I picked up a bottle of Bung Box Blue-Black, but in the bustle of moving, settling, and catching up on work, it got buried in the ink box for quite a while. Imagine my surprise when I was organizing my inks a few weeks back and discovered this little unopened gem! After that, I inked it up immediately to give a whirl in everyday writing tasks. While I wasn't very impressed at first, this ink won me over after a few days.

The color of this particular blue-black is undeniably indigo. There are no traces of purple or gray in this ink, but you can see some green in the swatch in my photos. In normal writing, I can't see any green. It's dark, rich, and blue all the way. Depending on the individual character of the pen you're using, it may be lighter or darker, but even in my "dry" pens, it's fairly dark.

There is some shading seen in this ink, but I wouldn't call it dramatic. It's subdued and classy, with just enough shading to be noticed if you're looking. Of course, the wider the nib, the more chances of tapping into the shading potential of this ink.

One surprising characteristic of this ink that I didn't notice for a while is a slight red sheen. It only comes out in certain lighting, but it's definitely there. Again, it's a subtle sheen and you have to look for it while holding the paper at a particular angle.

The writing experience is top-notch. This is a well-behaved ink that writes smoothly and is gentle on pens. The dry time is a little slow (coming in around 20 - 25 seconds in the 1.1mm stub), but does dry quicker than the test in my pictures if you're using a smaller, dryer nib. Still, it's something to consider if fast dry time is important to you (as in, this isn't a better option).

The only downsides I can see are the price and availability. It's pricey (over $40 usually) and not well-stocked, but that's generally true of all Bung Box inks. Vanness Pens is a good place to purchase this ink, and they typically have it in stock in a 50ml bottle or a 4ml sample vial.

Overall, I've been really happy with this blue-black! It's a rich, dark shade of blue, and it has subtle shading characteristics that make it stand apart from other blue-blacks. This is a high-quality choice for blue-black fans to try out at some point.

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Posted on September 14, 2016 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Sailor, Bung Box, Ink Reviews.