In my previous blog post I mentioned the Deli 0620 sharpener I bought when I was in Shanghai.
I you have followed my blog you might have noticed that I am very fond of Deli sharpeners. The Deli 0635 and the Deli 0668 are in fact my most often used sharpeners.
Why do I only mention these two models and no other Deli sharpeners? The problem with Deli sharpeners is that most seem to be aimed at children or pupils and look a bit too cartoony to put on your desk in the office – so when I came across a serious looking Deli sharpener, the 0620, I was quite excited.
The moment I saw this sharpener I thought of the Classroom Friendly Sharpener. I don’t have one myself, but having seen pictures of it in the past I thought this Deli 0620 looks very similar …but I had to wait until I was home to be able to compare the 0620 with photos of the Classroom Friendly Sharpener. More about this later.
Cheap and full of features
I paid 45元 (~ $7.25; €6.25; £4.75) in the stationery shop on Xiangde Road, mentioned previously. Unlike the 0635 and the 0668, the 0620 features a metal case and is quite a bit bigger. It has a very solid feel to it and comes with a desk clamp and a spring driven pencil holder that features auto stop (as expected). The 0620 seems to sharpen with the same angle as the 0635: it will produce a slightly concave point with an angle of ~ 17°.
Oh no, tooth marks!
This all sounds great, but I have a big problem with this sharpener: it leaves tooth marks on the pencil, because the grips that hold the pencil while sharpening are not rubber covered. I guess many people don’t mind. As far as I know some of the best sharpeners do leave tooth marks, like the expensive El Casco sharpener as well as the cheaper, but still very expensive Caran d’Ache sharpener.
The problem is: I do mind! There are some things others seem to mind, like bar codes on pencils, that I don’t mind. On the contrary, I often even like them …but tooth marks? Maybe one day I can accept them, but not at the moment, so I fear my 45元 were not very well invested. I could try ‘improving’ the tooth mark situation by putting Sugru on the grip mechanism, but the point produced by the Deli 0635 is so similar, I might as well use the 0635 instead of the 0620[1]If I had some Sugru I might try ‘improving’ the 0620. Maybe I buy a pack one day, once it’s open it needs to be used up soon anyway, which might be a good reason to use some of it … Continue reading.
If you can cope with the horror: click on the bite mark picture to see the mutilated pencil in higher resolution.
The Deli 0620 and the Classroom Friendly Sharpener
One interesting point, mentioned earlier, is the similarity of the 0620 to the Classroom Friendly Sharpener. According to the pictures I have seen I would say the two sharpeners are more or less identical. I guess there could be several reasons for that, the most likely probably being that
- The Classroom Friendly Sharpener is actually made by Deli
- Both are made by another company
- One is a copy of the other, or both are a copy of another.
I don’t think one of these sharpeners is a copy of the other one. My guess would be that the the original isn’t famous enough to warrant a copy being made. Also, if you look at copied stationery, e.g. a Lamy Safari and a Hero 359, the copy is often of much worse quality than the original. I can’t really judge how the quality of both sharpeners compares as I only know the 0620, but it seems to be pretty well made. The only problem I encountered was that I couldn’t remove the burr mechanism. This problem doesn’t seem uncommon for Deli. Once I had two batches of 0635 in front of me, and one batch was perfectly fine, but on the other batch I couldn’t remove the burr mechanism on any of the sharpeners [2]I don’t think they are glued on on purpose as I can’t see any sense in that. I wonder whether there are other reasons, e.g. some tolerance issues and some parts being a bit too big, or … Continue reading. I assume that if you use enough force you could get the burr mechanism out.
Conclusion
A great looking sharpener that disappoints because of the tooth marks it leaves. Otherwise great value for money, like other Deli sharpeners.
As mentioned by Gunther and Koralatov in the comments: there are other sharpeners that seem to be produced in the same factory: the Carl Angel-5, the Kw-trio 031VA and the Helix A5.
Assuming the sharpener is made by Deli, because the point produced is so similar to the one produced by the 0635 [3]What a shame that it’s so difficult to remove the burr mechanism for a comparison, the question is: Did the 0620 get this acute, concave angle because of Deli’s existing mechanism or was this model’s angle always like this, even before Deli made this sharpener, and Deli made its mechanism like this to fulfil Carl’s (or whoever ordered this sharpener first) requirements?
Price: December 2014
Exchange rates: January 2015
References
| ↑1 | If I had some Sugru I might try ‘improving’ the 0620. Maybe I buy a pack one day, once it’s open it needs to be used up soon anyway, which might be a good reason to use some of it on the 0620. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | I don’t think they are glued on on purpose as I can’t see any sense in that. I wonder whether there are other reasons, e.g. some tolerance issues and some parts being a bit too big, or whether the sharpener was assembled before the paint could dry properly, etc. |
| ↑3 | What a shame that it’s so difficult to remove the burr mechanism for a comparison |
Thank you for this review. These bite marks are indeed horrible! – There is another sharpener which looks very similar to both the CARL Angel-5 (also sold as “Classroom Friendly Sharpener”) and your Deli 0620, namely the Kw-trio 031VA (and the Kw-trio 030VA which doesn’t have the hole for the desk clamp).
I can’t stand tooth marks. I’d rather sharpen them by hand. I’m going to get the camera-shaped Deli 0668 once I get back to Korea!
Having spent a long time investigating the Classroom Friendly Sharpener in the comments thread at Pencil Revolution, I’m confident in saying that both it and the Dahle are rebadged versions of the Carl Angel 5. The Angel 5 was originally produced in Japan, but is now produced in China, and I suspect the current manufacturer is happy to produce them under anyone’s brand; there’s also a version branded the Helix A5.
Regardless of which version you get, it’s a fantastic sharpener as long as you can live with the toothmarks.
Yowzers, I absolutely love the long concave point, but those puncture wounds look like the work of a vampire or serpent! I wonder if those terrible teeth can be filed down.
Gunther, thanks for this information. I’ll include it in the blog post if you don’t mind. Do you use sharpeners that leave tooth marks? It would be such a dilemma if I had the El Casco sharpener – so beautiful, but as far as I know it leaves marks.
Sola, what’s your favourite way of sharpening pencils? Are Deli sharpeners easily available in Korea?
Koralatov, that was some great detective work hidden away in the comments of the Pencil Revolution past. Thanks. Assuming the sharpener is made by Deli, because the point produced is so similar to the one produced by the 0635, the question is: Did the angle get like this because of Deli’s mechanism, or was the angle always like this and Deli made its mechanism like this to fulfil Carl’s (or whoever ordered first) requirements?
Junius, the pojnt is so great. I think there might not be enough grip to stop the pencil from rotating of you file them out, that’s why I wonder whether covering them with rubber is better – or as a less permanent solution – wrapping some paper around the pencil.
Looks like cheap but good sharpener. I don’t mind about tooth marks 🙂
No problem at all – please include these details in your blog post.
I have only one sharpener which produces tooth marks, namely the Angel-5. It is currently in the basement room I use as a workshop but I have thought about inserting its mill into the body of the Angel-5 Royal. I can’t stand tooth marks! 😉
Rick, I wonder who likes them, seems like according to the unrepresentative sample of respondents to this blog post, tooth marks are really not popular.
Gunther, thanks! Hmm, I hope the mills are interchangeable, that would be nice.
Yes, they are interchangeable – at least the mill of the standard Angel-5 fits into the Premium and Royal models.
Andy @ Woodclinched wraps a post-it note around the pencil to aleviate some of the bite marks. I use this method with more expensive pencils after his advice. I just grab a used post-it note, and I get get at least a dozen sharpeningins before I need another note — the adhesive lasts a while.
…but why make a sharpener where this is necessary in the first place when they could just used rubber.
That’s a good question. I am pretty sure that the sharpeners I have with rubber (like the Delis you sent!) grip the pencil just as well as the ones that dig in. I had a fantasy of trying to coat the teeth with something, but I don’ t think I’d be able to get it back together. 🙂
I mean the rubber might get old in many, many years, but that’s IMHO still better than bite marks.
Could try to cut an eraser into the right shape and superglue it to the teeth 8^)
That might work! 🙂
Matthias, the TiTi T-Prime pencil is manufactured by Camel for a Korean brand and features the same ferruleless eraser as the new Craft Design Technology pencils. I haven’t had the chance to use the T-Prime myself but it seems that the pencil has had its fans in Korea for some time – it’s said to be affordable, soft and retains its tip (relatively) well. The new CDT is soft and dark too, so the two Camel pencils may be similar in feel.