sharpener

KUM Correc-Combi

10 Comments / Erasers, KUM, Sharpeners / / , , , , , , ,

Today I want to show you KUM’s Correc-Combi, a sharpener in an eraser case, which I bought this April for €2.79 (~$3.65; £2.25) in Müller in Volkach, Germany.

KUM's Correc-Combi opened

The eraser

The blade of the sharpener is fixed to a plastic body which in turn is encase by (quite a large) eraser. I am sure it will take quite a long time to use this eraser up.

KUM's Correc-Combi and Staedtler's norica

The sharpener

The performance of the sharpener is quite good, certainly much better than the performance of KUM’s 400-1K. The sharpener produces thin shavings with an average thickness of 0.2 mm [1]I recently bought a calliper in Lidl, so I thought the thickness of the shavings would be a good thing to measure, especially since Lexikaliker mentions the thickness of shavings in his blog..

 

KUM's Correc-Combi and Staedtler's norica

I also saw a set square from Globus by KUM for 49c (~ 65¢; 40p) in the same shop and couldn’t resist buying it. You might remember the list of sharpening angles of the different sharpeners in the KUM 400-1K blog post. When I figured these angles out, two years ago, I didn’t have a set square – so this time figuring the angle out was much easier. With about 22° the sharpening angle of the KUM Correc-Combi is very similar to the sharpening angle of Möbius+Ruppert’s grenade.

Globus by KUM's set square

Conclusion

A very good sharpener/eraser combination. The lid fits well, despite being a ‘click in’ lid (no screw thread) . The performance of the eraser is similar to that of KUM’s Correc Stick. It could be better, but is by no means bad. The performance of the sharpener is quite good and overall this eraser/sharpener combo offers very good value for money.

KUM's Correc Stick, KUM's Correc-Combi and Staedtler's norica

 

Prices: April 2012
Exchange rates: May 2012

I would like to thank Hen Chung from RAH for the Staedtler norica 132 46 HB you can see on the photos. It’s the less purple version with blind stamped “SRP” [2]My more purple version is blind stamped “SRL”..

The Correc-Combi is part of KUM’s Blue Ocean series. You can read a review of KUM’s Blue Ocean pencil set at pencil talk. You can also read a review of Staedtler’s norica at pencil talk.

In a previous blog post I wrote about Faber-Castell’s sharpener-eraser pen.

References

References
↑1 I recently bought a calliper in Lidl, so I thought the thickness of the shavings would be a good thing to measure, especially since Lexikaliker mentions the thickness of shavings in his blog.
↑2 My more purple version is blind stamped “SRL”.

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Lidl & WHSmith

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Possibly of interest if you are living in the UK:

Lidl is currently selling a desktop pencil sharpener for £3.49 (~ $5.50; €4.30). I don’t know whether this sharpener has rubber grips or not.

WHSmith reduced the price for some of their edding products even further and many WHSmith stores sell edding’s push-button marker for 49p (~ 77¢; 59c)

 

Prices and exchange rates: February 2012

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Stabilo LeftRight

8 Comments / Mechanical pencils, Stabilo / / , , , , , , , ,

The biggest stationery shop I know on Shanghai’s FuZhou road is in the building labelled “Shanghai culture commercial building”. Unlike the small, independent stationery shops found nearby this shop is state-owned – at least I think it is. In this shop different brands have their own different counters and staff and even though prices are a bit higher than in some surrounding shops prices are still reasonable compared to what you pay in shopping malls or in hip and funky stores which tend to charge you a packet just because they are so cool…

Shanghai culture commercial building

The Stabilo LeftRight

One of the things I bought in the Shanghai culture commercial building, on New Year’s Eve, was Stabilo’s LeftRight. Officially referred to as a retractable pencil this is a leadholder for 2mm leads.

I paid  ¥18 (~ £1.80; $2.90; €2.20) for this set which includes the leadholder, a very nice eraser, a lead sharpener – very nice, too, and a container with four 2mm leads, supposedly 2H. I wouldn’t call these 2H. For me they are definitely softer than H B. As we know there is no standard to say what is HB, what is 2B, etc.,  but even in Asia, where leads with the same grade are generally much softer than in the West, most manufacturers wouldn’t label the leads that come with the LeftRight as 2H. Back to the set: all items that come as part of the set are blue and triangular. There is also a pink set available and as far as I know both, the right-handed and the left-handed version, are available in both colours. The items from the set do look quite nice. In my eye, the worst looking of these items is actually the leadholder, just because it looks a bit plasticy.

The problem

The left-handed and right-handed version of this leadholder come with a “ergonomic triangular thumb pointer grip for correct gripping”. Unfortunately there is a problem with this pen: because of the indentations there is only one comfortable position for holding this pencil. That’s intended. The (probably) unintended consequence is that the 2mm lead will always be used on the same side and will get too wide too soon which means that it will need sharpening too often – at least when you use the LeftRight for writing Western text. The situation might be different if you draw or if you write Asian character and hold the leadholder vertically like a brush. Rotating the pencil, to compensate for the one-sided use, is not really comfortable and rotating the leadholder mechanism in the pencil is only possible of you remove the triangular cap.

The Stabilo LeftRight on a Seagull notebook

 

Conclusion

The original idea for this leadholder might have been good, but the execution is less than exciting. I would not be surprised if a ballpoint pen user came up with the ergonic grip series idea – which I guess works well on the LeftRight ballpoint pen. It is really a shame because all the items that come with the Pencil set look quite good together. You really want to use this pencil, but it has such an off-putting property… I use it… …nevertheless …at least for now. All in all still not a bad buy as value for money is excellent, at least if you get it for a good price. The LeftRight seems to be for sale in very few countries [1]including China, Malaysia and Russia . I am not sure whether Stabilo wants to start selling it in more countries or whether they have realised that something is not right therefore and don’t introduce the leadholder in more markets.

Presharpened vs. sharpener-sharpened

 

Price: December 2011

Exchange rates: February 2012

You can find information about the LeftRight on Stabilo’s Malaysia page.

There’s also a commercial for the LeftRight.

 

References

References
↑1 including China, Malaysia and Russia

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KUM 400-1K

2 Comments / KUM, Sharpeners / / , , , , , ,

I found this KUM sharpener on a recent trip to Manchester. Unfortunately the model number is neither printed on the package nor on the sharpener, but it is probably 400-1K. Paperchase in the Trafford Centre sells these wedge-shaped magnesium-alloy sharpeners for £ 0.75 (~ € 0.82, $ 1.12). This does sound quite cheap for a sharpener that can potentially be used for a long time, but for just a few pence more  you can get the 400-1E from Cultpens, a similar magnesium sharpener that comes with two spare blades, while the 400-1K does not come with any spare blades.

KUM has a very good reputation. Like most German manufacturers in the pencil and sharpener industry they are from Franconia (more details can be found in the Eisen 402 article). Because of KUM’s reputation my expectations were quite high and I was soon disappointed when I realised that I got another sharpener from this company that does not perform as well as expected. Previous disappointments include the KUM Streamline Chrome Canister Sharpener 460S and the KUM Long Point 400-5L. My only good KUM experience with a sharpener so far is with the Kum Automatic Longpoint Sharpener, reviewed at pencil talk.

To sum my problems with the 400-1K up: it does not sharpen the pencils well. The sharpener will produce a long, continuous sliver of shavings, so the blade of the 400-1K is not blunt, but the graphite will end up with gouges or spirals. Good sharpener like the Möbius+Ruppert’s grenade, reviewed at Lexikaliker (Google translation), or the Eisen 402 do not have this problem.

The point produced by the KUM 400-1K is rather short and blunt. The sharpening angle is only about 24°. Normally you will only get a shorter point if you use a sharpener for coloured leads. The 400-1K‘s point is certainly shorter than the one produced by Möbius+Ruppert’s grenade.

Sharpener F-C Trio
(colour)		 KUM
400-1K		 M+R
grenade		 Eisen
402
Angle 

(approximately)

 29° 24° 22° 20°
Staedtler yellow pencil 134 point comparison (l-r): Faber-Castell Trio (colour sharpener), KUM 400-1K, M+R grenade, Eisen 402

Conclusion:

It is nice to have a sharpener that produces a shorter point, but I am not very enthusiastic about the KUM 400-1K. Maybe I got a “bad one”. It does perform similar to other average sharpeners, but you do not have to spend much more to get a good sharpener that will certainly outperform the 400-1K.

I would like to thank Kent for the Staedtler 134 yellow pencils used to compare the different sharpeners.

Prices and exchange rates: March 2010

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