Pencils and Knives
Suddenly, my eyes caught a pencil rolling on the desk. I had taken it out from the mug pen holder, where it had been left unused.
I have been using a mechanical pencil for quite a long time now. Before I knew it, I had stopped picking up wooden pencils.
I remember that when I was in elementary school, mechanical pencils were still a bit special, and I felt a sense of envy whenever someone had one.
By the time I reached junior high, inexpensive ones started appearing in stationery stores. Thin-bodied ones that looked like pencils, which you could buy for about 100 yen. 0.5mm was the standard, but some kids used 0.7mm.
This is just based on my memory, but I believe that was the era.
Even so, what was in my daily life was still the pencil. The act of sharpening was there. By the time I was old enough to understand things, we already had pencil sharpeners at home. Both manual and electric ones.
However, apart from those, there was also the method of sharpening with a knife.
I couldn't do it well.
I remember doing it during art class. I think it was a utility knife, but regardless, the act of sharpening with a blade itself was difficult.
The blade wouldn't go in as I wanted it to.
The shape wouldn't be uniform.
The lead would break.
But there were people who could do it well.
Whether it was a round pencil or a hexagonal one,
they would insert the blade without hesitation and create a beautiful surface.
My father was good at it.
The sharpened tip wasn't just pointed. Even as a child, I could tell that the writing quality was better.
As a finishing touch, he would shave the top part flat and write my name on it in small letters.
When it got short, I would put a cap on it and use it again. I don't think that was just about how to handle a tool. Even though it was the same pencil, the finish was completely different.
I still don't feel like I can replicate that way of sharpening.
The act of sharpening was replaced by machines before I knew it. It's safe, fast, and finishes cleanly. There's no problem with that.
However, for some reason, the act of sharpening a pencil beautifully with a knife has been left behind.
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