Core77

The Only Way to Sharpen Pencils!

By Rain Noe - June 10, 2014

in Object Culture | Hand Tools

I occasionally see a septic collection truck in my neighborhood with a big motto painted on the side: "We're Number One at Picking Up Number Two." That's a pretty good one. Artist David Rees' motto is somewhat similar, as he terms himself "The number one #2 pencil sharpener in the world."

In this hilarious and spot-on video, Rees calls out the nonsense of faux hipster craftsmanship by revealing his Artisanal Pencil Sharpening trade (which clueless YouTube commenters apparently think is real!). What do old rap group T-shirts, a leather strop mined from your grandfather's tomb and the criticism of luthiers have to do with sharpening $40 pencils by hand? You'll see:

o

Favorite This
Q
1

Comment

Comments

Sam

10 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

But...his pencil sharpening business IS real, at least in the sense that he's sharpened over TWO THOUSAND pencils. The real question is if he's ironic or sincere, and also, who does his amazing hair?
!Report as spam