My pencil sharpener is only a few months old and it seems the sharpener is dull

When I was in school it would always frustrate me that the tips of the pencil were always breaking in the sharpener. It took many tries of turning the pencil and turning the sharpener, different amounts of pressure and I finally found the secret.

Sharpening a pencil is a very easy thing to do. When you are using a hand sharpener, either a small plastic one with a cartridge to catch the shavings or the really small ones that don't catch the shaving, your put the utencile end of the pencil into the sharpener keeping it has straight as possible.

Applying a little pressure turn the pencil in the clockwise motion (you can turn either the pencil or the sharpener both will work). The shavings will begin to fall off and you keep turning until either you are satisfied with the sharpness of the tip or the shavings stop coming off. Make sure that you don't put more pressure on the pencil to make the shaving keep coming off because that will make the tip break and get stuck in the sharpener.

Pull the pencil out and clean the sharpener, it should be good to go. What I discovered was that if I had dropped a pencil a few times then the lead inside the pencil would be broken and this would cause the tip to break after sharpening. Treating your pencils nicely will keep them from breaking tips when you sharpen.