Review of T’GAAL Kutsuwa STAD Angle Adjustable Pencil Sharpener

Basic Description

The T’GAAL Kutsuwa STAD Angle Adjustable Pencil Sharpener, T’GAAL sharpener for short, comes from Japan. It is a lightweight pencil sharpener with a built-in container for shavings. This sharpener has an adjustable dial with 5 different pencil point settings. It comes in 5 colors.

Pros

5 separate settings for sharpness of pencil point
Very sharp blade
Doesn’t require a lot of pressure to sharpen colored pencils
Comes in 5 colors: Pink, Light Blue, Green, Orange, Black
Relatively inexpensive
Fits most standard and artist quality pencils
Able to take different barrel shapes ie round, hexagonal and triangular barrels can be sharpened with ease
Almost no breakage of different pencils
Built in shavings container
Light and easy to transport

Cons

Can’t see through the built-in shavings container to know when the container needs to be emptied

Price Range

$$ – typically AUD $5.01 – $20.00 / US $3.76 – $15.00 / £2.61 – £10.00 / €3.31 – €13.25

Conclusion / Recommendations

This is a brilliant little sharpener. I had been using the cheapest basic metal hand sharpener I could buy from the local discount shop. I found the blades were getting dull very quickly and often the wood casings of the pencils would catch as I was sharpening my colored pencils. I had seen people in various coloring Facebook groups recommending the T’GAAL Sharpener as an excellent and cost effective sharpener. I was sceptical at first but when I went on line and found the cost was only about $7 Australian Dollars, I decided to buy one. Well, I’m glad I did! I now own three of these little beauties and they are excellent.

Since using this sharpener on all of my different colored pencil brands, regardless of barrel shape, I have had hardly any breakages. It carefully shaves away the pencil casing depending on the length of point I want. The sharper the point the more wood it shaves away. The only negative I have found, and it’s a small one, is that you can’t easily see into the container to know when it’s full and needs to be emptied. If Kutsawa made the removable lid in clear or even transparent tinted plastic, this sharpener would be perfection.