Pencil sharpener of 6 cuts and takes practice to master without breaking the lead. Specialized sharpeners are available that operate on non-standard sizes of pencil, such as crayons used in primary schools. Sharpeners that have two openings, one for normal pencils and one for larger crayons, are fairly common. An artist's or draftsman's pencil sharpener leaves the graphite untouched and sharpens only the wood (some models can switch from standard to wood-only by an adjustment). The graphite lead is then honed to a sharp point with a lead pointer, which sharpens only the lead without wood. Lead pointers are also used with
Lead Lead Lead is a chemical element with symbol Pb (from the Latin "plumbum") and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, lead is silvery with a hint of blue; it tarnishes to a dull gray color when exposed to air. Lead has the highest atomic number of any stable element and three of its isotopes each conclude a major decay chain of heavier elements. Lead is a relatively unreactive post-transition metal. Its weak metallic character is