Bostitch Replacement Cutter for Quietsharp™ Electric Pencil Sharpener

It was such a great addition to my classroom! All i am doing is buying the replacement blade in case I need it for this year. I highly recommend.

I loved this sharpener when I first got it. It lasted about a 6 months in a second grade classroom before it started sharpening pencils only on one side. I got the replacement blade for the next year. EASY to replace. I've even tried cleaning the blade. The second blade lasted about 6 months also, but the motor must be wearing out because it strains to sharpen the pencils and keeps stopping-I need to keep putting the pencil back in-sometimes 5-6 times before the tip is sharpened-if it gets sharp. I like that it stops sharpening automatically so the students can't over sharpen their pencils. However, that does not work anymore. It gets stuck "on" with the blue light glowing. It might be from the dulling blades, or the fact it only sharpens the graphite on one side and leaves wood on the other side of the point. Also, it breaks off a lot of points and I have trouble resharpen the pencils. The tips keep breaking. To be fair, the points do this in my other cheaper pencil sharpener also. I figure it must be the wraps on the "fancy" pencils that dull the blades. I don't know how long blades should last before needing replacing. The pencil shavings container is quite large, but it actually has a lot of wasted space. The container is at a down angle so the shavings fill up in the back and want to clog the sharpening process. If you don't keep an eye on it, the back of the drawer gets full. This has to be hard on the motor. I gave this a 3 because I am willing to change the blades, but I think they should last at least a school year and the motor should last longer than 18 months (including summer vacation) when it costs this much. I think I'd rather buy a bunch of cheaper sharpeners and know they will last one year rather than pay a lot for a sharpener, be willing to buy replacement blades, but have the motor wear out in less than 2 years. This took more than 1/2 my budget for the school year-it was a splurge that I thought would last a lot longer. It would be too much for a regular home sharpener unless you have a home daycare or sharpen tons of pencils.