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David Rees to retire from sharpening pencils

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Alan Gardner September 25, 2013 1 minute 0 comments

The above headline sounds like it comes from The Onion, but alas, the story is true and is being reported on Boing Boing. He’s sharpened nearly 2,000 pencils and is thinking of hang the business up.

From Mark Frauenfelder:

“The whole point of the business is to remind people to appreciate yellow, No. 2 pencils because they’re really cool and interesting,” he said. “And to make a ton of money.”

But at this point, work feels like work.

“You do anything long enough for money, it just starts to become a job,” he said.

David is the author of the book How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, & Civil Servants and sells hand-sharpened pencils for $35 off of his website.