Supplies you need: A Bunch of Flat Pencils to practice Pencil Sharpening. … Grab the pencil with the other. Don’t worry as much about precision and consistency with carpenter’s pencils. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. A bowl for shavings To begin, using your dominant hand, take the craft knife and rest the BLUNT of the blade against the thumb – you need to hold the knife … In fact, if you sharpen a carpenter’s pencil often enough using a utility knife, you can get pretty good at it, and create a decent marking lead with minimal waste and time. Make sure to use the knife away from your body. If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Once you hit the graphite core, you can begin shaping the lead to your desired shape. Gently peel the wood with the blade, such that you reveal a thinning cone of wood. If you’re going to learn, remember to be safe! At no extra cost to the customer, a portion of the sale goes to support the channel. What kind of knife? Take care and remember to dispose of blades responsibly. wikiHow's. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. A knife is the most versatile method of sharpening a pencil. Jake Bussell demonstrates how to sharpen a pencil with a knife. All you need to do is insert your pencil inside the hole, apply a little pressure on it and the sharpener will do the rest. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/56\/Sharpen-a-Pencil-With-a-Knife-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Sharpen-a-Pencil-With-a-Knife-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/5\/56\/Sharpen-a-Pencil-With-a-Knife-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid10766-v4-728px-Sharpen-a-Pencil-With-a-Knife-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"