Do you use your electric pencil sharpener to sharpen colored pencils, pastel pencils, or watercolor pencils?  This can cause your sharpener to get gunked up with the wax or other binders in the pencils. The secret weapon? A plain old graphite pencil. 

For every 2 or 3 colored pencils, watercolor pencils, or pastel pencils you sharpen with your electric sharpener, sharpen a regular graphite pencil. The graphite will help remove the gunk and the oiliness of the graphite will keep the blades sharpening smoothly. 

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