A pencil sharpener is a device for sharpening a pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Hand Crank Pencil Sharpeners either stand on their base, or can be attached to walls. This style of sharpener is very popular as a school pencil sharpener because typically, they have several holes meant for different size pencils. To operate a Manual Crank Pencil Sharpener, you simply turn the dial (if applicable) on the sharpener to fit the pencil, and then you manually turn the handle to sharpen your pencil. These manual sharpeners can be empties by just lifting the waste drawer.