The last few months I have been on a search for a pencil sharpener to sharpen colored pencils, watercolor pencils and charcoal pencils. I’ve tried electric sharpeners and other manual sharpeners. I’ve returned all of them. The Swordfish “Curve” finally solved the problem and it sharpens pencils of various diameters. It did take some time to finally figure out how to get the exact long-point that I wanted but now I can get the same result every time. It doesn’t break the points (unless the pencil itself has an issue). In the process of figuring out how to get good results I started by sharpening all the #2 yellow pencils that we had around the house. After I could see what was going to happen with the different settings I started on some of my less expensive colored pencils. The colored pencils seem to sharpen a little differently than a regular graphite pencil – I guess because they are so soft. I now use this sharpener on all my colored, pastel and charcoal pencils and get great results. On the occasion I can’t get the really sharp point on some of the softer pencils I just use a little piece of fine sandpaper to tune the tip (a minor inconvenience considering how good this sharpener performs).Actually I didn’t return ALL the sharpeners I bought. I did keep the Derwent Battery Operated Pencil Sharpener (about $12). It does a nice job on my colored pencils, it’s small and light, and I can take it with me when I’m not working at home. It doesn’t seem too sturdy but for $12 I’ll use it until it quits.