3/AUG/2010
Cumberland Pencil Museum Challenges People to Longest Pencil Shaving Contest
Think back to your elementary school days: that plastic lunchbox, those untied shoelaces, the rattle of your brand new pencils in your pencil case.
Ah, yes. Those pencils. How satisfying it was to hear that skrr skrr sound as you sharpened them to a perfect point! But as we progressed to the ballpoint pens of adulthood, the pleasure of forming a perfectly sharpened pencil has been largely cast by the wayside.
But forgotten no more. The Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick, England, invites you to relive that simple act by joining their longest pencil shaving contest. It began on July 27 and will end August 6.
The idea began when Museum Manager Alex Spencer was a mystery guest on UK DJ Chris Evans’ popular radio show as a part of the program’s ‘weird and wacky museums’ series.
“Half-way through the interview, we realized that we didn’t know the record for the longest pencil shaving,” Spencer recalled. “So I asked his listeners to respond to our Twitter about it.”
The longest pencil shaving clocks in at 12,222 feet and was made by Chicagoan Donald Kidlings in 1946.
While it seems unlikely that anyone will beat Kidlings’s record, which was made from a 9-foot long HB pencil, the winner of the contest will receive a tin of graphite pencils. Two runners-up get new battery-operated pencil sharpeners.
To show potential competitors how easy and quick it is to achieve a long shaving, Derwent Marketing Coordinator Rebecca Watson took to sharpening a pencil herself.
“It was really fun to do and in a funny way, quite satisfying!” Watson said. “After a while my hand started to hurt so I stopped. However, I would have finished the whole pencil had I carried on.”
Watson and Spencer both had a few tips for would-be pencil shaving contenders. “I used Derwent metal sharpeners
and applyed firm, continued pressure while turning the pencil,” Watson said “Also, resting the shavings on a table meant that there was less gravity to pull the shaving apart!”
According to Spencer, the most important thing is having a friend nearby. “You need someone who can massage your hands after you’re done because your thumb and finger are going to be quite sore!” she said. Since the contest takes place on Facebook and Twitter, it’s open to a global audience, not just those in England. “We’re hoping to get people in Australia, all over Europe, America, everyone shaving their pencils,” Spencer enthused. “That would be amazing.”
Intrigued? Try it out for yourself and send in your photos today on www.facebook.com/derwentpencils and www.twitter.com/derwentpencils.
Notes to editors
About ACCO Europe
ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE: ABD) is one of the largest suppliers of branded office product worldwide. Our products are marketed in over 100 countries. Its industry-leading brands include Wilson Jones®, Day-Timer®, Swingline®, Kensington®, Quartet®, GBC®, and in Europe Rexel®, NOBO®, and Derwent®, amongst others.