AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Pencil Sharpener
AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Pencil Sharpener
10% Off Discount Code
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10% Off Discount Code -
For the longest time I have wanted to test and review an electric sharpener and not only have I wanted to do this, but many of you guys have also requested it. They can be a bit on the costly side and so I always put off buying one, over a set of pencils to review or watercolors etc.
Fortunately, the other week AFMAT reached out to me, telling me that they had watched my YouTube videos and scanned The Art Gear Guide website, which if any content creator tells you its not a wonderful feeling getting such praise from subscribers and companies alike, then there is something wrong with them. I immediately wrote back to them, explaining what I mentioned above and within a week or so, the AFMAT Fully automatic pencil sharpener had arrived.
The next thing I had to do was work out the most comprehensive and detailed method of demonstrating and reviewing a sharpener. When I talk to my wife about sharpeners or erasers, she looks at me like I have half a dozen heads and all of them are talking about erasers and sharpeners. However, for us colored pencil artists, graphite artists etc, we invest a lot of money into our pencils and using a sharpener that is not going to chew them up is so important.
One of the most important factors I am asked to test, actually, not thee most important but certainly up there at the top, is whether or not the sharpener can sharpen pencils such as the Derwent Drawing or Derwent Lightfast etc, pencils that sport a slightly thicker barrel. However in this review I have gone to both ends of the extreme and everything in between, showcasing a number of pencils being sharpened.
AFMAT Automatic Electric Sharpener Functions.
The first thing to note about the AFMAT is the automatic feature, this means that you simply place the pencil into the opening and the sharpener will automatically feed the pencil in through the blades and once the pencil is sharpened, it ejects the pencil back out. All you have to do is place the pencil in and remove it when sharpened.
When I have reviewed pencils and sharpeners in the past, I have always tried to consider how an artist with arthritis in their hands or wrists might cope, obviously not suffering from such issues myself, it is nevertheless difficult to determine, but I always try. Finally with the AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Sharpener, artists experiencing such issues no need longer worry or suffer.
In this particular range of fully automatic sharpeners from AFMAT, there are different colors available. In the US there are five colors, Black, Green, Blue, Grey and the Pink sharpener I am rocking. For artists in the UK we only have three colors, Black, Green and Pink. On removing the sharpener from the packaging you will also discover a USBc charging cable, this is how the 2000mAh rechargeable battery for the sharpener is charged. The actual slot for the USBc cable is to the rear of the AFMAT sharpener, it is quite small given it is the new USBc
It is important to note, that when the AFMAT sharpener has the USBc cable connected and is charging, you are unable to actually use the sharpener, this is perhaps more to do with safety than anything else. Whilst charging, you will see a small light in the centre of the sharpener flash and it remains flashing until the sharpener is fully charged. You can then unplug the charger and move the AFMAT Sharpener anywhere you want, making mobility very easy.
Next is the barrel sizes that the sharpener takes and the range is pretty impressive; from 7mm all the way up to 11mm. To put that into perspective, the Derwent Drawing pencil, one of the thicker barrel colored pencils is approximately 8mm. Nothing is mentioned on the packaging regarding barrel shapes, and what I mean by this is, sometime triangular barrels can be troublesome, so in this review and demonstration, I will be testing round barrels, hexagonal barrels and triangular barrels.
AFMAT make it very clear on the packaging that the AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Sharpener is not for use with pastel pencils or charcoal pencils, basically chalky type cores. Knowing this, I will still be testing this for purely demonstration purposes, however it is very important to note, that if the test is successful and you purchase the AFMAT Electric Sharpener for yourself, should you chose to use it for pastel or charcoal pencils and something goes wrong, AFMAT will not be able to help. This is simply based on the explicit instructions not to use the sharpener for such reasons, but I am prepared and willing to damage the sharpener just to demonstrate its abilities, fingers crossed this will not be the case.
The AFMAT fully automatic sharpener looks incredibly like a little robot, in fact this is the look AFMAT have gone for. Past models of the sharpener have come with eyes on them but this version of the sharpener I think is for the more professional artist as no such features are present. The sharpener is 3.6 inch’s in diameter and approximately 7.3 inch’s in height, not talking up very much desk space at all.
The AFMAT Electric Sharpener has three different sharpness settings on the front of the device, clearly marked at the very bottom of the sharpener there is a dial. The dial is marked, I, II, III and to select either setting simply turn the dial in the required direction. On either side of the dial, there are icons depicting a very sharp pencil core and a dull pencil core.
Level I on the dial is the option that provides the sharpest point, Level II provides a similar type point, however, rather than the core tapering into a point, the very end of the core appears to be squared off. Level III provides a much smaller core and quite visibly squared off, this is perfect for burnishing layers, rather than trying to burnish with a sharp core, which will only result in the core breaking once pressure is applied, level III provides the perfect core without wasting any core to breakage.
Another excellent feature of the AFMAT Electric Sharpener is the auto dislodge for broken cores. With hand crank sharpeners or electric sharpeners, if the core breaks off whilst sharpening, you need to open the sharpener and try to manually remove the broken core, otherwise no other pencils can be sharpened. AFMAT have put this claim on the packaging and as luck would have it, during my demonstration on my YouTube review, that very thing happened, so check out my YouTube video review to see if this feature works or if it fails.
Finally, when you need to empty the sharpener, the only thing the AFMAT Fully Automatic Sharpener doesn’t do for you, is to twist the head or top of the sharpener. After a slight twist of the top you then simply remove it and you have gained access to the inside, simply tip it upside down and empty the shavings into a bin. Incidentally, on the base of the AFMAT Sharpener, there are rubber padded feet to prevent the sharpener from slipping and sliding on your desk whilst in use.
10% Discount Code On AFMAT Electric Sharpener
AFMAT have very kindly given The Art Gear Guide subscribers and followers 10% off their purchase for the AFMAT Fully Automatic Sharpener. Artists in the US and UK have different codes so please make sure you use the one for you.
From the 12th of July 2025 the code will remain active for 2 months, the 12th of September 2025
For Artists in the US simply select the link and from there add the discount code ARTGEARGUIDE
For artists in the UK simply select the link and from there in the discount code MYJL6LAD
AFMAT Fully Automatic Pencil Sharpener Pricing
In the US, all 5 colors are available and to purchase the AFMAT fully automatic pencil sharpener will cost you $29.00
For artists in the UK, only the Black, Pink and Green colors are available and the AFMAT fully automatic pencil sharpener will cost you, £26.00.
AFMAT Pencil Sharpening Demonstrations
With regards to the AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Sharpener, the remaining information is probably best viewed by watching The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel, however, I have provided images of each pencil sharpened by the AFMAT along with just the results and pencil dimensions.
The first pencil to sharpen was the Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencil, given the amount issues surrounding this pencil and sharpening, I thought that would be a good place to start, if the AFMAT was going to experience issues, I thought it would be here. The Prismacolor Premier sports a 7mm round barrel and a 3.9mm Core.
Next up was the Derwent Drawing Pencil, I wanted to showcase this pencil as this is one of the pencils I am most asked about in terms of it fitting sharpeners and the ability to successfully create a sharp point. The Derwent Drawing pencil sports an 8mm round barrel and a 4.8mm core.
The Lyra Polycolor was up next, this is quite a slim pencil and when you actually see its dimensions next to the Prismacolor, I don’t think many people understand how slim it is. The Lyra Polycolor sports a slimline 7.1mm round barrel and a 3.4mm core.
The Caran d’Ache Luminance was next, sporting a round 7.7mm barrel and a 3.8mm, the luminance is actually quite a chunky pencil, but as with all Caran d’Ache products, the Luminance was made with quality wood for the barrel.
Next up was the largest barrel in my collection and the one I was expecting the most problems from. This was the Koh-I-Noor Aquarelle Magic, a triangular barrel, an 8.6mm girth with a 5.2mm, check out the result and see what you think.
The Derwent Lightfast was the next pencil, similar to the Luminance, an expensive pencil and a good sharpener essential. Sporting a round 7.7mm and a 3.6mm core.
Next up was the Prismacolor Verithin, another pencil I was looking forward to test, dropping below the 7mm barrel on the literature, the Prismacolor Verithin sports a hexagonal barrel, 6.4mm thin, the thinest barrel in the selection and a 2.3mm core.
Another hexagonal barrel in the Caran d’Ache Pablo, sporting a 6.6mm barrel and a 3.8mm core, quite a brittle core at times.
The Derwent Inktense up next and this too is a hefty barrelled pencils, sporting a round 7.5mm barrel and a 3.7mm core. This is a water-soluble pencil and so the cores can sometimes be a little dry.
The popular Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencil up next sporting a round 7.5mm and a 3.6mm core. All pencil artists use this pencil it would seem and so a good sharpener is an important find.
The Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencil sports a hexagonal barrel, sporting 7.3mm girth and a 3.6mm core. Again some times the water-soluble pencils can cause issues in hand crank and electric sharpeners, you be the judge on this one.
The Derwent Watercolor is another slim barrel pencil, sporting a 6.5mm hexagonal barrel and a 3.1mm core. Slim barrel pencils can sometimes be as difficult to sharpen as the thicker pencils.
I added the Derwent Artist Colored Pencil into this list, only due to the hard core the Artist sports. The Derwent Artist sports a round 7.7mm barrel and a 3.4mm core.
I have just showcased colored pencils or water soluble pencils, I wanted to display the AFMAT sharpen graphite pencils as H grade cores can be brittle. The first graphite pencil is the Caran d’Ache Grafwood 3H grade, sporting an hexagonal 7.5mm barrel and a 2.5mm core.
With graphite pencils, the core size depends on the graphite grade, B grades tend to be thicker and H grades thinner. Up next we have a Koh-I-Noor Graphite Pencil 3B grade, sporting an hexagonal barrel 6.6mm and a 2.4mm core.
Finally the Staedtler Mars Lumograph graphite pencil is up next, sporting a 6.6mm hexagonal barrel and a 2.1mm core.
Despite the fact that the AFMAT packaging says not to sharpen pastel pencils or charcoal pencils, I have taken it upon myself to showcase this. I want to make it clear that if you decide to purchase the AFMAT Fully Automatic Sharpener, if you use a pastel pencil or charcoal pencil in it, AFMAT are not obligated to help should anything go wrong.
First up is the Derwent Pastel Pencil, this is a round barrel sporting a 7.6mm barrel and a 3.5mm core. It was with this pencil that the core broke and the claim of the auto dislodge came into play. Check out the YouTube video review to see how things played out on this issue.
Finally, the Faber Castell Pitt Pastel Pencil was up last, sporting a 7.4mm round barrel and a 4.3mm core, quite a chunky pencil.
AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Sharpener Conclusion
All in all I was incredibly impressed with the AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Sharpener, every single pencil I tested with the AFMAT, worked incredibly well. With the bigger barrels and even the triangular barrel, I was expecting problems, but not a single one was experienced.
This is the only Electric Sharpener I have reviewed thus far and I plan to test and review many more, however, based on all the tests I have recorded, This is a perfect electric sharpener, providing three different levels of sharpened cores. The ability to recharge the sharpener as opposed to constantly purchasing batteries, I am thrilled with the outcome.
Finally to check out the before and after of all pencils listed, head over to The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel, it is difficult to review a sharpener without video review, so hopefully this will provide all the information required.
