I was arranging store displays the other day and suddenly realized we had been selling these different versions of Boston sharpeners over the years. They are all out of stock now, what's remaining in store are now for display only. Except for Dulton's sharpener (second from the left in this picture) which we only have a few pieces left. According to Dulton in Japan, they also stop producing this mechanical sharpener too.
Boston Pencil Sharpener Company was founded in 1899, acquired by Hunt Manufacturing Company in 1925, X-ACTO bought Hunt's Boston sharpener line, Elmer's bought X-ACTO. Today if you want to get a relatively low priced, metal, hand-cranked planetary Boston style sharpener, you can still get a new one from X-ACTO either in desk or vacuum mount. Although these X-ACTO branded sharpeners have their origins from the original Boston Pencil Sharpener Company, they are now made in China and the charisma is almost all gone.
Some retailers like Blick may still have old stocks of Boston sharpeners but it won't last long, they will soon be eBay items. I would recommend to get one now while you still can. Have money to spare for luxury desk accessories? Try El Caso sharpeners from Spain.
Talking about mount, even though Dulton's sharpener is strong like a brick, the butterfly screw mount is its weakest point, you can't sharpen a pencil without holding the body. Perhaps that's the reason why Dulton is discontinuing it. It could be such a great product if it were vacuum mounted for desk use.
Of these sharpeners, Boston Ranger 55 (the black one in picture) is the most durable, heavy-duty and virtually indestructible, it is like a single piece of metal casted right from the factory furnace. While I like the steadiness of a self feeder, adjustable pencil guide is more like a classic to me.
The death of Boston Pencil Sharpener Company's classic happened slowly over a hundred year. The sad thing is the disappearing of its name which once touched so many people's life especially in America. Elmer's should immortalize the Boston brand instead of burying it's dignity in its ever growing brand list. Worse, check out the "Visit Site" link of Boston under Elmer's web site, you will be directed to http://www.bostonschoolpro.com/, an under-construction site with several pop up windows of Chinese online game advertisements. I feel so sorry about this and I've emailed to Elmer's a moment ago for this.
If you are into the history of mechanical sharpeners, Early Office Museum has great coverage and collection of photos for sharpeners dated as early as 1860.
