From Fox New York:
Someone just paid David Rees, of Beacon, N.Y., $35 to sharpen a pencil.
"I
think people think: 'Wow, I can't believe he actually did it,'" Rees
said. "I wasn't sure what would happen when I sent this guy my money."
Now
before you write him off as some con-artist whittling away on
pre-packaged No. 2s from a farmhouse upstate you should know Rees is a
sharp guy. He considers himself an artisanal pencil sharpener.
"Internet
commenters have definitely made this argument before," Rees said. "Now,
a pencil is a completely transparent communication tool. There's no
secret to it."
As for his pencils, he began
sharpening those after leaving a job as a political cartoonist to work
for the 2010 Census, where he spent all day recording his findings with a
No. 2 pencil.
"I thought there's got to be a way to get paid to sharpen pencils for people," he said.
1,804
flawlessly sharpened mostly No. 2 pencils later, Rees has penned a book
on his art form, collected an arsenal of different sharpeners, and
taught classes to students who sharpen better than he does.
"I'm
always really simultaneously happy for them and always really
intimidated," he said, "like please don't go into business against me.
You're going to crush me."
But after two years of collecting pencil shavings with tweezers for his customers, Rees is nearing his breaking point....
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