When I draw, I like the lead to be extremely sharp. It's always bothered me that in reality I'm only using a hair thin cylinder of the center of the lead, and the rest gets turned to powder.
Even a mechanical pencil isn't sharp enough. But more importantly, without the support of the wood/lead around it, it breaks too easily. So they're virtually impossible to sharpen. I have given it a try using a fine emery board, and when the lead doesn't break, it takes a while, and the board gets clogged and won't sharpen.
