Man Charges $35 for 'Hand-Sharpened Pencil'

David Rees is an artisanal pencil sharpener. No, really. The former political cartoonist charges $35 for a "hand-sharpened" No. 2 pencil, and he has sold 1,804 of them already, Fox News reports. Rees, who discovered the art of pencil sharpening after taking a job with the 2010 Census and spending all day writing with a No. 2, has also written a book on pencil sharpening—How to Sharpen Pencils—and teaches classes on his methods.

"The whole point of the business is to remind people to appreciate yellow, No. 2 pencils because they're really cool and interesting," he says. "And to make a ton of money." But after two years and almost 2,000 pencils, Rees says he's thinking of hanging up his sharpeners. "You do anything long enough for money, it just starts to become a job," he says. (Click to read about another wild job ... which involves spending 15 weeks in bed.)