I used razorblades to sharpen.. It's scary as hell.

I remember watching my teacher cut off the tip of his finger. So now, I hold it differently to avoid that.

Wow... during class? O.o

Charcoal is just one of the mediums that is doomed to be messy. I like working with vine charcoal most but it requires special paper or it seems to just rub away too easily but I never could afford paper with a heavy tooth to it.

I've always sharped with box cutters. I have one for charcoal and pastels and one for colored pencils. I'm especially meticulous when sharpening my colored pencils. they're just so expensive. To avoid cuts you just have to be careful and always remember to cut away from you.

I used to have a pocket knife I'd sharpen with for emergencies...

For some reason pocket knives weren't allowed on campus. But box cutters were whatever. no clue why, but it worked. I miss doing traditional artwork. I'm terrified of losing my job after summer is over but I look forward to a break where I'd get to do some creative things that aren't all digital.

I used a knife outside of class. In class I used a sandpaper strip ^^

lol. that works! my community college had some odd rules. They didn't even like students to bring their own palette knives. >.<

A what?

Its basically a spatula. You can use it to mix paint or even paint with at times.

lol, not even palette knife. XD
That is funny.
Considering that they still allow usage of other sharp objects.

The other reason is that charcoal seems hard to stick on the paper surface. Even if I finish it, it still seem to be... easily brushed off. I bought some pencil sealer spray... sticky stuff. to seal my only 2 charcoal paintings. Can't say I like it. Too messy.

Ooh those... they make some cool stuff.

I was cheap and used aqua net hair spray to seal chalky projects like charcoal and pastel. It honestly seemed to work better than the sprays I've had that were specifically for charcoal or pastels. The only issue with the aqua net is that you can over spray and if you do there could possibly be a color shift.

There will always be color shift when using spray. D:
Well, I don't use any hair spray from the beginning so...

I never notice anything major with most sprays as far as color shift unless the piece was sprayed too much. Aqua net though is way more sensitive. It works fine for my charcoal pieces but I was always nervous when using it for pastels.