When I first looked at the wood barrel close to the core, it appeared choppy, tattered and bad quality, initially I thought sharpening was going to be an issue, however this was absolutely not the case. Once the pencil was sharpened that choppy tattered appearance disappeared. I think the quality of the wood is obviously lower than that used in the Polychromos range, however, that absolutely does not affect anything about this pencil be it sharpening or use.