SHARPAL 181N Dual-Grit Diamond Sharpening Stone File Garden Tool Knife Sharpener with Leather Strop Coarse 325 / Extra Fine 1200 Grit for Lawn Mower Blade, Axe, Hatchet, Hedge Shears, Chisels, Drills

This thing is amazing. The grits are perfect. I bought one for use as a field sharpener, but started using it in my wood shop for my drawknife. Then I started using it in the kitchen (I even do the large chef’s knife with it), so I’m buying another. The two grits are perfect and the strop works (I did not apply any compound to it). Some complain about the strop being too tight. When you first get it, put the sheath on a few inches until it feels like it’s stuck, then give it a handful of hard rotational twists. Then push it on a couple more inches and repeat. Then push it on the rest of the way and give it a handful more rotational twists. 2 minutes’ worth of work and you will have no problems taking the strop on and off. My only complaint is that I think the paracord is stupid and gimmicky. Anybody who brings a sharpener this nice into the bush is going to have paracord in their pack. If the paracord ever comes loose by accident it will be a pain to re-wrap it. I would much prefer a plastic/leather/etc. grip for the handle. That said, this is a very minor quibble that doesn’t detract from my enthusiasm for this sharpener.18 MONTH UPDATE:I have two of these. One is in my wood shop and gets moderate use on things like my drawknife and my axes. That said, I have re-beveled a few folding knives taking of a LOT of steel (like from 25* bevel to 10*) and also a hatchet. It has held up flawlessly. The other one is in my kitchen and it gets an absolute workout. On my personal knives (the GOOD ones) I strop daily and then resharpen on the fine side about once every week or two. On my (ahem) wife’s knives (which I hate), I pretty much have to grind them down frequently starting with the coarse side because they are not the best steel . So this one gets a lot of use. It’s also the sharpener I use on my beater folding knives when I come in from doing yard work and that often involves repairing damage (plunge your knife into bags of gravel, or into dirt to cut holes in weedblock fabric and you’ll do lots of damage). Again, it has held up flawlessly. I cannot find any spots where diamonds have come off. It has held up as well as the DMT stone in my woodshop which is used for all my planes and chisels.I have applied green compound to the strops on both. But I rarely use them. They are perfectly serviceable strops and would work great in the bush when you don’t want to carry a strop with you because it makes it an all-in-one package. But I am never really in that kind of situation and even camping I have a small strop in my kit – in the kitchen I have a really long one. The issue is just that because the sheath strop is curved to the seams, you can’t get right up to the handle on some knives. It’s also pretty thick leather so you are more likely to round your edge after repeated stroppings (I use 2oz leather for wooden strops). Now this quibble is really because I’m a perfectionist and using a FIELD sharpening stone for precision work. For normal field use, the strop really works great – it’s a very small compromise. In other words, if I don’t have a wooden strop available, I’m not going to complaining using the sheath strop. To add more clarity, I used the sheath strop for the kitchen one for over a year before I got around to making a strop to permanently live there. So yea, the strop works.I’m most impressed that it has held up all this time under constant use. Also, the paracord I originally complained about has not come loose, which is good. But I’d still rather see a plastic/composite handle.Also, I saw someone complaining about the strop not holding compound. I had no issues. The compound goes on the rough side; not the smooth side.39 MOTH UPDATE:Both of them are still going strong and there has been ZERO drop off in performance. The one I keep in my basement woodshop has re-profiled the edges of countless knives (I have quite the knife collection) and even some subtle blade shape re-profiling and knife restoration. I have been absolutely BRUTAL with it. I keep waiting for the diamond loss and it just hasn’t happened. Additionally, any concern about the paracord is gone as none of it has come loose. I’m about to purchase a third one strictly for backpacking/hiking and I will cut off the handle keeping the diamond part and leather strop/sheath to make a very compact version that saves almost half the weight (think Falkniven DC4, only with better grit options and indestructible and with a stropping sheath so yeah, BETTER).QUICK CLEANING TIP: To clean off the build-up of metal particles from whatever tools you’ve sharpened just use a white eraser like the Papermate ones that are about 2.5” x 1”.52 MONTH UPDATEStill going strong. The one I keep in my basement gets absolutely tortured. Even more knives I’ve changed bevel angles on with this thing, including one I’m doing today. Some of these knives I’m doing are more than 30 minutes minutes of just filing away nonstop. That's in addition to the regular sharpening tasks I use it for. Absolutely no diamond loss whatsoever. The paracord is still tight (boy was I initially wrong about the paracord). I had previously stated that I don’t use the strop much because it’s curved making it hard to get do to the choil on a knife blade. Well, I found a solution to that which is to just add green compound to the edge of the strop. I’ve taken it on a few camping trips and used it this way and it works just fine. I just switch over to the edge right down towards the handle/tang/choil part of the blade and it works flawlessly. So now I can’t even complain about that. I’ve attached a picture of how I have compound on both the rough side and the edge.I know I’ve gone on and on about this field stone. I swear, I’ve never gotten anything from this company and they’ve never e-mailed to say “hi” or anything. It’s just that good of a stone. I own a lot of knives and I have a lot of old-timey woodworking handtools so I’m a bit of a sharpening nut. This is the best thing out there for field use that I’ve ever tried.

This is my first sharpening device and it works great! It was very easy to put a sharp blade on my and hatchet in no time. It also felt very safe because of the handle. I may get another one to keep at work. Great design and quality!

Nice design and well built well. Good size and great handle for proper control while sharpening. As so far as durability, time will tell with use, which I'm sure will be alright.To test it, I used it on a dull knife that has always been difficult to sharpen, and it did fast and with a great edge.

This is an extraordinary tool. I had an old Buck knife that had collected many nicks in the blade over the years but it took only a few minutes using the course grit get them all out. Now the blade is like new except even sharper. Kitchen knives are next and then a hatchet. What a great idea to add a stropping surface to the protective leather sheath. It is worth every penny!

Absolutely the best sharpener for me. It works fast and I can fit it in my pocket and take anywhere. I also made a small strop from a thin piece of wood with leather on both sides, green compound on one. I also bought with this the 178n which has a round diamond file and a pointy one for serrations. I use the round one on my curved blades. Can't recommend this highly enough. If and when I wear this one out will definitely repurchase.

This is a perfect sharpening tool. It is very effective and reliable. iWt can sharpen my tool in seconds with only few strokes

So far, this has easily replaced all my other sharpening tools for performance, ease of use and time spent on edges. In fact, for twenty bucks, I just bought a second one. I have no idea how durable the diamond coatings will be, but I'm hoping for the best.

It's a very convenient sharpener although the grit did not last as long as I was expecting. Other than that it was fairly level for creating a sharp edge and it slides right into the pocket of my backpack.