SHARPAL 181N Dual-Grit Diamond Sharpening Stone File

Amazingly easy to use. I'm a person who sharpens old school with wet stones, this tool is amazingly fast to get a quick edge on my butcher knives in the kitchen. A few swipes each way, then on the fine edge of the stone and you've got a pretty good edge and are ready to work. Great product.

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 UPDATE Still 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.

Very good sharpener and the leather cover makes for a great strop.

Finally a diamond file with quality. Have bought several and this one actually has a quality cut and the diamonds don’t all fall off after a couple of uses.

I have always struggled to get a razor sharp edge on any of my knives using traditional wet stones or sharpeners. After seeing this sharpener in a video then reading reviews, I decided to give it a try. Much to my surprise it works exactly like advertised and I have been able to get the sharpest edges on my knives that I've ever had. This sharpener includes a bevel guide to get the perfect angle for sharpening. I first tried using the "circular" method I saw on videos and didn't get good results, but then I followed the instructions included with the sharpener got extremely sharp blades. The case serves dual duty as a strop to hone in your edge which was a great added value. The paracord wrapped handle is comfortable and provides good grip

Works very well on small outdoor knives, might be handy for touching up a kitchen knife.

I've had my SOG for about 4 yrs now and it's never been sharpened...I haven't needed to until recently. After dealing with several stones in the past that wouldn't sharpen my previous knives anywhere close to how sharp they needed to I did some research and discovered Sharpal was the way to go. So I bought this stone since it's the perfect size for my knife...a Tanto and partly serrated. After about 10 swipes on the 325 side, and maybe 20-25 on the 1200 side, my blade is literally as sharp as the day I bought it. The angle guide is perfect, and it's extremely easy to clean with just a bit of water. By far the best stone I've ever used.

I originally got this to sharper my hatchet and my mattock, but decided to try it out on some of my woodworking tools like some of my draw knives, plane irons, and chisels (can't use the 20° guide for those, though, but you can just follow the angle of the existing edge). And this thing works SOOO much better than I was expecting!! Normally, sharpening my tools is a massive chore that requires a lot of skill that I don't have much of. But this thing makes it SOOOO much easier!! I can get a razor sharp edge in no time with it! It wouldn't work the best to reshape an edge/take out dings, but for just keeping things sharp, it's an absolute gem and has earned a spot in my shop apron!

使いやすいです。 タッチアップよりナイフ製作に活用してますが、良いです。

Entre todas las inmensas opciones de afiladores me quedo con este por su versatilidad, sirve para navajas, cuchillos, hachas, machetes, cinceles, formones. Si tienes una piedra dual económica y lo completas con este afilador ya tendrías 4 granos distintos y la piel para refinar el filo. Realmente funciona excelente si sabes mantener el ángulo preciso

I am a knife nut. I sharpen everything that can be sharpened. The diamonds last long, so far, it's convenient to carry around and it won't break if dropped. If you can freehand sharpen, this may very well be your baby. I get arm hair popping edges off the 1200 grid side. Just remember: Use something else to reprofile. Doing so on the 320 grid side will be a punnishment both to you and this tool. There are stones out there with larger grid sizes.

Va muy no creo que bien para un afilado rápido y de buena calidad

I am always sharpening knives both for culinary work and my hobby of making things from leather. As most of us already know a really sharp knife is safer than a dull one, as much less pressure is required to make a cut. I already own a really effective knife sharpening system, but it requires a few minutes to set it all up so it only gets used when I have a few dulled tools. I bought this as something to quickly restore a tool's edge between bouts of major resharpening. I have just tested it on a kitchen knife that was last sharpened about 3 weeks ago. It was pretty dull as others in my household do horrid things to sharp knives, such a putting them in a pile of cutlery on the draining board. With just a few strokes of the coarse side, a hone on the other, and a swift strop with the leather sheath, this put a superb edge on the knife. The tool proved very easy to use and it feels nicely balanced in the hand. The paracord binding on the handle allows a very secure grip and the leather sheath is a clever touch with its ability to be used as a strop. I like it very much and it will be a go-to tool for regular use. It would be especially useful to take on lengthy trips in the outdoors as it isn't either heavy, or bulky, and will always ensure a decent edge on knives used in the field. Highly recommended...