SHARPAL116N Pocket Diamond Sharpening Card, Coarse(325)/Medium(600)/Fine(1200) Grit, Portable Multi-Tool Kit for Garden Tools, Survival Knives, Files & Blades

Not everything I own can be done on a larger stone, or I'd need a huge stone to move across. The little ones make it a lot easier to just move the grinding surface over the blade rather than the blade over the surface. It works great for my hatchet, carving knife, and even curvier small knives.There's a small round pop out handle loop on the back that can give you more stability when using them. I never actually pop it out, just use it to nest my finger and it works fine that way. There's also a signaling mirror on the back.These guys also make my main sharpening stone. Their diamond stones have remarkable consistency for their price, allowing you to really get a fine edge.The only thing I don't like about it is that the plastic for that handle makes it too thick. This dramatically increases it's footprint, especially with the little leather sheaths they come with. I may try to remove them, but I think I'll need to stay aware of stacking them. They need something to protect the diamond surface, and protect against it from scratching other things.

My comments are limited to using the stones to sharpen a pair of hand pruners. Normally, it would be a bit awkward to sharpen a curved blade all the way down to the pruner's axis with a conventional-sized whetstone. But these thin, card-sized stones made the job pretty easy. They were easy to hold & to fit into the constrained space. They also seem to be a high-quality stone, sharpening the blade surprisingly quickly. The packaging & form facter are well-thought out; having the three padded leather holders is a lot more useful than I'd expected -- these stones won't get tossed in a box in the garage and lost. Once you get past the type of stone material, people think of whetstones as interchangeable commodities, but this innovative product is clearly superior to other stones I looked at. I thought this was an intelligently designed and well-made set of stones and, at least as far as sharpening odd-shaped blades like those on a pruner, I'm very glad I spent the extra $ for this one.

I’m a dental hygienist and I have a similar stone from a dental company that my boss spent more on . I’m thrilled with these!

These work well and seem to be above average quality. I did return this item, however. I need a sharpening stone that I use frequently and after a few uses these started to dull down. If you need a sharpener for occasional use or require something very portable, these are good. If you need a sharpening stone to use frequently, I wouldn't recommend these.

I have a dedicated sharpening setup for knives but wanted something a bit more flexible for gardening and other miscellaneous tools. These are great because they are thin and easy to hold which allow you sharpen a wide range of tools. The range of grits is good and they sharpen well. Seems like they will hold up well and are not expensive compared to some other diamond stones.

This set of three credit card size diamond sharpeners gives a nice sequence of grits for sharpening knives and tools (especially scissors and garden loppers and snips). The grits are 220, 600, and 1200, corresponding to coarse, medium, and fine. I used these to sharpen kitchen scissors and garden snips.The thin sharpeners allow me to get the entire edge of the cutting blade, especially up close to the pivot. I include Before and After pictures of my trusty garden snips. My suggestion is to sharpen in one direction, lifting the card between strokes. Sharpening back and forth will usually result in a different angle between the card and the edge on the return stroke compared to the forward stroke.An edge that is only slightly dull can be restored by starting with the middle grit (600) and finishing with the fine grit (1200). If the edge is very dull, then start with the 220.Some people say to pull the diamond edge across the blade as though the edge was trying to "slice" the diamond grit off the card, but I prefer to pull the card across the blade toward the edge. This method is the same as is used to sharpen knives on a water stone. My approach will cause the steel to curl over a tiny amount and form a "wire" or "burr" edge. To remove the burr, simply hold the medium grit card flat against the back side of the cutting edge, then pull it across the back of the clipper blade from the hinge toward the pointed end. Repeat a few times, checking with your finger to feel when the burr is gone. Always move your finger at a 90° angle to the edge, to avoid cutting your finger on that burr.If you are sharpening scissors, examine them closely because many scissors have a single cutting edge (upper, moving, or outside blade). The other blade, also called a lower, still, or inside blade, can be flat or it can have small ridges on it to hold the material from sliding as the cutting edge slices. Only sharpen the cutting edge. The cutting angle can be 0° like on children's scissors, or up to 45° on kitchen shears and paper scissors. Best advice is to try to maintain the original angle.Note that you should probably not use these to sharpen expensive scissors such as hairdresser's shears. Also not suitable for pinking shears with their saw-tooth cutting edges. Let the professionals sharpen these tools. You can ruin a $500 pair of scissors in a few seconds if you don't know what you're doing.Knives can be field-sharpened with these diamond cards. Each card has a fold-out plastic piece with a hole in it to put your finger through so that your fingers and hand are kept away from the diamond surface. It took some practice for me to hold the card securely because the hole is so large diameter. I also found that sharpening my knife worked best if I held the knife steady and pulled the card over the blade, rather than trying to pull the knife blade over hold the diamond card. My personal opinion is that there are other sharpeners that are better suited for knife sharpening in the field. The Sharpal 181N for instance. However, the set of Sharpal 116N diamond cards take up very little room and fit into my shirt pocket.

These are quick and easy to have around. I bought a second set after playing with the first. They are the size of a credit card and fit nicely in a pocket, wallet, small or large kit, glovebox, etc. I travel often and keep a set in my go bag for my EDC knife. Also, a sharp knife in a hotel kitchenette or company trailer kitchen is less common than unicorn farts perfume. 🙄 My EDC is a cold steel code-4 Tanto and it gets abused; cut, pry, chip, grind, chisel, hammer, slice and even as a weighted paper clip when briefing on a worksite. Regardless, these card can do a quick hone or full repair of my blade. I have charged one of the leather cases with honing paste as a final strop. Also, a note to those that may follow after me into the kitchen area. Beware, any knife I used is sharp, very very sharp. 😂 For the price and ease of use, these can’t be beat. Enjoy and Cheers!