SHARPAL 105N Multipurpose Pocket Garden Tool Blade Sharpener for Knife Pruners Loppers Hedge Shears Scissors Axe Hatchet Machete Lawn Mower

Have had it awhile now and am finding excuses to sharpen everything. Very nifty tool. Top was tough to get off but I cut away the piece that it has to slide over. Still has a very firm fit to hold the lid without and now no struggle. With a bit of learning angles, it works beautifully. Sharp knives and tools any time. Lightweight, fits in a pocket. Sharpener has no shown wear or tear after a year of use.

The Sharpal 105N multipurpose sharpening tool works very well sharpening my garden tools (loppers, pruners, sheers, etc.) and even my kitchen knives. It is small enough to keep in my pocket while in the garden (or my kitchen drawer) but does a surprising job of sharpening up these blades when used as directed. It's well designed and easy to grip and the cap protects the tungsten carbide edge (and your pocket.)It is a good value for the price.

There are numerous sharpeners on the market similar to the 105N, ones that use a tungsten carbide tip that you drag across the edge, but the Sharpal is likely the value leader of the bunch. The entire sharpening and honing component is tungsten carbide, whereas almost all the similar products use a small block of the material that's welded (soldered?) to some other piece of cheap metal. For a knife that might work fine - at least for a while - but try something difficult like an axe head or lawn mower blade and it will likely separate before too long. The honing side is a nice touch that few of the competitors have, as is a substantial handle with a rubber grip that makes it secure to hold even when your hands are wet or sweaty.It didn't get 5 stars from me because of 2 concerns:1 - There was no documentation included with the product. On the back of the packaging there was some information about how to sharpen a knife, but nothing about honing. There was also nothing about scissors, shears, axes or any other tool it can sharpen. I found some info by searching the interwebs but that shouldn't be required to use it, the product should come with a pamphlet or something.2 - Mine has a problem with the end cap; it can't be put on. Well, that's not entirely true; it can be put on but then you need pliers - no kidding - to get it off, so at least in my case there was a QC issue.For this type of sharpener it really doesn't get any better. I wonder how many of the negative comments are due to people not knowing how to free hand sharpen. It's not the easiest thing to find the right angle and use the correct pressure, those skills have to be earned through practice and finesse. Sharpal has products that allow you to drag a knife/axe/shears through a V channel sharpener and gouge off large amounts of metal, but this isn't one of them. Hand sharpening requires discipline to master and perfect, but once you become accomplished it's no longer difficult to use something like this Sharpal.

Sooooo handy. Handled everything from razor blades to shears and scissors. Buy a few. Too darn easy to use. It doesn’t take much to sharpen and shape with this thing. Buy a few and buy some for presents. Every man and most women could use this weekly in the house, garage, shop, field, or homestead.

I bought this to try as a ferocium rod (fire steel) striker. I've tried many strikers over the years, from the cheap ones some rods come with and their upgrades, to various tools like hacksaw blades and "whatever works", and of course the spines of many knives crafted from many metals (carbon, stainless, powered-metallurgy super steels, etc.). I also bought this carbon sharpener alongside a few other "carbide" sharpeners that were less expensive, to see if I could get the performance while saving a few bucks.Long story short, for use as a fero rod striker while starting fires, nothing, and I mean nothing, even came close to the level of performance I get while using this.To start with the business end of it - the carbide - it's of exceptional quality and the edges are perfectly squared off - perfect for stricking a rod. I used to think that a 1/2" fero rod would pretty much last forever. But, that was when I used all of the other things to strike rods. This thing slices off a visible and palpable layer of fero. And it doesn't go to waste! It throws down legit gobs molten, sparkish fero even from a cheap rods, that continue to combust for up to a few seconds (a good rod doesn't have to be expensive. I have great experiences with some of the cheap ones on Amazon). Don't get me wrong - a 1/2" x 6 rode will still last longer than most would ever survive in the wilderness (or maybe a hundred fires overall, dending on how well you start fires). The carbide is visibly of much higher quality than the cheaper carbide strikers you see on amazon (with the rubber handle). And no knife steel I've encountered (which is many) comes close, even considering those with great handles that allow you to really put your shoulder into it - this does more, with less effort.After I purposely was heavy-handed with it for a number of fires and my 3-year old picked it up and scraped it on things (mimicking what he saw me doing). I could see some burn resin on it, as usual, though I was able to clean it back to a mirror shine with mostly just my finger, then a couple wipes with a shirt and it looked brand new, the edge was still just as squared as the other edge that I hadn't used. I then used it to sharpen my knife, which it did an impressive job at - and the carbide still held its edge.Apart from the carbide - which again is just amazing and completely worth the few extra bucks. The ergonomics are fantastic and you can get a whole-hand grip (great any time, but especially in the bitter and windy cold, when you're fingers and hands are begining to lose strength). Yes, the cap is pretty tight and takes a surprising amount of effort to remove, though it's not like trying to lift Thor's hammer and some people really just complain too much. Do you want the very best performance with what the tool is actually designed to do, or will you let a cap make you compromise with something that's a liability? The carbide is so strong and not brittle that you could probably just leave the cap, though I prefer to not take chances and know my gear will be serviceable when I need it, whether that be starting a fire in the back yard, or elsewhere.Anways, get this if you want to use it as a striker. It's amazing. Really it is. You won't find anything better suited to the task.

After a little less than a year, there are some chips in the carbide. Don't know how this happened -- am generally a careful person and *only* used to sharpen kitchen knives and scissors, touch up utility knife razors. No garden equipment. Guessing this might have happened with some old Japanese kitchen knives with chipped blades (Japanese knives have harder steel). Still possible to use a good carbide edge left-handed (since I'm a little ambidextrous). Because there is no preset edge angle, can be used to sharpen blades with any degree. Need.a steady hand to maintain existing angle and light pressure. Rough use will remove too much blade material.