Speedy Sharp

I love how fast the speedy sharp sharpens my pruners, hori-hori, and other gardening tools. After using a file to sharpen, which is harder to do and takes a couple minutes, using the Speedy Sharp was a revelation just a few strokes put a fresh edge on my blade and kept me pruning away happily with cleaner cuts and less effort.

My favorite thing is that the Speedy Sharp fits in my pocket, so for marathon days of pruning, I can sharpen every hour or so and keep a good edge on my pruning shears and lopper. It works on everything, scissors, knives, garden tools.

And it's made of some material that is supposedly so strong that only a diamond can scratch it. They have a lifetime guarantee, so if you do manage to nick it with your giant diamond ring (yeah, like that's gonna happen), you'll be all set to pick up a freshie from the company.

Seriously this is an awesome tool. Every gardener should have one.

This is a _must have_ for the outdoorsman or survivalist type. It's rock-simple with no moving parts. Those in the metalworking industry will immediately recognize this as a disposable carbide lathe bit, albeit a little thinner. The uses I've found so far:

1. Sharpening yes indeed. It does the trick, and fast. It works best on longer straighter blades (lawnmower blades, machetes, etc), won't sharpen serrated blades. No biggie, tho. Will shave mild steel so effectively it actually makes a curl ("swarf") of steel, you're actually whittling the steel. WARNING-steel swarf is very flammable. I noticed that harder steels and cast iron make more of a fine powder residue. Will also sharpen shovels for ease of use in the garden. It's best for touching up edges, but not for a fine, keen edge or initial sharpening. For razor-sharp edges, angular control is essential. The DMT sharpening kit worked far better for this purpose. Also, as in machining-watch out for "chattering". This is mechanical oscillations during material removal. The speedy sharp does this as other industrial carbide bits, resulting in an irregular, bumpy edge. When sharpening, I frequently change the horizontal axis (not the edge angle) to reduce this. For best results, correct it early. It seems most frequent on stainless steels, least frequent on mild steel.

2. Firestarting more like fire *hazard*. The recent proliferation of ferrocerium ("mischmetal") based firesteels illustrates the limiting factor -a good scraping surface. Knives are okay, but a finer edge won't be sharp very long. Also, the approach angle is important. The speedy sharp is the missing link -it turns firestarting efforts into fire-inevitability. For spectacular fire starting, shave off some of the ferrocerium slowly and place the unburned shavings in a pile. For a bright, high-temperature fire, add magnesium shavings. Google "Doan Machinery" or Doan firestarting, these are the best. Doan magnesium blocks are sold here on Amazon. Warning-burning magnesium is extremely hot, even small quantities of magnesium will burn through metal foil. Note-perform all firestarting trials and experiments outside. The first time I tried this indoors, hot molten metal cascaded an all directions in my kitchen floor and sent my dogs fleeing in terror.

3. At my job, we often mesh or combine padlocks in restricted access areas where multiple parties have access. I use it to engrave my employer's name into padlocks, which works *far* better that colored tape or Dymo/P-Touch solutions that peel off or fade with time. I can actually scratch letters very deep into the metal. Not pretty, but very effective.

I bought 2-3 more, since I noticed the price is climbing. I also removed the plastic handle, I have enough callous that I don't need it, and it makes it more compact. Keep the tip cover when not in use, a carbide bit will do a *lot* of damage bouncing around if it contacts other objects.

Pros-cheap, almost maintenance-free, very effective for multiple uses, small, limited only by your creativity.

Cons-(this is a tough one)...well, I didn't think of it first...it encourages latent pyromania (in me, anyway)...I'll have to mull this question.

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Wow, sharpens quick or hones just as quickly. Lightweight, takes up little space and really works well. If you get a tad too aggressive with your sharpening it will take off more steel quicker than you might think, go easy. I bought several for gifts and all my knife carrying friends are ecstatic.

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This thing works exactly as advertised it quickly and easily sharpens and/or hones any steel blade you can throw at it.

I tested it only over a dozen different blades and it had no problem cleaning up their edges. I even used it to put a scary-sharp edge on a Cold Steel machete that came almost as dull as a steel knife blank (after I gave it a basic grind with a Dremel tool).

It's fairly simple to use, but I feel that the instructions could be a little more detailed in order to prevent over-sharpening and the like.

Also, one totally minor nitpick is that this thing is clearly cheaply mass-produced somewhere overseas and isn't of the highest build quality. Since it's carbide, the actual business end should last forever, but the rest of it ain't super high-quality. Again, that's just a totally minor comment as the thing wonderfully performs its intended function...

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this product was exactly as advertised.

it works well and is convenient to use.

i would definitely reccomend it/