Shadow X—March 1, 2019✓ Verified purchase
Honestly, until it was in hand, and had sharpened, quite literally, every knife I own, I was skeptical. Anyone whose a knife fan, knows that finding a quality diamond whetstone is a pain in the butt. Nine times out of ten, you’re lucky to get through a couple of pocket knives and fixed blade before the only good thing the darn thing is good for is a paperweight. Often, it’s not just the cheap junk that disappoints. From the complaints I’ve seen, and there are A LOT OF THEM, even some of the big name diamond whetstone manufacturers disappoint from time to time. I’ve put off writing the review, until I could put it through its paces, get a better feel for how tough it is and it’s potent longevity. There was one concern in particular, that I had only with Sharpal in general: you’d have better luck stealing the Hope Diamond than finding information about Sharpal. Seriously.... lol.... this not hyperbole.There are a few YouTube videos about this specific product (the make several products, but this one was the only product I researched), but of the, MAYBE, 5 total, three are by Sharpal, and one video each by extremely small channels. From what I can tell, this particular product has been out for awhile. So, it is a bit odd. Don’t misunderstand... I’m not making any accusations. I LOVE the product! But, if anyone from Sharpal sees this, I’d suggest maybe contacting several of the mid-level YouTubers, send out a few of these, have them pass it on to the next YouTube reviewer. The small channels, no one sees, the uber-big channels will either take weeks to get around to reviewing it, and quite frankly, I don’t trust the uber-big channels to be unbiased. Just a tiny constructive criticism, the product is awesome. So, after it arrived, I got all of my knives ( don’t get too excited, I only own 10), lined them up on the table, and went to work. Three of my knives are made from S35VN, and not that Chris Reeves, tempered to be soft crap. Sorry, brother... but the point of S35VN is that it’s hard and can take a beating. If you’re going to temper it down to practically 440C, why pay the extra money for it? Sorry... lol... anyway, three S35VN, super tough, and I took them from not being to shave arm hair, or slice paper, to shaving facial hair, with no pain or blood.. lol. Of course being a diamond whetstone, I tore through all three in less time than I’d been spending on one knife, to get it even half as sharp as these three combined. Next, two Cold Steel Bushman Bowies. An inexpensive knife, but I assure you, tough as nails. No problem! Five minutes, BAM, shaving facial hair, DONE! Next, two Mora Companions: one stainless, one carbon.... it was done quickly, during a “Walking Dead” commercial break. Of all my blades, they were in the best shape, but still... maybe 5 minutes total. Right on! Next, my Esee 5. It takes a beating, so it was in rough shape. But, being carbon steel, it took maybe 5 minutes total. Keep in mind, I suck at sharpening. And, I mean I SUCK! LOL... All thumbs. If I don’t check my angles every few strokes, I muck it up. So, not only was the Sharpal knock8ng them all out quickly, but it was knocking them out quickly with this idiot in control! Finally, a Swiss Army Knife and a Gerber folder/locking knife from back in the early 90s. Both used daily. I don’t sharpen smaller blades often, so that threw me off. But, once I got back into the groove, even with the errors I made initially, I was able to knock them both out in maybe 4, 5 minutes, tops. Again, I SUCK AT SHARPENING, so, if you’re someone who is proficient at sharpening, I’m guessing you can, AT LEAST, cut my times in half. Before writing this, I took my daily use SOG Pillar (one of the S35VN blades) to the fine side, passed it over a few strokes, got it back up to hair popping sharp after about three days of infrequent to moderate use. And the Sharpal? Lean and mean! Barely looks like it’s even been touched. Now, if you aren’t familiar with diamond whetstones, keep in mind that how rough it feels when you first unbox it, is not how rough it will feel after sharpening the first couple of knives. You have to pass metal over it a few times, Knick the tops off those microscopic diamonds. I don’t like using a brand new diamond whetstone (well... the really rough sides meant to remove steel quickly) on my favorite knives. I use a beater knife, maybe my machete. But that’s just me. I’m not super great at sharpening, so I rely on “the feel/feedback” a great deal, and until it’s broken in, I have problems. Now, I’ve only used to for those knives, but there are absolutely no places where the diamonds have been worn off, and it still rockin’ and rollin’. I was able to find out that Sharpal does use monocrystalline diamonds, and the diamonds are attached to the metal plate via electroplating. That is great. Both are very desirable, and there is simply not a better way to ensure quality and longevity, at least not yet. There is a handy little angle guide. For someone like me, it’s definately a bonus. And, it’s small. So, I take with me when I’m out, just toss it in my pocket. If needed, I’ll pull it out along with my pocket stone, get my angle, and I’m good to go. It’s actually very clever. After using the guide a few times, I’m getting better, getting that “muscle memory,” so I’m relying on the guide less and less. Pretty cool idea! Has its own plastic case. Quite tough. A grippy rubber portion on the bottom of the case, and the top is slightly recessed, allowing you to set the stone in and keep it from moving. I’m already planning to get another one, and a couple of their other products. I have to say, I am genuinely impressed. I am a HUGE SKEPTIC by nature. So, I’m the guy that goes out of his way to find fault, and frankly, I just couldn’t... LOL. Unless the darn thing up and spontaneously combust tonight, I definitely recommend it. Good product, Sharpal! 🤙 Read more
Jeff—October 5, 2025✓ Verified purchase
I'd been using cheap "wet" whetstones but they were messy, a hassle and didn't actually work very well. (Better ones than I have will do a good job, but the hassle and mess is still an issue.) I saw a few YouTube videos about using diamond stones dry and decided to give it a try. And wow, this stone works much better than my older wet whetstones and it takes almost no time and makes no mess. The stone itself is heavy and feels quality, and you can see and feel the diamond coating. The base is a simple plastic base that doubles as a storage case, but it's the stone that's the important part. However, a quick tip is that if you get the Sharpal strop for final polishing, it fits right on top of the storage base/case for storage, as if it was made to sit there. Just a minor little detail that isn't advertised anywhere. The sharpening process is essentially the same as with other whetstones, you just don't need any water. It does still take a little skill and care or you absolutely can scratch your knives and/or just not get them sharp. I scratched a couple of my knives a little bit the first time I used this and I realized the problem was my motion. I was letting the knives run off the far end of the stone, which let the corner of the stone scratch the blade as it ran off. You do need to be in better control of your knives than I initially was. There is a little angle guide that comes with the stone and it's helpful for the initial set of the apex angle, but I wouldn't keep using it. Just use it to get a feel for what the angle you want is and then rely on your muscle memory after that. The reason I say that is you won't build up your skill if you just keep putting the knife against the guide every time, and it also just takes longer and is kind of easy to mess up. It's hard to really know when your knife is properly positioned against the guide. It always takes me about 10-15 seconds to get it set right, so doing that on every pass would be unreasonable. Just get a feel for it and then forget the guide. Once you're good at it, with a dry stone like this, you can sharpen a knife in just a couple minutes. Then cleanup really involves just rinsing the stone off and patting it dry. There will be a little bit of metal powder from your blades but it doesn't go all over like water does - it generally stays on the stone - and it just rinses off. I wouldn't go further than that with the cleanup because you can end up with residue (either metal or soap) stuck in the stone that's hard to get out. (Ask me how I know.) Same with drying it - the stone is meant to be abrasive so if you dry with a sweeping motion, you're just going to end up with microscopic bits of towel stuck in the stone. So rinse and pat dry, that's it. Very easy. Overall a huge time-saver vs. traditional whetstones. I do usually like traditional methods but this is a good compromise. They just didn't have the technology to make artificial diamonds like this in the old days, so they had to use water with more common stone. Otherwise you can bet they would have used dry diamond stones. The actual process is the same, though, so you still get the feel of manually sharpening your knives. It just takes far less time and creates far less mess. Read more
