Axe and Knife Blade Sharpener - Outdoor and Backyard Tools - Black

I have used this sharpener recently on a hatchet, Cold Steel Bolo Machete , regular machete, and Cold Steel Javelin spear. The hatchet took some patience, but it managed to put a very sharp edge on the blade after a while. The plastic housing for the sharpening wheels does not allow a curved edge to be sharpened easily, but with a little work, the blade is now sharp. Where it really came into its usefulness was sharpening the spear and regular machete. It works best while drawing a long, flat blade horizontally across the sharpening wheels. I had a sharp spear in no time, without using a file. It makes a perfect bevel along the blade and negates the use of a file, thus saving metal on the blade. This is a great tool for a very reasonable price. At that price, buy a few and keep one in reserve.

Easy to use. Able to sharpen knives with no problem.

The best way to set a buyer's' expectations is (IMHO) is to address the sales pitch the product carries. Therefore, I'm going to tailor my review accordingly. Here's what the item description claims: >>Knife and axe sharpener sharpens at exact 30-degree angle<< This is true - assuming the user doesn't force it laterally (which is entirely possible) to change said angle. Follow the instructions, and we should all be good on this one. >>Patented ceramic wheel for effective sharpening<< Patent, schmatent. It's the same darned sharpening device available from any reputable manufacturer. I've seen better / I've seen worse. >>Built-in hand guard<< Uh-huh. This so-called "hand guard" is that little plastic lip you see in the photo about 75% of the way from the non-business end of the device. >>Non-slip feet for additional safety<< Yeah right. Maybe for small steak knives. Try running a splitting maul through this thing, and see how well those non-slip feet work. >>Lifetime warranty<< Common ambiguity. This refers, of course, to the lifetime of the *product*, not the user. Probably common sense, but worth noting. The bottom line: This actually does sharpen both knives and heavier equipment. I've done a full set of steak knives, a butcher's block full of blades, and a couple of hatchets and axes. Does it work? Yes. BUT... 1. This item is very lightweight. You may find this to be a bonus, but it literally flexes as you pull your blades through it. The body is hollow (which isn't shown in the photos), so those "non-slip" feet they mention are pretty much inconsequential. 2. Other reviewers have noted this, and it's kind of important: Dragging a blade through this device will actually start carving through the plastic base below the angled stones. As long as the spindle that holds the wheels holds up, this shouldn't be a big deal (until you pull a large axe through it, and the whole thing snaps in two). So far, I've had the fortune of it withstanding some admittedly-impatient (ab)use. :) 3. It's a nine dollar item. If you have high hopes for this being the ultimate sharpening device for all your household and yard maintenance tools, rethink the likelihood of that being the case. I've had great luck with this item so far, but I think a more realistic expectation of its efficacy and product build should be expressed. I hope this helps in doing so! P.S. Note that I gave it a 4/5 rating!

I purchased this sharpener for my Fiskars x11 small hatchet that I had purchased a while back. I haven't used the hatchet enough yet so I looked around my garage to sharpen something with this new tool. I had a cheesy but functional Bear Grylls Gerber Parang/ machete in my garage that I never managed to get as sharp as I would have liked. I held the sharpener in my left hand and rolled/ dragged the parang back and forth through the sharpener and it felt like it wasn't doing anything which is what I expected. I ran the parang back and forth 30 times and looked at the edge and was shocked to find a nice sharp edge on the parang. I used it outside on some brush clearing and was curious how sharp it was. I grabbed some printer paper and started slicing clean strips of paper off to my amazement! So far this thing is fantastic. Its very light weight plastic and it feels like it will break when you use it but for the price point I think this is just an amazing sharpener.

When it comes to the sharpening of this product it does a fairly decent job. I got it to sharpen a cheap hatchet and it seems to do a fairly decent job of that. However, when I received it in the shipping box the plastic hinge was broken off and the top plastic piece where the blade goes through was laying in the bottom of the box. Is this necessarily Fiskars fault? No. Am I saying this product is high quality? No. I feel as though the cheap hinge would have broken off at some point if it wouldn't have in the box. But, I don't feel like dealing with all the return and replace annoyance so I'll just superglue the plastic piece on and use it until I feel it's useless anymore. Basically, you get what you pay for. This is a cheap sharpener that will do a decent job sharpening things like axes and hatchets. But it's just not that high of quality in terms of the hinge put on for "easy cleaning". My advice to Fiskars. Put on a metal hinge and charge another dollar. Overall. If you just need something cheap to sharpen every once in a while, this will do. If you need to sharpen axes and hatches regularly, spend a little money for something of better quality.

Cheap garbage. They could make it SO MUCH higher quality with so little material... you can't see it from this angle, but the underside of this thing is entirely hollow underneath. There's no "bottom" on it, and there's not any reinforcement either; you can squeeze the bottom of the sides and flex them with minimal effort. And the ceramic sharpening wheel has no bushings/bearings on the "axle" to enable it to withstand long-term use. It's TERRIBLE for sharpening axes and hatchets. Thicker axes won't fit in it at all. And even if your axe/hatchet is thin, you have to rotate your axe to line up right with the sharpening wheel, which is awkward at best. If you need to sharpen a hatchet or axe, use the carbide tool that pulls across the blade instead of trying to pull an axe blade across this chintzy little gadget. It works fine for sharpening a machete, but only if you want a fairly blunt blade edge with no beveling. Otherwise a wheel-style kitchen knife sharpener would do a much better job - and would provide a much-stronger beveled edge. I really like the IDEA of using a wheel instead of a simple carbide "V". But Fiskars needs to redesign this into a rigid, handheld, "pull-across", diamond-wheel sharpener instead of a thin plastic, stationary, ceramic wheel.

For such an inexpensive device, it's quite effective. I got it primarily for my Fiskars splitting axe (works very well) but also works very nicely for knives of different sizes. Pleasantly surprised, actually, given some of the negative reviews. It is lightweight (a plus in my book), so you have to kind of lean on it when using with larger items like an axe, but does the job a lot easier than trying to get the edge perfect with a file!

I've seen more than a few bad reviews and all i have to say is that life must be very difficult for those people. This sharpener is amazing, I have the first gerber/fiskars splitting camp axe (full size). Its had extremely heavy use since i got it in 2004, even has a rather rounded section and lots ov knicks and generally overly worked. In about 30 strokes back and forth, (like it shows the the package) it started getting a very nice edge again even the rounded part was starting to become sharp. A few split red oak logs later and this very very easy to use sharpener has proved it a very good one for my gerber axe and its even very packable for frame packers like myself. The only thing i can think ov for those that couldnt make it work was they were pressing down while trying to use the sharpener, it doesnt need any more pressure than what it requires to keep it in the tool. I also have the brush axe which also has heavy use to it and its not so great for that but thats just due to the curve, its great for the straight edge and im guessing with a little practice ill get the curve too. Highly recommended for anyone that has the gerber/fiskars axe/s, has some common sense and doesnt need to be led by the hand to figure things out