How to Keep Every Tool Around Your Shop and Home Razor Sharp

I know sharpening is everyone's favorite subject to talk about but the least favorite to do. M-Power tools, a well-known British company, has expanded their line of diamond sharpening equipment. Their Diamond Cross sharpening system includes file and credit card sizes with built-in handles. These make sharpening a variety of shop tools, garden tools, and household items faster and more convenient. (You may recognize M-Power from their excellent CRB7 router baseplate and FastTrack sharpening system for chisels and plane irons.)

All of M-Power's Diamond Cross sharpeners are built on a 1/16"-thick stainless steel body that is then coated with a diamond mesh bedded in nickel. This produces a very strong and durable tool that will hold up to the most demanding sharpening tasks. M-Power goes the extra step to produce their Diamond Cross pattern which allows space for metal filings to collect to help prevent clogging the stone. Each sharpener also has its grit prominently marked on the stone.

The first sharpener you should take a look at is the router bit sharpener. This little stone is the length of a credit card and half the width making it easy to control when sharpening the carbide cutters on router bits and shaper cutters. The unique part of all of these sharpeners is the addition of a handle that makes them much easier to handle and control. The router bit sharpener has 300-grit on one side and 600-grit on the other, an ideal grit range for sharpening carbide and high-speed steel tools quickly.

One step larger is the M-Power credit card file. Exactly as you would expect it's the size of a credit card for sharpening larger profile router bits and shaper cutters. It can also be used for sharpening household items like scissors, kitchen knives, and many other tools around the house. This sharpener also has a 300 grit surface on one side and a 600 grit surface on the other. And with the addition of the handle the sharpener is much easier to handle than a traditional credit card sharpener.

Let's talk a little more about the handle. It's a simple addition but it has been executed extremely well on these tools. The body of the sharpener extends all the way through the handle and the grip is held in place with a pair of nuts and bolts. This makes for an extremely stable and durable arrangement. The great thing is, the handle can be removed if the sharpening task requires more clearance.

The other three Diamond Cross sharpeners are best described as files and are intended for the type of work you would normally perform with a file. The big advantage is the speed and durability of the diamond surface.

There are two different versions of these files: One has a handle at one end, with a 5"-long file. It comes with the standard grits of 300 on one face and 600-grit on the opposite face.

The other two files feature handles at both ends of a 4"-long file. One has a 100-grit/300-grit surfaces for those extra-tough sharpening jobs like axes and lawnmower blades. The other file has the finer 300-grit/600-grit surfaces for honing a finer edge.

One last piece that rounds out the Diamond Cross line is a diamond stone holder. These holders use a strong pair of magnets to hold the stone in place. They're shaped in such away to allow the stones to lay flat on your worksurface, turning them into a more traditional sharpening stone so that the tool being sharpened can be held with both hands for greater control.

The stone holders are made of a solvent-resistant rubber and are non-slip which helps keep them in place when sharpening. The overall shape of the stone holders allows them to interlock so that they can be used to support the different sizes and shapes of diamond sharpeners available and to provide a relief for the handle so that the stone remains flat.

Whatever your sharpening needs, the 6-pc. M-Power Diamond Cross sharpening package can handle the job.