Trend Essential Diamond Sharpening Kit with 300/1000 Grit Bench Stone, Lapping Fluid, Leather Strop, Honing Paste, Cleaning Block & Sharpening Solutions Guide, DWS/KIT/H

Wow this thing is pricey but it does such an amazing job sharpening my chisels and other bladed tools. I was spending way too long trying to sharpen with small whetstones when I finally bought the bullet and bought this set for myself. What was taking me hours I did in minutes. Chisels are now scary sharp and cut through end grain hard wood with ease. My biggest complaint with this set is the included storage doesn’t have space to hold all the bits and bobs of the set. The fluid and the angle guide just have to flop around in a drawer until I build a box I guess.

I purchased mainly for my high speed steel lathe tools, I am going to buy a second to add to my toolbox due to the usefulness. Works quickly and puts a mirror finish on the cutting edges. The overpriced fluid is a must and a little goes a long way only needing a drop or two at a time the small container I suspect will last a lot longer than I expected. I found the hand file quite useful on some of the serrated edges on some of my blades along with removing the burr from my lathe tools and makes a handy chainsaw blade sharpener too. Buying the set ended up being a (very) little cheaper than getting the individual pieces and comes with a eraser like block to clean the stone when it becomes clogged. I use my grinder to refine the shape on my gouges and these to sharpen/hone them greatly extending the life of my tools. The ability to sharpen the small carbon steel inserts for my other lathe tools will more than pay for the investment.

This review occurs about three weeks after purchase. I have used this to sharpen plane irons, chisels and kitchen knives, a total of about two dozen blades thus far, and I am very satisfied with this stone. As the product literature states, no pressure! A consistent angle and light strokes are all that is needed. The 3x8 size is perfect. It is heavy and stays put when you use the non skid mat. I am clearly still breaking it in but I get shaving sharp edges after the 1000 grit edge is stropped on leather. The 300 grit face can reshape an incorrectly ground bevel on a chisel but be prepared that it can take a full 15 minutes. It also leaves a nice “tooth” on a chef’s knife so for average home kitchen use you don’t absolutely need to use the 1000 grit face. A chipped or rounded over edge should be taken to the grinder or belt sander first of course, in the interests of time. In sum, for most of my needs this is a speedy and space saving replacement for my large piece of float glass and inventory of automotive sandpaper. Well cared for, I expect this tool to outlive me.

These were the highest quality for the money that I found. The kit is nice because it comes with all the basics I need. The Trend honing fluid works a LOT better than the crappy stuff I got with a different diamond sharpening plate. I ordered more. The plates were really high quality & real flat and true - I checked them first thing with some parallels that I have that are very, very accurate and true. After breaking them in, I sharpened a couple chisels & a plane blade. It didn't take too long & I was able to get them sharper than I ever could with whetstones. Only complaints: The included leather strop is too curved to use effectively, so I will probably buy a better one mounted on a paddle. It actually made the edge duller, not sharper. I looked at a couple YouTube videos to make sure I remembered how to do it right. The latches on the case are pretty cheap & have trouble staying aligned - the case is really nice to store the kit in. Kit only goes down to 300 grit. It takes a loonngg time to get some edges to where they need to be before moving on to the finer grits. It would have been nice to have a 150-180 grit plate to quickly put an edge on things & also for flattening whetstones. I ordered one from another vendor for this purpose as I couldn't find one with the grits I wanted. I didn't like the combinations of grits Trend offered for the other side of the low grits plates. All in all, I'm pretty happy.

For what you get, seems like a lot of money. There's so many cheap diamond files now available. But these are good quality. I tried to salvage a beat up 5/8" Forstner bit, and was able to reach all the required surfaces just fine - however the bit had lost too much metal on the main chisel edges to work properly. The lip ring prevented the chisel edge from biting into the wood, if only it had teeth along the lip I think it could have been saved. Lesson learned for my next bit purchase :)

I've contacted Amazon, which shows as both the seller and the contact for customer service. They would not help me since it's "beyond 30 days since my purchase" although it states plainly in the description that there is a 5 year limited warranty, which covers manufacturers defects. I have had the sharpening stone for quite a while, just over a year without using it once (started a new job). However upon receiving it I opened it, inspected it, and wrapped it in the trend brand fluid provided-soaked rag for long term storage. I recently picked up the 3 set of diamond stones that Rob Cosman recommends and decided to review them side by side, since Stumpy nubs was the reason I bought the trend stone. Not only did the diamonds sluff off in streaks leaving the 1000 grit side coarser than the 300 grid side, both sides have a hollow in the center. I understand that I didn't just buy this last week. But it was stored properly in a climate controlled building, and storage conditions do not change its squareness or flatness. Also for this to be almost $200 for ONE stone. Insane, at least have 2 so that you don't have to flip constantly if you're say, lapping the backs of new chisels. Which is what did this stone in, and pretty well ruined the Cryo-treated chisels that I was testing these on. I started with the Trend thinking it would be closer to the control (sandpaper on glass). After quite some time, disappointment, and some serious loss in money. I have to whole heartedly say that this is a horrible product that is overpriced by at least 2 times what it should be, with the quality control of a kindergarten P.E. teacher. Only thing worse about this product is the customer service. Just the run around from everyone. Seriously, any warranty presented is a complete joke that you'll never even find out whos responsible for upholding the terms. Amazon says Trend, Trend says it only warranties for 1 year. Great catch 22 here with the only loser being me. Don't be me.

My husband loves this kit. Does a great job sharping all my knives, they really get sharp.

My kit arrived with most of the inside soaked in light-oil lapping fluid. The cap vibrated loose in transit, and a little less than half had leaked. The oil had a strange effect on the plastic sleeves holding the credit-card-sized plate and the DVD, they looked like they had been distorted by heat. I cleaned up the mess, found an old DVD holder, and sharpened some tools. The flat side of the small half-round mini-taper file does a good job of quickly refreshing the primary cutting edge and side-teeth on "toothy" Forstner bits, even the smaller ones. If you have Forstner bits with the single curved rim, the round side of the taper-file will rapidly restore the sharp rim, and also the leading edge on each side cutter. I had two old, dull carbide 10-inch saw blades. The card plate made short work of restoring the teeth. I've only tested one of those blades, but it seems to be cutting like new. I'm looking forward to touching up a bunch of old, worn carbide router bits I called Trend to discuss the leaked lapping fluid. Their rep, Dave, apologized, said they had redesigned the bottles (others had also experienced the problem), and is sending me a fresh bottle. Other than the mess and lost lapping fluid (which has been handled nicely), my only gripe is the price...but I do know that good diamond plates and files with monocrystaline diamonds ain't cheap. I appreciate the fast, courteous handling of my gripe. Trend seems to be an excellent outfit to work with. ___________________________________________ UPDATE -- OK, the package arrived from Trend...and it included a lot more than just a new bottle of lapping fluid. I'd told Dave that the leaked lapping fluid had ruined the little rubbery-plastic card holding mat...he sent me two more. The new bottle of lapping fluid arrived with zero leakage, and there was also an 18-oz bottle of Trend Tool Cleaner, an $11 value. Much better customer care than I expected! The only gripe I have is, still, the price of the kit. I thought it was pretty expensive at $73 (what I paid for it on Apr 27). I was shocked to see that the price on Amazon is now $92, a 26% increase in only 18 days. As good as the products are, and as good as the customer support is, I have to say that I would not buy the kit again at that price.