Happiness is a fully stocked woodpile: 20 percent spruce, sappy and good for starting a fire, and 80 percent birch, for longer burn time. Sadness is realizing you finally need to sharpen your axe, and you don't have access to an old-fashioned pedal grindstone. Happiness is when you find out you can do a pretty darn good job with an inexpensive and versatile sharpener from Sharpal.
The All-in-1 sharpener has become a mandatory part of our kit. I used it to sharpen knives, our precious Fiskars splitting axe and a mower blade. The last item I had previously used an electric grinder on; I knew I was ruining the temper on the blade, but it was all I had. No more!
The Sharpal can sharpen scissors, knives, axes, hedge and pruning shears, machetes, basically everything except fishing hooks (oh but they make a sharpener for that too!) and serrated knife blades. All the sharpening parts are intuitive, easy and safe to use, with preset angles and a wrap-around handguard.
For all the tools we sharpened, generally just a few pulls through for lightly worn blades or just a few more for heavier wear were sufficient to restore a nice edge. If you're plowing through a stack of kitchen knives that you've been ignoring for a while – not that we know anyone like that, no sir – the additional comfort of the Sharpal becomes a major plus. The All-in-1 is versatile, effective and inexpensive, and now you have no excuse for all those dull edges around the house.