Trend Chisel Sharpener Review

Trend Fast Track Sharpening System

A New chisel sharpener that makes a mundane task quick and easy!

To be completely honest, sharpening all my chisels has never been a particularly fun job. Working to tight deadlines on site also leaves very limited amounts of time to spend at the stone trying to get a decent sharp edge. It's not just the actual sharpening, the set up time in between making sure the honing guide is true takes a couple of minutes for each chisel, and angle.

I first came across the Trend chisel sharpener when another carpenter had one on site. I borrowed it to sharpen all my chisels in less than half an hour, including sorting out an old one I use for rough work like scraping and cutting plaster/plasterboard etc. I actually went home and that night ordered one from Screwfix Direct - I was that impressed with it.

How does it work?

It's completely different to a honing guide and sharpening stone in that the interchangeable diamond cutting blades are held in place by magnets in the carriage body. The carriage slides across the blade on nylon rails (keep these clean and well lubricated) in order to grind a good sharp cutting angle. Turn the carriage body round to switch between 25 and 30° angles for the bevel/microbevel.It's faster to both use and setup, cleaner and I believe more accurate than a honing guide - there's virtually no way you can get it wrong.

Whilst for serious woodworkers there are ways to get a much sharper edge, like using a waterstone then finer and finer grades of sandpaper for example, this jig is the fastest and most practical way to get a really good edge with very little margin for error. I have minimal amounts of time when i'm working to spend sharpening my tools and need the quickest possible way, not the most time consuming. It's not cheap but if you're pressed for time, want speed and work on a price like I often do this sharpening jig is arguably the quickest method you'll find. There are two grades of diamond sharpening stone so you can start coarse then hone to a much finer edge if there's time too. I've still got my old honing guide and stone from the days when I used to sharpen chisels the old fashion way with oil but I haven't used them since I bought the Trend.

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