Pat’s Product Review: Speedy Sharp

I’ve been around knives since I was about five years old. For a time, I collected custom made knives, but that “hobby” got too expensive for me. For close to 20 years I was the West Coast Field Editor for Knives Illustrated magazine. I believe I wrote for them longer than anyone else did. During that time, I wrote numerous magazine articles, and had at least a thousand different knife samples pass through my hands. When I first started writing about knives, there were a lot of knives that came across my desk that weren’t very sharp – I’m glad to report, that isn’t the case any longer. If a knife company wants to sell their knives today – even cheaply made knives – they had better have a useable edge on there.
 
It has never ceased to amaze me, the number of people who are afraid – yes – afraid of a sharp knife. They are ill-informed, in believing that a sharp knife is more dangerous than a dull knife is. A dull knife means you have to apply more pressure  to do the cutting for you – and if you happen to slip, while applying more pressure, you can seriously injure yourself. A sharp knife is a much safer knife – it takes less effort and pressure to cut something, so there is less chance of you slipping an injuring yourself. But try to convince a lot of people of this, and you’d might as well talk to the wall.
 
I have never claimed any sort of magical skill when it comes to re-sharpening a knife, it takes a little work and some skill to put a razor-sharp edge on a knife, especially one that you allowed to get too dull in the first place. I’ve always found it easier to just touch-up a knife blade when it first starts to show signs of getting dull, instead of waiting until the edge is really dull – which means a lot more work to get that fine edge restored on a knife. Over the years, I have experimented with just about every type of knife sharpener out there – some are mere gimmicks, while others can put a decent edge on a blade, and some others can put a really sharp edge on a knife. Still, they all require some skill and effort – and time!
 
I carry a small sharpening stone in my military butt pack, as well as one in my main BOB. I don’t want to have to make a feeble attempt at sharpening a dull knife on a river stone. Let me tell you about Speedy Sharp. They have one of the best and quickest little knife and tool sharpeners I’ve run across in a long, long time. What we have with the Speedy Sharp is a small, flat-ish sharpener, that is made out of Micro 100 Super Carbide that never wears out – and it is only a couple inches long. Yes, you read that right – this sharpener will never wear out on you. The sharpener is housed in a plastic handle, with the sharpener end exposed, and it comes with a cap to cover the sharpener end – because it is so blasted good at doing it’s job of “cutting” steel, you don’t want it cutting through your pockets or pack. Check out their web site for photos – that illustrate the Speedy Sharp easier than I can describe it.
 
Speedy Sharp has been in business since 1994, and last year alone, sold over 160,000 Speedy Sharps. They also come in different handle colors – 7 different colors to be exact, and you can use them as a promotional item for your business – they will emboss the name of your business on the handle of the Speedy Sharp.
 
Needless to say, the Speedy Sharp is useful for sharpening knives. However, you can also sharpen axes, lawn mower blades, hatchets, scissors and anything else that you can possibly think of that takes an edge to make it a cutting tool. Heck, you can even re-sharpen a razor blade if you had a mind too.
 
I keep all my using knives sharp all the time, so I was looking for a knife to put a good edge on. I remembered I received some free knives in an order I placed from some company, and they are cheaply made knives, that did not come with any sort of an edge – you might be able to cut soft butter with one – that’s how dull they came right out of the package. I took a Speedy Sharp out of the package, read the instructions on how to use it and I set about trying to put an edge on a cheap knife. (BTW, and you can even find them being used on You Tube sharpening different things.)
 
Okay, Speedy Sharp lives up to it’s name – it is probably the fastest knife sharpener I’ve every used – it took a little bit of practice to get the angle just right, but in no time at all, I had a hair-popping edge on several cheap imported knives, that didn’t have an edge to start with. I then tackled a small hatchet that I’ve used around the homestead, that had gotten dull – and it no time at all again, I had a very sharp edge on the hatchet – you don’t want a hair-popping edge on a hatchet – just a working edge – a thin edge will quickly dull and you don’t want that on an axe or hatchet.
 
So what we have here, is a product that is called Speedy Sharp – and that is also the name of the company – and their product lives up to their claim and their name – it is a neat little sharpener that you can carry in your pocket, your BOB, fishing tackle box or any place, and in no time at all, you can put a razor’s edge on a knife, and the product will never wear out. I will be replacing my sharpening stones in my butt pack and my BOB and putting Speedy Sharp sharpeners in these packs. During a SHTF scenario, you want the very best products you can get – products that won’t fail you – and a product that is priced right, too.
 
Now, for the good news, the Speedy Sharp sharpeners retail for only $9.95 and if you purchase more, you get a lower price – check out the web site for complete information and pricing. I was totally blown-away by the speed in which I could sharpen knives, knives that didn’t come with an edge to start with. And, if you’ve ever tried to re-sharpen an axe or hatchet, you will really appreciate the Speedy Sharp. When things you bad, really bad, and you can’t resupply – you want products that will last and last – the Speedy Sharp is just such a product.
 
I could go on and on about the merits of the Speedy Sharp, but I don’t want to bore SurvivalBlog readers, by telling you about all the edge tools that I used the Speedy Sharp on – the darn product does exactly as advertised, and at a price that is below what you would expect for a tool that will last forever. If you are serious about keeping a keen edge on all your knives and tools, you need to get several Speedy Sharp sharpeners – they make wonderful gifts for everyone – and under ten bucks each – that’s one of the best bargains going in my book. I have several, and plan on getting several more for my family for their BOB and packs. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio