M Power  Bench Stones

When I accept tools for review I agree to test them in real shop use for at least 20 hours. This doesn’t sound like a long time and in many cases it’s considerably more than necessary. Twenty hours of sharpening with a new system is a bit much but this is what we choose to do to find potential flaws in a tool.

Over the last five months we have tested a new set of diamond stones from M-Power Tools. The generously sized new 8” Diamond Cross Bench Stones are wonderfully made as are most of the tools we have tested from M Power. In this lot were a set of double sided, laminated diamond plates with a 300 grit coarse side and a 1000 grit fine side, along with a couple of double side files and cards with a 300 grit coarse side and a 600 grit fine side.

I set about sharpening every dull tool in the shop. The different shapes are well designed and are all ergonomic and functional. The two I found myself going back to the most were the credit card sized stone and the router bit sharpener. I use a lot of WoodRat router bits which require sharpening often to keep them in top shape and it is a chore easily put off, but that common task improved dramatically with the new M Power diamond cards. It’s now quick and easy to sharpen the bits, blades and carving tools in the shop.

The plates are stainless steel so rust is not an issue and M Power has developed a method of distributing the diamond grit more evenly across the surface maintaining tighter tolerances and improved depth. One of their most appreciated features is an “In Surface Grit Indicator” which means the grit size is clearly labeled on each surface. Also for the tentative among us, they come with a “no fuss” 3 year extended guarantee. We will go over specific features in the following video.

Special thanks to M Power for supporting This Old Workshop for many years. Cynthia has been a joy to work with and we are proud to say we use many M Power tools every day at This Old Workshop.