Review: Craftsmen Utility Sharpener

Walking Man

Walking Man

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The model for this machine is 152.211700
I seem to remember that I paid 30-40 for it. I'm not 100%
Basically, this is a motorized whetstone,
you even add water.
This is clearly a sharpener. It even says that it is not to be indened to use as a grinder, or a belt sander because of the slow speeds.
Today, I asked my wife if I could buy a dremmel to do some customizing, but she said that I hadn't even used my sharpener yet. So, there I went.
The instructions are pretty good, but they don't really explain too much. They don't say anything about knife angles, other than to use the current bevel as your guide. An appropriately sized hex wrench is handy also, but not included, and maybe not 100% necessary to tighten the guides, but helpful.
Af first the guides seemed a little lacking. One is smaller than the other, so you have some choice as to which to use.
Overall (sorry, I have to rush now, or I'd get more detailed) it's a GREAT tool for guys like me that never learned to sharpen, and a HECK of a lot better than $200??? or whatever it is for a sharpmaker.
So I sharpened my Opinel and now it shaves hair. Although I did run it on a ceramic rod a couple of times after I used it to remove any possible burrs. (I didn't really look, I just did it.)
Questions? I can do some more playing if anyone is interested.
thanks.
 
Walking Man said:
Overall (sorry, I have to rush now, or I'd get more detailed) it's a GREAT tool for guys like me that never learned to sharpen, and a HECK of a lot better than $200??? or whatever it is for a sharpmaker.
Click to expand...

You must be thinking of the Edgepro Apex, a sharpmaker runs about 50 dollars.
 
00921170000-dlv.jpg

looks very interesting... thanks WM!

abe
 
Yes, I am convinced it is totally worth it.
But there are no angle guides, so you have to eyeball it.
Also, I just found the receipt because I have to return it,.
and it was an extremely reasonable $30
It leaks. and it's cracked, but it still works,
I'm not going to use it again because of the water/electrical hazard until tomorrow when I'll get a new one, but I'll answer any questions I can.
.
oh, and Yoda, yeah, that's what I meant.
 
Nope, sorry about that,
but it does have a one year guarantee.
I've had a few different sharpening things,
and in the past I've done okay at sharpening, not even really good, just okay,
with this one I do really well.
Just mind your angles, use a protractor if you have to.
Also, the Opinel really had no bevel before, the edge was just sharp. Now it does. More so one side than the other, almost (not quite) like a Busse zero grind, but sharp. I shave hair off of my arm, and I cut through a thick envelope to test.
 
i might have to check one of these out for myself... the price ain't bad at all. how quickly does it remove metal, WM? would you trust it to any knife? it kinda looks like the thing has suction cups on the bottom.. is it secure?

abe
 
allyourblood said:
i might have to check one of these out for myself... the price ain't bad at all. how quickly does it remove metal, WM? would you trust it to any knife? it kinda looks like the thing has suction cups on the bottom.. is it secure?
Click to expand...
No suction cups, but it does have rubber feet, and yes it's pretty secure. As far as how fast it removes metal, I'd say it does the job right on target. Of course I had an Opinel, and your knife will vary due to hardness, geometry, etc. I saw dust right away but it doesn't do it too fast.
 
I have had one for about six to nine months. The thing is wonderful. I use it when friends send their not so great kitchen knives to me for sharpening. Good also for reprofiling. I have used it to sharpen chisels as well.
 
Since it has a waterbath for the wheel there's no chance of that happening. I may see if my local sears has one, it'll be useful for putting a decent edge on some of my family's older and dull kitchen knives, without having to try to find the belt sander buried in the garage.
 
well, i've had some knives in the past (mostly "lent" to me by friends and family to sharpen for them), and i would find myself slaving over my 6" stone, slowly and carefully reprofiling some wayward edge. then having to pull in my freehand edge on the medium stones of the Sharpmaker, bleh. after an hour or so, your patience begins to wear thin.

so i'm glad you brought this thing to my attention, Walking Man. for under $30, it looks like it'll afford me a bit more control in restoring an edge, before moving to my SM. i don't know when i'll pick one up, but it seems a viable solution in any event.

btw, what grit would you say this thing is? just by eyeballing, i'm guessing 100-220?

abe
 
I'll let practical use answer that one about the grit.
But so far we have 2 to 0 for this thing.
Anyone else?
 
I've had one for about two years. My environment is my woodworking/knife customizing/kydex/leather shop so have a little different take on it.

I use mine mainly for chisels and planes which the guides are well suited for. I've sharpened things on it dozens of times and because of the slow speed you would never have an issue with damaging the heat treat.

I also like the fact that it's reversible.

I've only sharpened my rough utility knives on it and it did a good job but there are better (albeit more expensive) sharpeners out there for knives. I think used in conjunction with a sharpmaker this would be an excellent option for thinning edges and then normalizing the bevel on a sharpmaker. Any freehand sharpening is not going to be as even as a jigged device and in my experience and even/consistent edge is every bit as important as a sharp one.


The cons, not too many but...

I wish there was a cover included or made available for this. I know I can make one but it'd be nice to have one form fitted. Mine fills with dust and debris and I have to clean it before every use.

There should be a lip on the water reservoir to keep water from splashing over the front or back of the dish.

Would be nice if the stone could be used with oil. That way you could leave it filled all of the time and sharpen on demand rather than dragging it out and having to fill it with water every time. I may switch mine over to oil just to see what happens, for $30 I can always go get another if I screw it up.


Overall, this is a nice little utility sharpener. I would suggest if someone is buying it for knives to practice a lot on inexpensive ones to get good at it. The stone moves too slow to cause a lot of damage if you make one slip up but as others have said it can be tricky to get the ideal angle.
 
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