- Joined
- Aug 26, 2012
- Messages
- 389
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to review this sharpener for Worksharp before it's release in November and thought I'd give a more detailed review here.
I used this sharpener on three knives so far; a garage sale purchased Buck folder with significant edge damage and a J.H. Henkels Santoku kitchen knife. My initial impressions were that the sharpener was well made and packaged well. It comes with three sided sharpening rods that have medium diamond (400 grit), fine diamond (800 grit), and a fine ceramic abrasives. There is also a ceramic rod that clicks into the top of the rods on either side for sharpening serrations. The case is smart and the top opens from the middle to reveal the contents packed away inside. The bottom of the case has rubber or neoprene feet to prevent sliding while being used.
I set the sharpener to the 25° setting to sharpen the Buck first, I wanted an all around utility edge that would stand up to abuse. The positive and firm grab of the magnets into position was a testiment to the quality of materials and smart design that went into this sharpener. If you've ever used the Sharpmaker, you know that the rods flex apart when being used; this eliminates that problem. I started with the medium grit diamond and when I indexed the rods to face the abrasive outward the rotation was smooth but didn't have a stop. I think the addition of detents would be nice but since it doesn't impact the angle of sharpening it's not necessarily a problem to me. Once set up, I started with a downward stroke and I could immediately feel the abrasives removing material. I really liked that there was no "breaking in" of the abrasive like is required with my Wicked Edge stones. I did notice that the sharpener can wobble a bit if you're applying decent pressure. I believe this is due to the feet compresing under the base. I found that placing my thumb from my non-dominant side on top of the rods stabilized it. This did not affect the angle whatsoever, so again not a big deal to me. After a few strokes on one side I felt the edge and already had a burr forming. The diamond abrasives worked fast, even in comparison to my other diamond abrasives in comparible grits. I switched to the other side of the rod and blade, got the burr to form again and gave a few alternating strokes before moving to the fine diamond. Changing abrasives during this process is fast and easy; I feel this is another reason it beats the Sharpmaker. After repeating the process for the fine diamond I had a toothy edge that would shave hair from my arm. I indexed to the ceramic to finish the knife and quickly produced an edge that was significantly sharper and easily shaved the hair from my arm.
For the Santoku I switched to the 15° setting; I really appreciate the magnets making it quick and precise. Same results here; I quickly acheived a hair popping edge. I got each of the first two knife hair popping sharp in about four minutes each; these are cheaper knives with inexpensive materials l. I usually test sharpeners out with inexpensive and easily replaced knives in case I fail to follow directions.
Since the sharpener didn't destroy my other knives I gave it a shot with one that costs a bit more, a ZT 0200 in 154CM. This knife has a recurve blade, which can be a pain to sharpen. This was actually a reprofile, from about 25* down to 17.5*, a decent amount but nothing too crazy. I found that if you rotate the rods to where the edge of the stone contacts the blade, it gets the recurve perfectly. Took the knife to a razor sharp 17.5* in 13 minutes total. I'm pretty impressed.
Once completed, the rods fold down and stow away easily. The system is small enough to easily fit into a backpack (or fanny pack for those of you still rocking them!).
I'm a big fan of this system, which costs $49.95 on Amazon for pre-order now....cheaper than the Sharpmaker and far superior in my humble opinion. It is especially great for someone who doesn't have the best eye for maintaining a consistent angle, it only requires you to hold the knife straight up and down. I really wish I could've taken one with me on the last deployment I had.
If you have any questions that I could answer, feel free to ask, I will answer to the best of my ability as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!
I used this sharpener on three knives so far; a garage sale purchased Buck folder with significant edge damage and a J.H. Henkels Santoku kitchen knife. My initial impressions were that the sharpener was well made and packaged well. It comes with three sided sharpening rods that have medium diamond (400 grit), fine diamond (800 grit), and a fine ceramic abrasives. There is also a ceramic rod that clicks into the top of the rods on either side for sharpening serrations. The case is smart and the top opens from the middle to reveal the contents packed away inside. The bottom of the case has rubber or neoprene feet to prevent sliding while being used.
I set the sharpener to the 25° setting to sharpen the Buck first, I wanted an all around utility edge that would stand up to abuse. The positive and firm grab of the magnets into position was a testiment to the quality of materials and smart design that went into this sharpener. If you've ever used the Sharpmaker, you know that the rods flex apart when being used; this eliminates that problem. I started with the medium grit diamond and when I indexed the rods to face the abrasive outward the rotation was smooth but didn't have a stop. I think the addition of detents would be nice but since it doesn't impact the angle of sharpening it's not necessarily a problem to me. Once set up, I started with a downward stroke and I could immediately feel the abrasives removing material. I really liked that there was no "breaking in" of the abrasive like is required with my Wicked Edge stones. I did notice that the sharpener can wobble a bit if you're applying decent pressure. I believe this is due to the feet compresing under the base. I found that placing my thumb from my non-dominant side on top of the rods stabilized it. This did not affect the angle whatsoever, so again not a big deal to me. After a few strokes on one side I felt the edge and already had a burr forming. The diamond abrasives worked fast, even in comparison to my other diamond abrasives in comparible grits. I switched to the other side of the rod and blade, got the burr to form again and gave a few alternating strokes before moving to the fine diamond. Changing abrasives during this process is fast and easy; I feel this is another reason it beats the Sharpmaker. After repeating the process for the fine diamond I had a toothy edge that would shave hair from my arm. I indexed to the ceramic to finish the knife and quickly produced an edge that was significantly sharper and easily shaved the hair from my arm.
For the Santoku I switched to the 15° setting; I really appreciate the magnets making it quick and precise. Same results here; I quickly acheived a hair popping edge. I got each of the first two knife hair popping sharp in about four minutes each; these are cheaper knives with inexpensive materials l. I usually test sharpeners out with inexpensive and easily replaced knives in case I fail to follow directions.
Since the sharpener didn't destroy my other knives I gave it a shot with one that costs a bit more, a ZT 0200 in 154CM. This knife has a recurve blade, which can be a pain to sharpen. This was actually a reprofile, from about 25* down to 17.5*, a decent amount but nothing too crazy. I found that if you rotate the rods to where the edge of the stone contacts the blade, it gets the recurve perfectly. Took the knife to a razor sharp 17.5* in 13 minutes total. I'm pretty impressed.
Once completed, the rods fold down and stow away easily. The system is small enough to easily fit into a backpack (or fanny pack for those of you still rocking them!).
I'm a big fan of this system, which costs $49.95 on Amazon for pre-order now....cheaper than the Sharpmaker and far superior in my humble opinion. It is especially great for someone who doesn't have the best eye for maintaining a consistent angle, it only requires you to hold the knife straight up and down. I really wish I could've taken one with me on the last deployment I had.
If you have any questions that I could answer, feel free to ask, I will answer to the best of my ability as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!
