Why so much hate for pull sharpeners?

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JayDeep

JayDeep

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I've recently noticed a lot of disdain for and ridicule of those using what I see called pull sharpeners. I've gathered that this means any type of sharpener in which you literally pull your knife through a slender opening with some kind of rods in the shape of a V at the bottom.

Honestly that's all I've ever used. They get it what I would call "working edge sharp" and I've been fine with that. I have noticed that they remove quite a bit of material. Is this the reason nobody likes them? Or maybe its the rather obtuse angle at which the rods force the edge to be?

I'll be the first to admit I don't do high maintenance anything. I would prefer to use the best products and apply the best practices in everything I do, but not at the sacrifice of it being higher maintenance to any noteworthy degree.

A long time ago I purchased a couple different highly touted sharpening systems. One a Lansky that requires way more set up and time than I'm ever interested in. The other is, I think, a Spyderco something or other with varying rods that go into various holes in a plastic base that you then stroke your knife through several times on each side. It came with a CD on angles and techniques etc. That one doesn't seem so bad, but I tried it once and felt like it didn't do anything and doing the angle right is all in how you hold it which is a huge margin for error. So i went back to the pull through type. I've got a dozen of them, they all work and get an edge that I've thus far found acceptable.

What's your take and thoughts?
 
Because, when you spend $200 + on a knife you don’t want to destroy the life of the knife by having a Ronco sharpener. Most people that start spending hard earned money on a good knife will either learn to sharpen or send it somewhere to have it sharpened.
The more you do something, the easier it gets over time. Taking a two hour trip is a long drive the first few times, then it doesn’t seem as long each time you drive it.
 
Ajack60 said:
Because, when you spend $200 + on a knife you don’t want to destroy the life of the knife by having a Ronco sharpener. Most people that start spending hard earned money on a good knife will either learn to sharpen or send it somewhere to have it sharpened.
The more you do something, the easier it gets over time. Taking a two hour trip is a long drive the first few times, then it doesn’t seem as long each time you drive it.
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You didn't quite answer my questions, but that's okay I've got a different series for you based on what you said...

Where do you go that's a 2 hour trip? How did you find this place and why did you choose it?

I've got a Cabelas near me and they offer free sharpening, but I always figured they were just as bad as pull sharpeners. I've got a knife/blade specific store in the mall very very near me, they too offer this service. The problem is I've been in there several times and met the pothead idiot loser that literally knew nothing about knives at all and I don't trust that place even remotely. In fact all I ever see in there are mall ninja antifacons and the sales clerk literally ignores potential buying customers to chitchat with these all black clad, cargo pockets and balisong flipping reres.

I also am so very strategically placed as a resident of metro Oregon. Meaning I'm within 20 minutes of Kai, Gerber & Benchmade, which all offer free sharpening services, but since Covid they only take mail in and I've heard many horror stories of getting back broken knives and having them lost in the post, etc.
 
MolokaiRider said:
Carbide pull-through sharpeners remove way too much material and leave a jagged, uneven edge.
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That's what I figured. Are there any pull through that don't remove a bunch of material? Or do I just need to deal with it or find a better option?
 
JayDeep said:
That's what I figured. Are there any pull through that don't remove a bunch of material? Or do I just need to deal with it or find a better option?
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Ceramic versions are not as damaging, but they can still leave a less than desirable result from uneven bevels.

Also, knife steels tend to be ground from spine to edge. Using a pull-through goes against the grain and sorta promotes a ragged edge.

If you think about how an apex forms, a pull-through will not allow consistency.
 
If the knife does what you need it to do then it doesn't matter how you get there is my opinion. There's a million ways to do this. Learning to freehand does take some time. But once you know how a $30 dmt folding sharpener could be all you ever need. Although some will say a guided sharpener, others a tornek, others a belt sander, some others will say if it doesn't whittle hair and isnt sharpened at 100k grit then it isn't sharp enough even though your purpose of sharpening doesn't involve whittling hair. Etc etc etc.
 
JayDeep said:
I've recently noticed a lot of disdain for and ridicule of those using what I see called pull sharpeners. I've gathered that this means any type of sharpener in which you literally pull your knife through a slender opening with some kind of rods in the shape of a V at the bottom.

Honestly that's all I've ever used. They get it what I would call "working edge sharp" and I've been fine with that. I have noticed that they remove quite a bit of material. Is this the reason nobody likes them? Or maybe its the rather obtuse angle at which the rods force the edge to be?

I'll be the first to admit I don't do high maintenance anything. I would prefer to use the best products and apply the best practices in everything I do, but not at the sacrifice of it being higher maintenance to any noteworthy degree.

A long time ago I purchased a couple different highly touted sharpening systems. One a Lansky that requires way more set up and time than I'm ever interested in. The other is, I think, a Spyderco something or other with varying rods that go into various holes in a plastic base that you then stroke your knife through several times on each side. It came with a CD on angles and techniques etc. That one doesn't seem so bad, but I tried it once and felt like it didn't do anything and doing the angle right is all in how you hold it which is a huge margin for error. So i went back to the pull through type. I've got a dozen of them, they all work and get an edge that I've thus far found acceptable.

What's your take and thoughts?
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I don't exactly hate them, but they do cause excessive wear and create an inconsistent edge without actually saving very much time over using a whetstone.
 
This is a complicated question. First of all, you do still need to hold the knife square to a pull-through sharpener, as you can very easily skew a knife and create uneven bevels if not paying attention to it. Second of all is that there are multiple types of pull-through sharpeners, none of which are quite the same as one another, and so have varying faults. First and foremost they are often simply at poor angles that are far too thick for good cutting performance. Second is that carbide scrapers are best used with only the minimum amount of pressure required for them to cut the steel, and maintaining even pressure along the stroke to avoid digging in and creating uneven wear that leads to uneven and undulating edges. Most people use them with way too much pressure and make an ugly mess of their edges. The alternative is hard ceramics which are too fine of a jump and only see wear on a small portion of their surface, leading to clogging and burnishing instead of cutting. Scraped edges produced from carbide scrapers that have been used too aggressively can cause grooves or striations running parallel to the edge that can induce early edge failure in use.

I firmly believe that a good drag-through sharpener could be devised, but I don't think we're there yet.
 
Recycling an old post on the topic:

“They can improve a dull edge to kinda half sharp enough to cut stuff, IF certain conditions are met and your expectations of result are lower than average for a BF member.

First, the angle. Is the angle they are set at the angle you want? If not, proceed no further. If so, move on to the next question.

Are you capable of drawing the blade through them exactly perpendicular to the “V” on every stroke? If not, you’ll create an asymmetrical edge to start, and before long you’ll just be scraping the shoulder, not even reaching the apex.

Finally, do you want the microscopic scratches at your microscopic edge to be parallel to the length of the blade, thus denying yourself the benefit of the microscopic “saw teeth” that perpendicular abrasive action produces?

If you answered “yes” to all three of these questions, then pull through sharpeners can work for you. Best of luck.

Personally, I see them used poorly all the time, and I’ve never had success producing an edge that I was satisfied with. I can’t think of any knife I own that I wouldn’t prefer to sharpen or touch up with a small whetstone or diamond rod or ceramic rod or upside down coffee cup.

If you can make them work, great. But I found that particular road to be a dead end.”

Parker
 
Most people would be better served to purchase an economical coarse bench stone and, rather than trying to replicate a specific angle, just "attempt to take thin slices off the stone, an equal number of strokes per side" and finish with very light pressure after the scratches have reached the edge apex. That's honestly the only instruction you have to give people to get better edges than the overwhelming majority of drag-through sharpeners.
 
JayDeep said:
I've recently noticed a lot of disdain for and ridicule of those using what I see called pull sharpeners.
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It's because those types of sharpeners don't get a knife very sharp, and no one wants to sharpen a blade that's been buggered up by one of these sharpeners. If that's what you like, that's ok. But I think by asking the question, you might suspect that better edges can be put on your knives. Yes, your knives CAN have better edges. The grass IS greener.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Hand sharpening isn't rocket science. People have been doing it for hundreds of years.
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I don't think it is, but I do think that's is high maintenance, which was my entire point. Difficulty was never a question. Time consuming and displeasurable is my issue with it.
 
Hence the suggestion for coarse stones. I can sharpen even very dull knives on a coarse stone in a matter of a few minutes, and can touch up damaged or dulled blades that already have their bevel properly established with 1-3 strokes per side. It's as fast or faster than pull-through sharpeners and yields better results. I find that the suggestion of making strokes "like trying to take thin slices off the stone" is enough for even complete beginners to hold a properly low angle.
 
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