HomeMiscMiscKnife Sharpening System Diamond Sharpening System 4-Hone |
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44 of 44 found the following review helpful:
 Lansky is the easiest system for consistent angle; diamond lasts the longest. May 26, 2008
By Joshua G. Feldman
"Technophile"
I've owned the Lansky system for almost 20 years and it perform perfectly and enable me to get fantastically sharp knives every time with a modicum of elbow grease but without any actual skill. Lansky's system is a brilliant arrangement of a knife clamp with sets of holes that ensure consistent grinding angle for the stones that have long steel guides. This solves the problem of how to hold the stone to the knife at a consistent angle. Using stones to sharpen your knives gives you total control and allows you to achieve the finest edge (much finer than using a chef's choice, motorized bench grinder (which can overheat the blade ruining the temper), or any of those ceramic wheel/rod dohickeys). The available angle choices are 17 degrees (for Asian knives), 20 and 25 (for Western knives) and 30 degrees (for hatchets). Lansky offers various different stones (from natural Arkansas stones, to diamond abrasive). This particular set includes 4 diamond sharpening stones - extra coarse, coarse, medium, and fine. The stones are excellent quality. The fine is fine enough to get your blades shaving sharp - but I personally added an extra fine stone for final stropping-like polish. The coarse ones cuts quickly, and really last. Non-diamond fine stones last, the the coarse ones wear out quickly (get ruts). The diamond ones last and last without ever needing to be trued up. That's the great thing about diamond stones. Lansky give you a bottle of sharpening oil to help carry away the metal shavings to keep the stones cutting. I don't like using oil so I keep a wet paper towel handy when sharpening and wipe the metal off the stones and blade periodically while sharpening that that works fine for me.
To use the Lansky the process is simple - clamp the blade into the clamp - then scrub the blade against the stone with a consistent angle until you feel a burr (a thin raised seam) along the edge. The burr is your cue to flip the blade over and do the other side. When you get burr on the other side, move onto the next stone. By the time you get to the final fine grade polishing stone and get burr on the last side, then flip and give slight touch with the stone on the other side (to remove the burr but not raise another one) and you'll find your knife is literally shaving sharp (will cut the hairs off your arm).
Is Lansky the perfect sharpening system? For medium and small knives it probably is. Knives over 6"-7" long, however, require you to sharpen 1/2 the knife and then move the clamp and sharpen the other half because the edge angle changes too much if you attempt to sharpen too far from the guide hole. The stones themselves are pretty small (about as wide as your middle finger and as long as your hand) so it can take a long time to do a big knife. I can do a 5" utility knife in about 5-10 minutes, but an 8" Chef's knife can take more than double that - which starts to become a bit of a big project. If you do a lot of big knives you'll probably want to spring for an Edge Pro Apex (same mechanical concept, bigger size for much much more money). If you only periodically sharpen then this can be lived with. You shouldn't sharpen your knives more than once or twice a year (or they wear out too quickly) since sharpening removes metal. You should use a honing steel frequently in between sharpenings to keep your knives sharp.
Lansky's system is the best way for normal regular people (non fanatics) to sharpen their knives. It's pretty easy, fun, satisfying, and extremely effective.
24 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 Smith's worked better for me Jan 30, 2010
By Sean Elkins
I bought the deluxe diamond set for $60. The plus is that the diamond stones are well made and do a good job. The fact the deluxe diamond set comes with an extra coarse stone for initial re-profiling is also nice. There are two minuses, however, that make it disappointing for me. First, there are a lot of knives that don't fit very securely in the clamp. The ledge to grip the blades of thinner knives is practically nonexistent, and any tapered blade gets grabbed just at the spine and not across the flats. There usually isn't enough blade contact with the clamp jaws to keep it from sliding around or popping out altogether. Second, the guide rod system is not well designed. The L shaped bend and the thumbscrew that holds it to the stone isn't particularly precise. There is a lot of bending, adjusting and readjusting needed to keep the stone cutting at a uniform angle---and isn't that the reason for buying a clamping sharpening system in the first place?
I purchased the Smith's diamond system at Lowe's a couple of weeks after I bought this one on sale for $25. It only has two diamond stones (plus a triangular stone for serrated knives), but the guide rod system and blade clamp are MUCH more functional. Sadly, the two systems aren't interchangeable (at least not if you want to maintain a consistent angle). For one brief moment I hoped the Smith's guide rods could screw into the thumb screw holes, but sadly the thread pitch is different. Even though the Smith's system only comes with a coarse (rather than extra coarse) hone It isn't noticeably slower at re-profiling because it's twice as wide as the Lansky stones. The extra surface area makes up for the smaller grit size.
If your blade happens to fit into the clamp well and the rods don't come loose then it will certainly give you a good quality edge, but neither of these is a given. They are nice enough to give you a longer screw to help it fit thicker knives better, but the slight rounding of the clamp jaws partially defeats their good intentions. There's also a problem with the stones hitting the clamp adjustment screw if you're trying to sharpen at the lowest angles on narrow-bladed knives.
I guess what I'm saying is to buy the Smith's system instead. Better design at 1/2 the price.
23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Great kit needs minor tweaking! Jan 22, 2010
By M. Payne
Just ordered and got this kit. I went to sharpening pocket knives that have been dull forever. Well not any more! This is a great kit to sharpen with. There are a few ways they could make it better.
1. The extra course hone really isn't needed unless you are re-profiling the knife. Replace it with a Ultra Fine hone instead.
2. If you buy this kit, order the the Yellow Ultra Fine Hone and the Purple Sapphire hone. The transition between the fine diamond hone and the sapphire is quite great and the yellow ultra fine is between them. I used this combo and my knives came out with almost a mirrored edge.
3. Buy the c-clamp kit for sure. It is worth twice what they want for it. The goofy base they have for sale you will have to hold down, and it makes the sharpening process really suck. I am going to mod the clamp kit to add a hole right in the middle of the upright, in order to thread in a screw to hold down the knife clamp. This mod will completely free up my hands to make steady work of running the hones. I wish they had done this from the factory.
4. If your knife is very small, cut out a section of bicycle inner tube and use it in the clamp to keep the blade from sliding around. The tube will give the clamp traction to hold the small blade in place.
5. Patience is key to learning. Don't rush the sharpening process. If you take time and care, even your first blade will come out insanely sharp!
6. I purchased this kit, the yellow and purple hones, the medium and fine serrated hones, the clamp, and an extra box. The box needed some plastic removed in order for the clamp to fit, but I now have the entire system in 2 boxes neatly setting on my shelf.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
perplexed May 11, 2010
By Dennis A. Wagers
"- Children's minister"
I owned the Lansky sharpening system which I wore out and wanted to replace. I love the result and ease of using the sharpening stones, however, my prior kit did a better job:
1. with holding the knife in the clamping devise. I do not know what is different about how it is made from the prior unit I have, but this one keeps
dropping the knives which is a little dangerous, so I am using my old clamp which works great.
2. a couple of the sharpening hones come loose from the guide rods, no matter how hard I tighten them down
If you are diligent, this system does do a great job, but you really need to pay close attention not to get hurt or ruin the job that you have done if things become loose.
11 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 NOT AS GOOD AS THEY USED TO BE!!!! Feb 14, 2010
By W. Hill
"Thrill"
I, too, had a Lansky sharpener for many years. Then I lost it somehow. I just ordered a new one with the Diamond hones. The only thing good I can say, is the diamond hones are very nice. But the knife-blade clamp is a COMPLETE PIECE OF CRAP! It does NOT hold the blade steady or securely. If the blade shifts while you're sharpening,... you have to start all over! I will be calling Lansky about it! The new clamp is not "finely machined" like the old one was. I will be returning this piece of junk! It makes no difference how nice the diamond hones are, if the clamps and rods don't work! VERY DISAPPOINTED, especially at that price!!! $65.00!!
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