Knife Sharpening - the DEFINITIVE Recommendation?

CTMike

MaskedMarvel said:

How long of a blade will Lansky accommodate?

Theoretically you can sharpen any length blade, you just keep moving the knife in the clamp, and doing a small width on either side of the clamp, move, repeat, etc. 

herbu

IMO, a plain ol' ceramic stick is the best and cheapest answer.  Not the "best cheapest", but the best AND cheapest.  Something like this:  http://www.cabelas.com/product/LANSKY-MEDIUM-SHARPENING-STICK/1993897.uts?productVariantId=4160148&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04152358&rid=20&gclid=CNDj3KzJy9ACFZYkgQodr18M8g&gclsrc=aw.ds

It does require some attention and care to hold your knife at the angle you want, but honestly that becomes second nature the more you use it.

A professional sharpener told me the ceramic stick, according on the grind, is for a very fine edge.  The only thing beyond the ceramic is a leather strop.

I do a few swipes on the ceramic stick almost every time I pull a knife out to use it.  They all stay sharp enough to shave with.  It takes 10 seconds, the stick has lasted over a dozen years now, and I know all my knives are sharp.

If starting fresh, I would take all knives to a pro for sharpening, then maintain with the ceramic.

westernbbq

Trizor XV


So easy to use that a dummy like me can have success with it....

Hi54putty

Work Sharp WSKTS Knife and Tool Sharpener

@MaskedMarvel  I have this and you are welcome to borrow it to try it out. 

Focker

MaskedMarvel said:

CTMike said:

MaskedMarvel said:

gmac said:

I know it's sort of old school, with no motors or anything but I love my Lanskey set. Great value,  Can get easily razor sharp. Takes a bit of elbow grease but works super well. www.lanskey.com

But be careful. Two stories. 
I sharpened a friends knife at deer camp. Next day he was sitting at the table and someone noticed his hand was bleeding. He had put the knife in the leather sheath wrong, slit the sheath wide open and had cut his hand on it without even knowing. It was that sharp. 

I also did did a neighbors Swiss Army knife for him and he went to cut some plastic on a project has doing and pried on it wrong, shutting it on his finger cutting down to the bone. Don't use a razor sharp knife like a screwdriver. 

Bonus story. My friend used it to touch up filet knives at the cottage, took his belt off to use as a strop and cut the belt in half on the first stroke. It can get a knife crazy sharp. 

Diamond or regular style? This looks like a great option for me. 

The Lansky is a great system no doubt, especially for doing shorter knives. But IMO it falls short when you need to hone a large chefs knife or carving knife. You keep having to move the knife in the clamp to work your way down the blade, and it is not easy to maintain a consistent bevel when doing that. 

The fear I have with the ken onion, which intrigues me, is that the belt driven system, like a grinding wheel, will take too much metal off. The Lansky seems like a well controlled block. I did hand sharpening for years in a kitchen where I worked and have sharpened free hand a whole bunch. I want the accuracy of that exact edge. The Lansky might be my pick.....

My beef with that system is the play in the belt, and possibly the limited mileage with using them.  Seems like the grit would lessen with use, like when using actual sandpaper.  

So not only is your bevel not true, the grit isn't either.  Maybe a KO WS user could help me out here.

@MaskedMarvel,
FWIW, if looking for accuracy, look into an Edge Pro Apex.

From pocket knives, to my 10" Shun, it handles it all.  With a little practice, pound for pound, it can't be beat.

HeavyG

MaskedMarvel said:

CTMike said:

MaskedMarvel said:

gmac said:

I know it's sort of old school, with no motors or anything but I love my Lanskey set. Great value,  Can get easily razor sharp. Takes a bit of elbow grease but works super well. www.lanskey.com

But be careful. Two stories. 
I sharpened a friends knife at deer camp. Next day he was sitting at the table and someone noticed his hand was bleeding. He had put the knife in the leather sheath wrong, slit the sheath wide open and had cut his hand on it without even knowing. It was that sharp. 

I also did did a neighbors Swiss Army knife for him and he went to cut some plastic on a project has doing and pried on it wrong, shutting it on his finger cutting down to the bone. Don't use a razor sharp knife like a screwdriver. 

Bonus story. My friend used it to touch up filet knives at the cottage, took his belt off to use as a strop and cut the belt in half on the first stroke. It can get a knife crazy sharp. 

Diamond or regular style? This looks like a great option for me. 

The Lansky is a great system no doubt, especially for doing shorter knives. But IMO it falls short when you need to hone a large chefs knife or carving knife. You keep having to move the knife in the clamp to work your way down the blade, and it is not easy to maintain a consistent bevel when doing that. 

The fear I have with the ken onion, which intrigues me, is that the belt driven system, like a grinding wheel, will take too much metal off. The Lansky seems like a well controlled block. I did hand sharpening for years in a kitchen where I worked and have sharpened free hand a whole bunch. I want the accuracy of that exact edge. The Lansky might be my pick.....

The amount of metal removed will be depending more on the grit used and not the fact that it is motorized. A lot of pro sharpeners use belt sanders so the Ken Onion is no different.

Most knife sharpening likely won't even require the coarsest grits unless the edge has really gotten damaged.

So, assuming just normal knife usage/sharpening I wouldn't be concerned about your home knives being ground away until you're just left with a "skewer".

MaskedMarvel

Hi54putty said:

Work Sharp WSKTS Knife and Tool Sharpener

@MaskedMarvel  I have this and you are welcome to borrow it to try it out. 

Brandi and I would love to have you over for a drink anytime as well -- look forward to it. I'll shoot you a text. 

MaskedMarvel

westernbbq said:

Trizor XV


So easy to use that a dummy like me can have success with it....

Thanks for the suggestion. My experience is electric sharpeners game just too much metal off.

Focker said:

MaskedMarvel said:

CTMike said:

MaskedMarvel said:

. 

@MaskedMarvel,
FWIW, if looking for accuracy, look into an Edge Pro Apex.

From pocket knives, to my 10" Shun, it handles it all.  With a little practice, pound for pound, it can't be beat.

Looks fantastic. I'll have to save up for it though -- looks like you need all the stones up front. 

fishlessman

dmt makes an 8 inch 4000 grit diamond stone, imo better than whetstones and they sharpen quick enough that just a few swipes is all thats needed.

Focker

MaskedMarvel said:

westernbbq said:

Trizor XV


So easy to use that a dummy like me can have success with it....

Thanks for the suggestion. My experience is electric sharpeners game just too much metal off.

Focker said:

MaskedMarvel said:

CTMike said:

MaskedMarvel said:

. 

@MaskedMarvel,
FWIW, if looking for accuracy, look into an Edge Pro Apex.

From pocket knives, to my 10" Shun, it handles it all.  With a little practice, pound for pound, it can't be beat.

Looks fantastic. I'll have to save up for it though -- looks like you need all the stones up front. 

At the time, I bought the Apex 2, with 3 stones.  I later bought a set of Japanese Chosera stones made for it.  

If I were to buy again today, the Apex 3 is what you want, the 1000 is nice.  I go up to a Chosera 10K, which is good for a mirror finish, but it's really just splitting hairs when you go past 1K.  The mirror finish looks great on the knives, especially the Damascus Skyline, not necessary IMO.

MaskedMarvel

@HeavyG we were posting at the same time. Thanks for the reply. 

northGAcock

According to those Calphalon knife commercials....they got little people inside those knife blocks just a sharpening away. How they get them in there I will never know. 

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/A__1/calphalon-self-sharpening-cutlery-factory