LanskyDeluxe 5-Stone Sharpening System

The answer is yes, it made my high quality steel knives at least as sharp as utility knives. I watched the knife sharpening review Project Farm did and decided to treat myself to this more affordable sharpener that seemed to get close to the top results on his testing. His complaints seemed to center around user-friendliness, which I would have to concur with. It's a little cumbersome to set up and hold, but in spite of that you can get fantastic results. I would have to say that given the affordability, that still warrants a 5 star review.Now to talk about the results, which are somewhat subjective since I don't have a proper way to test sharpness, but I think they're useful anyway. So I sharpened my recently purchased CIVIVI Elementum because it was losing its edge from the heavy use my pocket knives tend to see. I sharpened to 25 degrees, which is a little less steep angled than it came from the manufacturer. Once done I quickly ran the knife across a strop with some fine stropping compound. I already thought this knife was insanely sharp, but now I think it's even sharper than when it was new. I can cut thick cardboard with it with a single stroke and best of all it seems to stay sharp much much longer than utility blades do, so I've all but stopped using a utility knife. I'll reserve those for when I need to abuse the blade like cutting shingles or something like that.Another example was this long blade in my Henckels kitchen set that I like to use for cutting watermelon. Watermelon is always a challenge due to the tough skin. I gave this knife the same treatment, except I went to 30 degrees due to the abuse my wife tends to put these knives through, and it didn't seem to matter. It turned out equally as sharp as the 25 degree hone. I was surprised as can be when the blade went through the watermelon with a single easy stroke, which I've never experienced before, including when these knives were brand new, or when I sharpened them using other methods.This kit gets blades **super sharp**, so be very careful handling knives sharpened with it. I couldn't be happier. It takes some time to get the desired results, but man does it deliver, and it really beats the freehand honing kit this replaced (been using one for years, good but not fantastic results). You just simply can't replace the fixed-angle honing technique that this kit allows. Don't waste any time, just buy it. The only way I would say not to is if you want to spend the money and get something a little more user-friendly, otherwise it's a no-brainer. Well worth the purchase price.

Ive wanted A better sharpening system for a while the diamond rods and ceramic rods are fine for touch ups but for a re profile its so difficult and time consuming. with the lansky set you can check your grind angle and either resharpen or re grind and both are made easier by this kit.to connect the rods to the stones is a cinch the rods may need to be straightened out a but, there are great instructions that come with it explaining all this. just follow the directions and you can give a perfect edge at whatever angle you want on any knives, I had a really jacked up grind on a knife and had to reprofile, the lansky kit made that process so much easier, I did it in an evening probably 2 hours total while watching a movie, since the angle is controlled by the mount and rod you can get in a groove and not really pay attention to what your doing, so it turns a very tedious attention demanding task into something much easier. I still use my ceramic stick for that final hone but the kit makes symmetrical grinds and constant angles easy to achieve. and quickly. Ive tried a radical repro with a diamond rod and id never do it again. Ive done 3 with this kit and love it.Oh one thing I would take electrical tape and put it on the jaws of the clamp, the soft cast metal will wear and leave metal on your blade or take paint off, its too soft to hurt dlc coatings and whatnot but the epoxy paints on knives like cold Steel or a RAT -1 will be marred without some pad like a paper towel on those jaws, Ive found the electrical tape to work great it doesnt slide around and stays on for a long time so you dont have to worry about how many knives you do that tape will protect them. All in all a great kit, there are other sharpeners that use the same clamp and angle control methods, some are even more precise and have 1* increments not the 17* 20* 25* 30* this one does. also one thing ive found is there is a high and low to each angle slot, so you can use the top of the angle control slot by pressing down on the end of the stone, or you can use the bottom of the angle slot by keeping pressure on the joint of the rod and the stone itself, so if you wanted a fine edge but though 17* was too fine you can always go to 20* and use the top of the angle slot by pressing down on the far end of the stone and get like a 18-19* grind.All in all I like the kit, ive not used the others, some look very similar but use diamond rods or ceramics, its personal preference at that point, but the lansky kit is a good one, simple easy to use a great price, considering the price I dont think you can go wrong

Works very well. I watched a lot of videos had limited success on one knife but just worked on two kitchen knives. Great edge on my standard 8" Chef knife and my smaller santoku. Both cleanly cut through paper. Havent tried any tomatoes yet.Fairly simple takes a bit of practice. I had difficulty getting to the tip of my longer knife.