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Don't know if this has been covered in a thread, but I "found" the most wonderful tool a week ago... a Smith's knife sharpening set. (And I'm told there is one or two other brands with similar products and good reputations.) Heretofore I've been such a neanderthal that I didn't even realize such as these existed. I've just been plugging along with my various arkansas stones and files, doing a fairly mediocre job of putting an edge on my blades. I happened to ask the salesman at Gander - while he was looking up something else for me - if he had a suggestion for how to sharpen a partially serrated Spyderco that I have (older one, love the knife), and he put me onto this set. Has coarse and fine sets of flat diamond hones, a triangular stone, and a round diamond hone, and clamps the back edge of the knife in order to provide an angle guide for the hones/stones. Puts an awesome edge on a knife.

Probably old news for most of you, but it was a beautiful thing to find for me.

I'll have to look into this. Maybe my problem is merely lousy equipment and not a complete lack of skill. Maybe. I have never been happy with the results when I sharpen my knives. I just can't get any of them back to factory sharpness. Then I read about guys that bitch about how dull their knives are from the factory so the first thing they do it touch them up.

NHsorter wrote:I'll have to look into this. Maybe my problem is merely lousy equipment and not a complete lack of skill. Maybe. I have never been happy with the results when I sharpen my knives. I just can't get any of them back to factory sharpness. Then I read about guys that bitch about how dull their knives are from the factory so the first thing they do it touch them up.

Yep - that was me too... I could take a bad edge and make it cuttable, but it was never really good. Never got to that "shaving" edge. I think I just wandered on the angle too much when I did it by hand.

But this really makes a good edge. Controls the angle, and the coarse diamond cuts fairly quickly to talk out bad angles from prior bad attempts, and small nicks. Follow it with the fine hone and it puts a great edge on it. I highly recommend it, or another brand like it.

I don't mess with the serrated edge knives.

I have two sharpening sets, a Lansky and an Edge Pro Apex. The Lansky and Smith's are similar and cost about the same. I think the Lansky has a better design, but they have allowed the drilling jig and lip forming cutter to drift out of position so the slightly better design has the problem of poor construction. Stones wear. The Lansky stones can be adjusted back in line with the guide wire after the stones are leveled (ground flat). None of the other's I've seen, including the Smith's, can be adjusted like that. The Lansky also has various stones similar to the Smith's.

The Lansky is very versatile, meaning you need to develop skills to end up with what you want instead of doing a great job of something you don't want. Check the videos on U-Tube, and read the instructions that come with the sharpener.

My Apex cost about $250, and is much better suited for large knives. The angle has to be readjusted after switching stones that have wear, but the angle is set with a slider instead of slots, so less hassle.

The guy that owns Edge Pro recommends avoiding diamond as the stone types sharpen more for the cost of the stone. He also offers instructions for leveling stones. I strongly suggest another trip to U-Tube.

In fact, I suggest watching a videos on a wide variety of sharpeners to pick up ideas you can use on what you have, and see what the strong and weak points of the various sharpeners are. I especially liked the idea of putting tape on the side of a blade and marking it so I can clamp the Lansky where it belongs (and use a note book to keep track of where you put it).