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$7.95!! Bought a functional sharpener!
- Thread starter Glock26
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I have a few sets of "crock sticks" they are really pretty good ,I agree that there isn`t enough blade contact at one time but that keeps you from removing too much steel. I think the older one that I have from "cutlery world" works almost as good as a sharpmaker ,it has 2 fine and 2 medium rods it also has two angles .Pull trough sharpeners are only for machetes and only then if you don`t care how long it lasts.
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It looks like more manufacturers are making usable pocket sharpeners with ceramic sticks or diamond rods in a V configuration. They are still pull through designs but no where near as damaging as the old carbide ones. I personally won't use them for any of my knives, but the newer ones look like it will give you a functional but toothy utility edge. Anyone care to donate a cheap knife for some testing? 
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It looks like more manufacturers are making usable pocket sharpeners with ceramic sticks or diamond rods in a V configuration. They are still pull through designs but no where near as damaging as the old carbide ones. I personally won't use them for any of my knives, but the newer ones look like it will give you a functional but toothy utility edge. Anyone care to donate a cheap knife for some testing?
Any snarpener that requires quick and hard scraping of the blade isn't good.
They also have a set edge so the stones are cheap, crappy, and very course.
You can't beat a jig system or hand benchstones.
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Yup, absolutely. I'm not advocating the use of cheap pull throughs over benchstones or a proper jig.
Before learning about knives and how to properly sharpen, I used a Smiths pull through in the kitchen.
Something that had a carbide side for coarse and a ceramic side for fine. It gave me a workable utility edge that dulled after a very short time. Also put a very wide angled edge, probably more appropriate for an axe or a machete. I'm wondering if they've improved these little devices any in the past couple of years. It may be worth doing a little experiment. I have some old Aus-6 folders and a 100x magnifier and a couple of pull through sharpeners in the junk drawer... If I can figure out a way to take picture through it, it may be worth doing.
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- Jul 1, 2009
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Also I would like to address the "working edge" problem. Most people stop when they get these edges mainly because it's "sharp" the thing taht most people don't realize is that these will do EXTREMELY quickly compared to a razor sharp edge. Compared to a razor sharp edge (hair whittling and such) that working edge was finished dull.... These scrapers give a mediocre working edge at best and will still ruin the knife. Take this from a person that actually used these before I was enlighted on how to sharpen.
Now I can get hair whittling edges sharper or on par to what Knifenut gets on his bench stones even with vassalis test video mine was on par or sharper. (sorry if I butchered you name). That was done on a lansky. If you want sharp edges but don't want free hand get a jig system or a sharpmaker (if it's a jig I would recommend the DMT aligner first then Lansky Diamond pro Second).
THen finish with a strop for sharpppp edges.
Now I can get hair whittling edges sharper or on par to what Knifenut gets on his bench stones even with vassalis test video mine was on par or sharper. (sorry if I butchered you name). That was done on a lansky. If you want sharp edges but don't want free hand get a jig system or a sharpmaker (if it's a jig I would recommend the DMT aligner first then Lansky Diamond pro Second).
THen finish with a strop for sharpppp edges.
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I use the lansky and get hair whittling just by touching the blade to the hair, but the DMT aligner is the best "cheapy" jig system. The edge pro is the king though. The reason why the DMT aligner is better is that it uses a better jig system that if you want when you switch to free hand you can use like a training wheel for angles. Also, the aligner's stones are better than lansky. Not saying lansky is bad it's what I use (aligner wasn't availible when my lansky got passed down). I also made my own EEF stone (I like to call it that) it's just a really course piece of leather paired with a really course compound. Starts up a polish nicely.
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Hi,
So like I said in my earlier post, I have the following and here's my quick little test:
Norton carbide pull through
Fiskars carbide wheel pull through
Smith's carbide / ceramic combo pull through
Gerber diamond rod fine / coarse pull through
For my test knife, I'm using an old Beretta Airlight with an AUS-6 blade. The knife has a 20 degree bevel edge and it's been sharpened on my paper wheel setup. Before the test, it was push cutting through hanging newspaper and popping hairs.
Before each test, I dulled the knife by cutting into a cheap steel hex key I got as part of some DIY furniture set for my kid. I did 50 strokes, cutting back and forth into it. The edge was completely flattened and I could see light reflecting off the edge from handle to tip. It wasn't cutting anything.
First, the Norton pull through:
I did 40 passes, dragging sharpener in one direction over the knife while holding the knife blade up on the table as shown in the instructions. I ended up with a small pile of ground metal on the table and lots of bits stuck on the blade. I wiped the blade with a rag and alcohol and dried it off with canned air.
When I drag my fingers across the blade, I can feel it catching the ridges of my fingers so at least it came together to a point. Also, much of the edge did not reflect light but there were a few spots where there were some spots of reflection. I was not able to push cut a piece of printer paper. I could barely slice through the paper, but it was very slow and not at all a clean cut. The cut paper edge showed lots of tiny tears and hanging fibers everywhere. The knife completely failed the arm hair shaving test.
At 100x magnification, I saw a toothy and somewhat uneven edge. The edge was fairly clean since I cleaned the edge before looking at it and I saw a lot of metal residue on the rag. The edge itself displayed horizontal scratch marks going up and down the length of the blade.
Next, the Fiskars carbide wheel pull through:
It took over 400 strokes to get the edge as good as I can make it. There's no light reflection if I look straight onto the edge and it looks fairly even. There was a very fine residue on the rag so I think the carbide wheel did a finer job then the Norton.
When I drag my fingers across the blade, I can feel the ridges on the finger tips but it does not feel as "grabby" as the results from the first test.
Once again, the knife failed the push cut test on paper. I can slice through, a bit easier than the Norton. I still see fibers hanging off and some tearing of the cut edge. Fails to shave arm hair again.
Under magnification, I see fairly fine scratch patterns going at about 40 degree all along the edge. The very tips of the edge show tiny teeth and some small chips and shallow valleys. There's not much burring that I can see but they may have come off during cleaning.
Next is the Smith's carbide / ceramic combo pull through:
To sharpen the knife, I did 50 strokes on the carbide side in 1 direction and 50 strokes going back and forth on the ceramic rod side. I had to add another 20 very light strokes on the ceramic to reduce the significant burr that formed on the edge. I could not get completely rid of it using this thing. I can't see any light reflected back from the edge.
When I drag my fingers across the blade it feel slightly sharper than the edge from the Fiskars test. It failed to push cut through paper and it slices through similar to the Fiskars test. It does shave some arm hair but leaves stubbles behind and fails to cut through others.
The magnified edge shows horizontal scratch pattern from the carbide and the very tip of the edge is fairly polished from the ceramic. The edge is still uneven but there's no big chips or valleys. I still see places where the blade was chipped by the sharp edges are polished down from the ceramic stage.
And finally it's the Gerber diamond rod fine / coarse pull through:
I had to do a couple hundred strokes on the coarse side because I wasn't hitting the edge anymore. The diamond sticks were at a sharper angle than the other sharpeners. Then I moved on to the fine side for another 50 back and forth strokes. I had to do the Sharpie test to make sure I was hitting the edge.
The finished edge feels almost dull to my fingers but I don't think I can do any better with this thing. It completely fails the paper push cut test and it rips more than slices through paper. No good on the arm hair shaving test either.
The magnified edge shows horizontal scratch marks going all the way along the edge. The very tip of the edge is surprisingly even with no signs of chips or valleys. The diamond rods did a good job creating a nice consistent edge, but unfortunately that edge is very dull.
I don't think any of the results are unexpected. I was fairly sure the ceramic rods would do a relatively good job and that the carbide pull throughs would not. I was hoping for a better result from the diamond rod pull through but that proved to be one of the worst.
None of these devices come close to a quality edge you can create with a decent sharpening system. The only one I'm considering keeping around is the Smith's pull through for my wife. And even then, I would only let her use the ceramic rods for emergency when I'm not available. The rest goes in the garbage where they belong.
I hope you got something out of this long post and happy sharpening.
So like I said in my earlier post, I have the following and here's my quick little test:
Norton carbide pull through
Fiskars carbide wheel pull through
Smith's carbide / ceramic combo pull through
Gerber diamond rod fine / coarse pull through
For my test knife, I'm using an old Beretta Airlight with an AUS-6 blade. The knife has a 20 degree bevel edge and it's been sharpened on my paper wheel setup. Before the test, it was push cutting through hanging newspaper and popping hairs.
Before each test, I dulled the knife by cutting into a cheap steel hex key I got as part of some DIY furniture set for my kid. I did 50 strokes, cutting back and forth into it. The edge was completely flattened and I could see light reflecting off the edge from handle to tip. It wasn't cutting anything.
First, the Norton pull through:
I did 40 passes, dragging sharpener in one direction over the knife while holding the knife blade up on the table as shown in the instructions. I ended up with a small pile of ground metal on the table and lots of bits stuck on the blade. I wiped the blade with a rag and alcohol and dried it off with canned air.
When I drag my fingers across the blade, I can feel it catching the ridges of my fingers so at least it came together to a point. Also, much of the edge did not reflect light but there were a few spots where there were some spots of reflection. I was not able to push cut a piece of printer paper. I could barely slice through the paper, but it was very slow and not at all a clean cut. The cut paper edge showed lots of tiny tears and hanging fibers everywhere. The knife completely failed the arm hair shaving test.
At 100x magnification, I saw a toothy and somewhat uneven edge. The edge was fairly clean since I cleaned the edge before looking at it and I saw a lot of metal residue on the rag. The edge itself displayed horizontal scratch marks going up and down the length of the blade.
Next, the Fiskars carbide wheel pull through:
It took over 400 strokes to get the edge as good as I can make it. There's no light reflection if I look straight onto the edge and it looks fairly even. There was a very fine residue on the rag so I think the carbide wheel did a finer job then the Norton.
When I drag my fingers across the blade, I can feel the ridges on the finger tips but it does not feel as "grabby" as the results from the first test.
Once again, the knife failed the push cut test on paper. I can slice through, a bit easier than the Norton. I still see fibers hanging off and some tearing of the cut edge. Fails to shave arm hair again.
Under magnification, I see fairly fine scratch patterns going at about 40 degree all along the edge. The very tips of the edge show tiny teeth and some small chips and shallow valleys. There's not much burring that I can see but they may have come off during cleaning.
Next is the Smith's carbide / ceramic combo pull through:
To sharpen the knife, I did 50 strokes on the carbide side in 1 direction and 50 strokes going back and forth on the ceramic rod side. I had to add another 20 very light strokes on the ceramic to reduce the significant burr that formed on the edge. I could not get completely rid of it using this thing. I can't see any light reflected back from the edge.
When I drag my fingers across the blade it feel slightly sharper than the edge from the Fiskars test. It failed to push cut through paper and it slices through similar to the Fiskars test. It does shave some arm hair but leaves stubbles behind and fails to cut through others.
The magnified edge shows horizontal scratch pattern from the carbide and the very tip of the edge is fairly polished from the ceramic. The edge is still uneven but there's no big chips or valleys. I still see places where the blade was chipped by the sharp edges are polished down from the ceramic stage.
And finally it's the Gerber diamond rod fine / coarse pull through:
I had to do a couple hundred strokes on the coarse side because I wasn't hitting the edge anymore. The diamond sticks were at a sharper angle than the other sharpeners. Then I moved on to the fine side for another 50 back and forth strokes. I had to do the Sharpie test to make sure I was hitting the edge.
The finished edge feels almost dull to my fingers but I don't think I can do any better with this thing. It completely fails the paper push cut test and it rips more than slices through paper. No good on the arm hair shaving test either.
The magnified edge shows horizontal scratch marks going all the way along the edge. The very tip of the edge is surprisingly even with no signs of chips or valleys. The diamond rods did a good job creating a nice consistent edge, but unfortunately that edge is very dull.
I don't think any of the results are unexpected. I was fairly sure the ceramic rods would do a relatively good job and that the carbide pull throughs would not. I was hoping for a better result from the diamond rod pull through but that proved to be one of the worst.
None of these devices come close to a quality edge you can create with a decent sharpening system. The only one I'm considering keeping around is the Smith's pull through for my wife. And even then, I would only let her use the ceramic rods for emergency when I'm not available. The rest goes in the garbage where they belong.
I hope you got something out of this long post and happy sharpening.
Last edited:
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- Jan 20, 2009
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The Smiths is useful for one thing, the diamond rod in the back. Makes a great little tool for sharpening serrations on the go. I have one for that purpose and it works well.