a good affordable knife sharpener

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dakota1820

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Nov 20, 2011
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I am going to purchase a new knife sharpener. Id prefer a diamond stone and must be affordable. I do not know a whole lot about sharpeners so please educate me on what to look for and what to watch out for? How good are smith's products out of curiosity? Thanks everyone if this post is in the wrong section I apologize I wasn't sure where to put it.
 
If you have experience with hand sharpening, I'd recommend the Spyderco Double-stuff ceramic pocket stone. It's small, compact, and very capable of sharpening any steel.

If you don't have any experience with hand sharpening, I'd recommend the Spyderco SharpMaker. This will help you keep your geometry correct, granted that the edge isn't over 40 degree inclusive.
 
Hewlett makes a 4"x1" (ish) two sided medium/fine diamond plate-that and a gatco ceramic dogbone hone fit (in a little leather pouch I made for 'em)nicely in the leg pocket of a pair of carrharts. I've carried it for ten years, at least, and even done some restaurant sharpening when spontaneous free food was in the offing.
 
If you're looking for a guided system, the Lansky is a decent sharpening system. You can get the basic system for less than $50. If you like it, you can add the diamond stones to it one at a time. There's a lot of accessories that Lansky offers.
 
+1 on the lansky. Not sure the price but maybe a sharpmaker. Otherwise maybe a couple free hand bench stones?
 
Fish Boy said:
You should probably take this question over to Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment. The people over there will answer all of your questions on sharpening.
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Ajack60 said:
If you're looking for a guided system, the Lansky is a decent sharpening system. You can get the basic system for less than $50. If you like it, you can add the diamond stones to it one at a time. There's a lot of accessories that Lansky offers.
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Just picked up a 5 stone Lansky system for $32 on the jungle bookstore. Tune it a bit and it's great. It's a bit overkill for touch ups but a real time saver for reprofiling.
 
I'd second either a lansky or gatco system. I have a gatco that I use on occasion. After buying a separate ultra fine and finishing/polishing stone it'll get blades almost as sharp as my water stones.
 
The Smiths tri hone system isn't bad for a beginner system and has an affordable price. The reg one is $30 or so. Diamond stone ones are $80ish. That is what I started on (reg stones) until I found some sharpening stones at a garage sale or flea market. Yes, its freehand but I like the challenge and that it is a little "old school". If you are a knife fan, you will probably want to learn to freehand, so why not start now? Smiths stones aren't bad in general but DMT is better.

Just my opinion but be aware of handheld sharpeners. They usually have just one blade angle. An example is like ....
ccks-300x287.jpg


ps. Hit a goodwill or thrift store and buy some kitchen knives (if you can) or hit a dollar store and buy a pocket knife to practice on. Also, search for knife sharpening on utube, plenty of vids to help you learn technique.
 
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I too would recommend the Lansky system. A lot of bang for the buck there, and i would also suggest grabbing the 2000grit blue sapphire stone with the 5 hone diamond system all this and you are well under $100. You will definitely acheive very sharp mirror edges with thus set up.
 
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