A sharpening kit ?

T

Tar18

Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
144
Hi folks.
I only hope that with my question I am not doing something wrong or asking something I should not.

I would like to get another way to sharpen my knives. I have the SM by Spyderco and am enjoying learning and using it. I have been looking at the Lansky sharpeners and found the Deluxe kit with 5 stones. I am in Canada so I have used Amazon.ca to get most things and they have the Deluxe set, the base for the sharpener and and leather strop all for one price. The nice part free shipping. I just love the SM but have found it takes long to do real dull knives and was looking for more aggressive stones to work with.

So my question is: would this sharpener be an OK one to get to help me with duller knives or a knife that I have to re-do the edge. And also about the strop as an addition with this set up. I am a senior on a budget but I feel this might do the job.

I would appreciate any comments about this if it OK with the board. Just not sure and do not want to step over lines.

Regards
Tar :)
 
Last edited:
If you considered free hand sharpening (maybe with an angle wedge) then you would only need one stone and I would recommend either a coarse Sigma Power Select II waterstone from Lee Valley or a Norton Crystolon combi oil stone. You can use this to put an edge on your knife slightly lower than the SM, eventually you can use it even to complete the task altogether and use the SM if you have a "bad" day.

The SPSII at Lee Valley is about 70$ (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=67089&cat=1,43072,67175)
The Norton in 8 inch at Sharpeningsupply.com is $20US (https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Norton-Combination-Crystolon-Stone-P179C5.aspx)

As far as sharpening wedge, I would recommend a low angle at about 8 degrees. That will give you an effective angle of 11-15 dps (due to the primary knife grind). Therefore, you can always use the 20dps SM setting for the final apex. For good quality wedges, I suggest to contact Fred Rowe here on BF.
 
Thanks awestib for the suggestions. I think that I did not express myself very well but I was asking if the Lansky Deluxe kit with 5 stones be a good purchase. I love my SM but as I said would like the choice of a more coarser stone.
I am hoping to start and learn the free hand so will keep your advice for when I buy my stones. I am close to Ottawa and there is a Lee Valley there so that helps a lot.

Regards
Tar :)
 
Absolutely, the Lansky is a very good sharpener. Especially with the strop. I have this system but I strop manually by hand. I could go on for hours about it's virtues but I've got a headache right now. Please post any questions you have about the system and myself or others here would be glad to help. Lots of tips, etc....
 
Matter of fact, I love the guided systems so much I moved up to the Wicked Edge sharpening system. It is very similar in how it works but can be far more accurate and with more options when it comes to what exact angle you want to put on a knife.
 
Do you have the optional diamond rods for the sharp maker? If not they might be a good investment since you already have the SM kit and it would give you a more aggressive option for really dull knives or to reprofile.
 
dwdickey said:
Do you have the optional diamond rods for the sharp maker? If not they might be a good investment since you already have the SM kit and it would give you a more aggressive option for really dull knives or to reprofile.
Click to expand...

Good suggestion. The medium & fine rods of SM have been reported to be not aggressive enough. The diamond or CBN ones are better. Should be used with light pressure.
A video by Magnanimous (look up his thread on the stickies section of this sub forum): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ywogvxTQGXk

If you're into free hand, www.washboardsharpening.com is a good investment as the sandpaper can be replaced when worn and the 'stone' remains flat. It also works well as strop and won't round the apex.


Good Luck!
 
Tar18 said:
Hi folks.
I only hope that with my question I am not doing something wrong or asking something I should not.

I would like to get another way to sharpen my knives. I have the SM by Spyderco and am enjoying learning and using it. I have been looking at the Lansky sharpeners and found the Deluxe kit with 5 stones. I am in Canada so I have used Amazon.ca to get most things and they have the Deluxe set, the base for the sharpener and and leather strop all for one price. The nice part free shipping. I just love the SM but have found it takes long to do real dull knives and was looking for more aggressive stones to work with.

So my question is: would this sharpener be an OK one to get to help me with duller knives or a knife that I have to re-do the edge. And also about the strop as an addition with this set up. I am a senior on a budget but I feel this might do the job.

I would appreciate any comments about this if it OK with the board. Just not sure and do not want to step over lines.

Regards
Tar :)
Click to expand...

I myself got better results with the Sharpmaker than with the Lansky rig, even if the knife was dulled to where it took me days to get it halfway sharp again with thre Sharpmaker. I bought the diamond rods for it and they just didn't work for me. Bear in mind I am not very good at sharpening my knives. I bought the motorized Worksharp sharpener, and that didn't work for me either. It removed WAY too much material for my poor skills. However, I bought their manual sharpening kit plus an upgrade kit for it that comes with an Extra Course diamond plate at 220 grit going up to an Extra Fine diamond plate at 800grit. The plates are each 6" long. The kit also cones with a 6" plate with a strop glued on. There are angle guides on each end of the plate holder you can swap for 17 degrees or 25 degrees.
I like the kit because the extra course diamond plate cuts much quicker than the Sharpmaker, which is quite a relief if you are reprofiling an edge for the first time from something that can not cut anything to something that is useful. Or sharpening a knife that you've neglected for way too long.
Some links ...
The manual sharpening kit (not motorized) U think they have a video showing how to use it somewhere on their site.
http://www.worksharptools.com/sharpeners-24/manual-sharpeners/guided-sharpening-system.html

Accessory Kit
http://www.worksharptools.com/parts-accessories/guided-sharpening-system/gss-upgrade-kit.html
 
Hi folks
WOW now it seems I have some homework to do. Thanks everyone for their comments and suggestions.
I like both of these options but have a budget so for now have to pick one. I will look at both and then make a decision. I have to see if the Work Shop manual is on Amazon so I do not have to go worry about stuff coming across the border.
Thanks again for all that have answered and I will let everyone know what I did decide to do.
Regards
Tar :)
 
dwdicky:
I do not have the diamond rods for my SM but it is a good suggestion that I will look into.
Regards
tar :)
 
Hi folks
I was on YouTube looking at the Lansky kit that I asked about and have a question. I watched a couple to get a couple of opinions on the kit. They both said that you have to watch so that the part that clamps the knife blade does not get get touched by the stone. Another one said that all of the angles except the 17 degree were OK. Have any one of you folks that have this kit run into this problem? Anyway when would you use the 17 degree? Using my SM I have stuck with the 30 degree with most of the knives that I have done.
All opinions are welcome since I am relatively new at the sharpening game.
Regards
Tar :)
 
Why not just freehand?

You could still use the SM for touch-ups and because the SM is a semi-freehand system you might find using a stone to be a fairly simple process at this point. A good coarse stone like a Norton combo SiC stone would take you a long ways in being able to control edge geometry.
 
Tar,

I don't have any of the clamp type of sharpening, but believe each has its own limitations. Since you're on a budget, and seems to be getting good results with SM, I recommend just get the diamond or CBN rods. Use that for heavy work with patience. The key to good sharpening result is patience & listening (by feel, sound).
With the SM, you only need to keep the blade vertical. That's about as consistent as it is necessary, and with patience, you'll get the result you need.

I reprofiled my Endura on a small DMT coarse credit card. It takes time, but it works. Therefore I believe you can achieve the same with SM diamond or CBN rods.
 
Tar18 said:
I watched a couple to get a couple of opinions on the kit. They both said that you have to watch so that the part that clamps the knife blade does not get get touched by the stone. Another one said that all of the angles except the 17 degree were OK. Have any one of you folks that have this kit run into this problem? Anyway when would you use the 17 degree? Using my SM I have stuck with the 30 degree with most of the knives that I have done.
All opinions are welcome since I am relatively new at the sharpening game.
Regards
Tar :)
Click to expand...

The Lansky is a good system but make sure that you get one with the original design clamp, not the one with the rubber inserts than you will not have any problems with the stones hitting the clamp at any of the settings.

The actual angle will depend on how far the blade sticks out of the clamp but even when measured at the tip of the clamp, the markings are not correct.

In this post you can see a picture with a Victorinox knife in on original style clamp as well as the actual sharpening angle of this knife using the 4 settings.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...hnique-for-EDC-newbie?p=14898206#post14898206

It is also very cheap and easy to make your own stones / strops

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...he-WICKED-LANSKY!!!!!?p=15999822#post15999822

This is how sharp the Victorinox is when sharpened on the Lansky

[video=youtube;0c-la7uG5Xo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c-la7uG5Xo[/video]

Frans
 
Tar18 said:
Hi folks
I was on YouTube looking at the Lansky kit that I asked about and have a question. I watched a couple to get a couple of opinions on the kit. They both said that you have to watch so that the part that clamps the knife blade does not get get touched by the stone. Another one said that all of the angles except the 17 degree were OK. Have any one of you folks that have this kit run into this problem? Anyway when would you use the 17 degree? Using my SM I have stuck with the 30 degree with most of the knives that I have done.
All opinions are welcome since I am relatively new at the sharpening game.
Regards
Tar :)
Click to expand...
Lansky angles are per side, so their 17 degree setting would actually be 34 the way the Sharpmaker measures. However the Lansky angles are actually a bit lower than the figures they give, sending on blade width and thickness.
 
Just to add a bit more, I bought the Lansky system first, but I find that I rarely use it since buying the Sharpmaker. Nowadays I mainly use the Lansky for initial sharpening, to get a suitable bevel that can then be resharpened as needed on the Sharpmaker. For that purpose I find the Lansky diamond hones miles better than the standard, so if I was starting from scratch I've have bought the kit with three diamond hones instead of the five stone "deluxe" kit.

Regarding angles, if you're prepared to fiddle around you can get pretty much any angle you want by offsetting the rods in the hones.
 
Thanks everyone for their comments. Aesmith: that is what I was thinking of doing was using the Lansky first to get a good edge and then go to the SM. I have gotten some nice edges with the SM and very happy with it.
well now have lots to figure you.
Thanks again folks.
Regards
Tar :)
 
The lansky is a good basic guided system. i would suggests getting the lansky kit with diamond stones, cuts a lot faster.
 
I bought the Lansky 5 stone kit along with the two most coarse diamond stones for reprofiling. The diamond lets me quickly set a bevel then I switch to the stone set and finish with a strop. Changed sharpening for me completely, everything I I have sharpened has been great. A word of caution on the Youtube videos, it looks like few of the reviewers have ever read the Lansky instructions or understand sharpening basics. Some set it up completely wrong. Start with the instructions, use it a bit then modify your technique as you gain experience. That said, even in the worst videos they guys still seem to get a reasonable edge. Great piece of kit.

Sent from my LGMS769 using Tapatalk
 
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