Alright, why should I have bought Sharpmaker over Lansky

[side_thrust]

Well, a few months back I bought the Deluxe Lansky system to bring my Red Class BMs back to "new" and all I read about is the Sharpmaker. Yeah I should have looked through the forums much better, but I didn't think I'd be this hooked. 3 Reds with 2 Blues in transit in only 4 months.

Anyhoo, I know that the Lansky cannot sharpen a re-curve blade with a belly, and that you need an accessory stone for serrations, but are those its only drawbacks? Getting a perfect angle with no sharpening scratches(from mishaps) is much nicer for me than freehand.

 

[db]

There is nothing wrong with a Lansky at all. In fact if you are going to put on a thinner edge than a too thick factory edge it's a much better choice than the Spyderco Sharpmaker.

 

[basjoo]

The lansky will work fine for reprofiling but, if you've got the knife bug, just bite the bullet and get the sharpmaker. It's the best sharpener for maintaining an edge.

 

[savagesicslayer]

There is nothing wrong with a Lansky at all. In fact if you are going to put on a thinner edge than a too thick factory edge it's a much better choice than the Spyderco Sharpmaker.

I'll second that.I finally put a tip to tip razor edge on my Tracker with a Lansky and a LOT of elbow grease.I moded a ceramic stone with a round side to sharpen the little quarter round.

 

[Wasz]

Lets say Im a first generation knife guy. So Im trying to teach myself how to sharpen. I was given a lansky and I can not get it to work well for me at all. Ive tried doing it 4 or 5 times on a few knives and for some reason it just does not work for me at all. With no one to physically show me what Im doing is it possible that a sharpmaker would be something that would be easier to get to actually sharpen an edge rather than make me cuss swear and scratch the crap out of a blade? Dont get me wrong ive read where people love their lansky and im sure im doing something wrong but the more i try it the more i want to throw the whole thing against the wall.

 

[Psychopomp]

Lets say Im a first generation knife guy. So Im trying to teach myself how to sharpen. I was given a lansky and I can not get it to work well for me at all. Ive tried doing it 4 or 5 times on a few knives and for some reason it just does not work for me at all. With no one to physically show me what Im doing is it possible that a sharpmaker would be something that would be easier to get to actually sharpen an edge rather than make me cuss swear and scratch the crap out of a blade? Dont get me wrong ive read where people love their lansky and im sure im doing something wrong but the more i try it the more i want to throw the whole thing against the wall.

Well... you don't HAVE to learn freehand sharpening, but it'll make life a lot easier if you have some bigger blades. My experience has shown that anything over 7 inches is difficult to sharpen on the Sharpmaker. The longer blades will have difficulty with the rod guided systems like the Lansky becuase as you move farther off center, the angle will change. So for bigger blades, freehand is the way to go.

But for pocket knives, I like the Sharpmaker better than the rod guided systems because it feels more natural. It is possible that you'd have better results with the Sharpmaker, and at under $50 it's worth a shot. Keep in mind though, that the Sharpmaker is nearly useless on really dull knives. Once a blade has something resembling an edge, the Sharpmaker will take it to scary sharp with a little work. But you'll be there for hours trying to grind an edge on a knife with the medium SM rods.

You can learn freehand without anyone to teach you. It takes some practice, but it's worth the effort.

 

[Tarantado]

Freehand? Look Ive used A Sharpie 204 after I reprofile a machete with a Norton file and thats a 12 inch blade. To maintain and polish the edge I use an old EZE-lap for touch ups then the spydercos fine for polish and all this is about cutting whatever. you got to hit soil with rocks some how even unintentionaly so blades chip so what? If you are so analy retentive Like some gurus then fine stick with their cautions and do not use blade fo fear of damage. I am beginnin to sense the whimps in this forum with what they have said versus what real knife use is and its pathetic despite their titles. Might as well create a FANTasy knife forum. Is sharpening with a butcher diamond rod considered not freehand?

 

[Laceration]

I learned to sharpen on a Lansky. I think it's a fine sharpening system. From the first time I used it, I got good results. Over the years, good turned into great and since I've been visiting this site, I've produced some edges that veer into exceptional. The Lansky kit does have some problems. First and foremost is the rod guides. Having to bend them until they're level with the hone is a pain in the butt. It takes more time than it should and after awhile the guides tend to get bends in weird places and if you keep them too long (guilty) they become way too malleable for their own good. Replacing them every couple years is a good idea since they're so cheap. GATCO has a system with the guide rod built into the hone. I like that idea but it makes me wonder how prone their guide rods are to bending and if you remove the (Lansky) process of making sure the rod is level with the hone, will you eventually get messed up angles? I don't know. The other good thing about GATCO is wider hones. The Lansky works really well for 3.5-4" knives and under but becomes really time consuming for larger blades.

I've never used a Sharpmaker. I've always used Lansky. I think that the Lansky system is extremely intuitive and great for beginners. The Sharpmaker may be too but it seems a little more prone to error in maintaining angles just because it's your hand that guides the blade rather than the blade being fixed and you guiding the hone. A strange side effect of using my Lansky is that I can sharpen a blade fairly well using benchstones now. My brother gave me a couple wetstones that he never bothered to learn how to use and I can maintain a consistent angle and bring a dull blade back to shaving sharp with no problem. I can't get it as sharp as when I use a guide system but I thought it was pretty cool anyway. I'd imagine that you'd be able to do that with any sharpening system after using it for so long but whatever.

Also, I have recurve blades and the Lansky handles them with no problem. The thinner hones actually are beneficial when it comes to recurves and big belly blades. Not too many people here praise Lansky but I'm one of them. My advice would be to get the diamond extra coarse stone for reprofiling (if you stick around awhile here, you WILL be lowering the angle signifigantly on alot of your blades and the diamond hone will save you hours and I do mean hours) and also pick up the Sapphire 2000 grit hone. You won't need it in the beginning but if you want to brag about cleanly cutting quilted toilet paper, it definitely helps. If you want any pointers or have any questions if you do pick up a Lansky, don't hesitate to send me an e-mail, I'd be more than happy to share everything I've picked up after more than a decade of using it.

 

[rev_jch]

Lanskys, are fine, been using them and old arkansas stones for years. A good sharpener is essential, but more so knowing how to sharpen a knife. They work just fine on the newer steels also. The diamond stones, rods, I find are just overkill. The ceramics are fine also (I use these when necessary). I often use a barbers strop.

I "free-hand" allot of the knives I sharpen, it jsut comes down to practice and getting a "fell" for the angles. I can free-hand a knife some knives and yoiu cannot tell Ive sharpened it unless you look at it with a microscrope. it all comes down to practice, experience.

Ive been making knives for over 23 years and allot of the "fancy" sharpeners out are just not necessary.

 

[db]

I'm also a big fan of the Lansky. I credit it with teaching me how to free hand sharpen witch is what I do now. Also it's great for reprofileing but the DMT rods and hones work with the Lansky and make alot of regrinding go much faster. I used the lansky differently than the Lan directions. I'd put the hone in a vice so it didn't move and would move the knife in the clamp in the same motion as free hand sharpening letting the rod and clamp hold the angle.

 

[Psychopomp]

Freehand? Look Ive used A Sharpie 204 after I reprofile a machete with a Norton file and thats a 12 inch blade. To maintain and polish the edge I use an old EZE-lap for touch ups then the spydercos fine for polish and all this is about cutting whatever. you got to hit soil with rocks some how even unintentionaly so blades chip so what? If you are so analy retentive Like some gurus then fine stick with their cautions and do not use blade fo fear of damage. I am beginnin to sense the whimps in this forum with what they have said versus what real knife use is and its pathetic despite their titles. Might as well create a FANTasy knife forum. Is sharpening with a butcher diamond rod considered not freehand?

This is why alcohol and keyboards don't mix.

 

[Laceration]

I was drunk when I posted. I'd say alcohol and keyboards are OK. It's alcohol and knife sharpening that definitely don't mix well.

 

[SIFU1A]

lansky/gatco/edgepro etc are all "ok" i am just not nutz about any system which requires ya to clamp something on the blade, it scuffs it up for 1 and its just such a hassle, i can see for reprofile/etc but for just a light touch up the SM is a lot easier to fool with & faster imho.

 

[allenC]

I think that the Sharp Maker is easier to set up and use quickly, but sometimes I just cannot get a great edge with it.

Freehand sharpening is'nt very difficult but it does take alot of practice.
And if you're getting scratches on your blades you probably need a larger stone.
When using a small stone it is easy for the blade to slip off and produce a scratch.


Good luck,
Allen.

 

[DGG]

There is nothing wrong with a Lansky at all. In fact if you are going to put on a thinner edge than a too thick factory edge it's a much better choice than the Spyderco Sharpmaker.

DB, you are partially correct. I have a small wooden wedge (mouse pad piece on the botton) that I put under my Sharpmaker. This raises the end of the Sharpmaker and raises the rod and reduces the sharpening angle. Being a wedge I can insert it any length and change the edge angle accordingly. I'm thinking that you probably believe that this is my "Red-neck engineering" but it is simple and works (like me).

I'll pass along a knife wizard's (not me) secret but you must promise never to tell anyone else who doesn't want to be a good knife sharpener. Okay? Here it is. Take a black felt-tip Sharpie pen (good name for the task at hand don't you think?) and carefully run it down the edges of the blade. Run a few passes on your sharpener. Then look at the edge and see what is being sharpened. You can easily tell since the black is now gone where the sharpener has touched it. If you are just hitting the very outmost part of the edge keep sharpening. If not you have two choices. The easy one is to increase the sharpening angle until you just hit the outermost part of the edge. The harder one (but not that hard-this isn't rocket science afterall) is to reprofile the edge. To reprofile you would use courser stones and cut down the primary edge (the one you see when you look at the knife from any distance) to an angle less than what you want the micro-edge to be.

If you are really ambitious or need lots of exercise or stress relief you can flat grind the whole edge to one angle. But when that edge gets dull you will end up sharpening the entire edge of the blade, not just the micro-edge where the cutting actually occurs.

As an example. Spyderco sells their knives with a 15 degree edge (30 total) but their instructions tell you to use the 20 degree edge angle (40 total) with their sharpmaker. That is so you are only hitting the ceramic rods with the very tip of the micro edge which is what Sharp is all about.