Recommendation? Best portable guided system for travelling?

C

ChasingSharpness

Joined
Feb 18, 2025
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I was considering options for a travel kit for when visiting friends and family.i have a TSprof K03, but not only is it fairly large but the time it takes to get it travel ready is a little much. There's also alot of parts to mess around with to get it into a box.

I was looking for something which could be travel ready and also reassembled in a short time.

I was looking at the edgepro possibly, and also the newer version beveltech. But I was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions in this regard?
 
2nd the Sharpmaker. If you have a 3D printer, you can print blocks with extra angles than the two provided in the Sharpmaker kit. That's saved me some time by being able to more closely match the angle of whomever's knife in sharpening.

Also, the cheapest Worksharp Precision Adjust kit is very capable and compact. Most of the other sharpener manufacturers have a small sharpener option, which I am pre-disposed to think are overall better than the Worksharp, but I don't think you can beat the original Precision Adjust in capability of the kit for the price & packability.
 
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Bench stones were practically made for sharpening while on the road traveling. Another recommendation for Spyderco Sharpmaker if you decide to not use a bench stone or two.
 
ChasingSharpness said:
I was considering options for a travel kit for when visiting friends and family.i have a TSprof K03, but not only is it fairly large but the time it takes to get it travel ready is a little much. There's also alot of parts to mess around with to get it into a box.

I was looking for something which could be travel ready and also reassembled in a short time.

I was looking at the edgepro possibly, and also the newer version beveltech. But I was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions in this regard?
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The Edge Pro has a very nice compact bag with extra pockets to organize stones and tools.
For car trips I would vouch for that.

I also wanted to say I commute to work everyday on my bicycle and in one of the bags I carry a sharpening kit ; just a simple cotton cloth roll with little pockets like a a knife wallet but very small . I can touch up about anything with it free hand ; I've touched up carbide tipped hole saws even. There is a DMT folding I won't elaborate on.
Three must haves I have in there is a tiny German made sharpening steel for standing up slightly rolled edges , say, on a slip joint or box knife blade.
Then a very aggressive little Edge Pro 60 grit ruby stone (super inexpensive $17) for going at some edge tool that was never sharpened right from the factory.
And finally my BELOVED Spyderco Extra Fine Triangle rod for the odd little whisper touch up on one of my mid to lower alloy knives.
So light and compact it goes with me everywhere on the bike is my point.
 
I can highly recommend the Norton IM313, IM200, or anything even remotely similar.

There is a lot to be said about hand sharpening. It is a skill that everyone should master. For kitchen knives, outdoor knives, axes, hatchets, tools, farm tools and pocket knives. It is a great skill to have and to teach others. For me, it is also therapeutic and that's just a bonus.

Lol, I literally just got done refreshing the edge on my current pocket knife, which is the D2 Harbor Freight Icon. I try hard not to abuse my knives but in the end, they are just a tool. Tools sometimes do break. But getting a dull knife to hair popping sharp is fun and therapeutic for me.

If you have not mastered hand sharpening, I can also highly recommend the Work Sharp precision adjust System. It works great but is not very travel friendly if space is of concern. For fast metal removal, a belt sander can be your friend. I can also highly recommend the Tormek Systems or similar systems but there is a learning curve. Because it is water cooled, no issues with getting edge too hot and messing up the heat treat. Also, ceramic sticks and/or a strop work great once you have an edge.

You can go as far down the rabbit hole as your wallet will take you. I have all of the ones I listed and still use them all at different times for different reasons. I have a lot of big choppers 1/4" thick or more. When you get one of those and the grind is way off, which is not uncommon, I use powered sharpeners to get it fixed quickly.
 
cudgee said:
Just looked at your link. Nice looking bit of kit.
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Yeah, it's a really nice piece of kit, not cheap but incredible engineering.

It accepts any standard 6 or 4 inch stones. Great clamp, it holds a lot of knives securely and is even rotatable for both sides sharpening like the bigger systems.

Incredibly compact. Very accurate angle adjustment. Stone thickness compensation. It even does convex sharpening when you move the rod to another slot.

I bought mine through Gritomatic, they are considering stocking them if there is enough demand.

Here are some pics from the site and online videos:

Folded closed:
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Angle adjustment:
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Stone holder:
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Extra pics:
Screenshot_2025-03-31-17-22-14-513_com.android.chrome.jpg

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777 Edge said:
Yeah, it's a really nice piece of kit, not cheap but incredible engineering.

It accepts any standard 6 or 4 inch stones. Great clamp, it holds a lot of knives securely and is even rotatable for both sides sharpening like the bigger systems.

Incredibly compact. Very accurate angle adjustment. Stone thickness compensation. It even does convex sharpening when you move the rod to another slot.

I bought mine through Gritomatic, they are considering stocking them if there is enough demand.

Here are some pics from the site and online videos:

Folded closed:
View attachment 2835828

View attachment 2835835


Angle adjustment:
View attachment 2835830

View attachment 2835832


Stone holder:
View attachment 2835833


Extra pics:
View attachment 2835836

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If we could actually get hold of it, that would be great! This model is really excellent—looks super refined and has a clever design.


I’ve seen their Saturn PSS before, which could almost be called the ultimate solution among guided sharpening systems. But I don’t know why they never put it into production. From the official website, the €1,200 price also seems quite “ultimate”...


The Saturn Micro they launched some time ago is also interesting—it combines a guide rod with a microscope made specifically for sharpening with specialized magnification.


By the way, for portable guided sharpeners, I think I can recommend a few more, though I’m not sure how easy they are to get.
This one is relatively well-known among knife enthusiasts in China, and many sharpening fans have it.
Its name is CMG Guided Sharpener Gen 1.
It was designed and produced by a Chinese pocket knife craftsman.
At the current exchange rate, it costs a bit under 100 USD.

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From how it works, I think it’s similar in concept to the Saturn Module.


P.S. Sorry—English isn’t my native language, so if anything sounds weird, that’s GPT’s fault :P
 
I cannot seem to find the CMG guided system anywhere online. Where is it available?
 
777 Edge said:
I cannot seem to find the CMG guided system anywhere online. Where is it available?
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I just tried using AliExpress… well, it really doesn’t seem to be available for export. The Chinese version of the AliExpress app does show this product. I think I can try asking the creator about it… I have their contact info
 
The Edge Pro Apex folds and is quite compact. I've used one and it was very effective. There's a folding guided system from Xarilk that looks good and is only $60 or so; I have not actually tried one though, just saw some videos and read some reviews.
 
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