EZE-LAP DLX diamond sharpening kit any good?

[celtic11]

Ive been wanting to pick up a new sharpening system soon and am tossing back and forth between the Lanksy deluxe system and a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Had pretty much decided to go with the Sharpmaker until this EZE-LAP sharpening kit popped up on a deal site for $39.99. Anybody know if this is a good kit? Id be sharpening mainly 8CR13MoV, 14C28, and Elmax, and S35VN. Will it work for the recurve on the Blur? Thanks in advance.

 

[Bob6794]

Well I just saw the kit going for $33 at major website that is pretty much a warehouse online. But honestly I'd rather spring for a different kit over that, $40 will get your a DMT Aligner at the same site wtih C/F/EF stones and a rod for serrations. Lansky is another good option as well, it's been around forever and we know the strengths and weaknesses of it very well and you have more variety in stones and strops that are made for it than included in any kit they sell.

In fact there are several guided setups mentioned in the first few pages of this subforum right now, browse through them and you learn a lot and decide what interests you and do further research on. Make your decision based on that.

Oh and it only has 2 angles to choose from on that EZE-LAP, that alone is a bit no in my opinion. One of the biggest perks of a guided setup in my opinion is the ability to accurately reprofile a blade and only 2 angles which according to a quick review I saw was 20 and 25 leaves a lot to be desired. And I be honest I am biased and dislike EZE-LAP after having one of their products which was less than stellar in build quality. Even discounting my bias spending a few dollars more will get you significantly better products out there like the DMT Aligner, Lansky, Gatco should all be in that price range.

 

[celtic11]

Well I just saw the kit going for $33 at major website that is pretty much a warehouse online. But honestly I'd rather spring for a different kit over that, $40 will get your a DMT Aligner at the same site wtih C/F/EF stones and a rod for serrations. Lansky is another good option as well, it's been around forever and we know the strengths and weaknesses of it very well and you have more variety in stones and strops that are made for it than included in any kit they sell.

In fact there are several guided setups mentioned in the first few pages of this subforum right now, browse through them and you learn a lot and decide what interests you and do further research on. Make your decision based on that.

Oh and it only has 2 angles to choose from on that EZE-LAP, that alone is a bit no in my opinion. One of the biggest perks of a guided setup in my opinion is the ability to accurately reprofile a blade and only 2 angles which according to a quick review I saw was 20 and 25 leaves a lot to be desired. And I be honest I am biased and dislike EZE-LAP after having one of their products which was less than stellar in build quality. Even discounting my bias spending a few dollars more will get you significantly better products out there like the DMT Aligner, Lansky, Gatco should all be in that price range.

OK thanks. This one was in the same price range as the other sharpened systems I'm looking at buy has diamond stones instead so I wasn't sure if that was a major upgrade or not. Think I'll stick with my original plan to get the Sharpmaker.

 

[Bob6794]

Sharpmaker is good for touching up a blade, not for reprofiling or bringing an extremely dull blade back to life. The latter 2 will take a bit of patience to say the least. Just something to think about.

Diamond stones are nice in the fact that they can remove a lot of steel very quickly and will work with even the most wear resistant of steels where some of other abrasives would just take forever. But that is also a double edge sword, I have the DMT Aligner and I can tell you I have to be careful sharpening some steels such as those found in my SAK's and some of my carbon steel blades as if I am not careful it will remove too much metal too fast.

 

[celtic11]

Sharpmaker is good for touching up a blade, not for reprofiling or bringing an extremely dull blade back to life. The latter 2 will take a bit of patience to say the least. Just something to think about.

Diamond stones are nice in the fact that they can remove a lot of steel very quickly and will work with even the most wear resistant of steels where some of other abrasives would just take forever. But that is also a double edge sword, I have the DMT Aligner and I can tell you I have to be careful sharpening some steels such as those found in my SAK's and some of my carbon steel blades as if I am not careful it will remove too much metal too fast.

I don't intend to do any reprofiling but being able to bring a blade back from very dull would be nice. I currently have a cheapo 4 sided diamond block. I can get a pretty decent edge on a typical blade but its difficult to do the recurve on the Blur which is one of my main edc blades.

What sharpener would you recommend a guy on a $60ish budget?

 

[drail]

The Lansky systems (diamond or otherwise) will do almost anything you need. Their only real shortcoming is blade length. Anything longer than 3 or 4 in. will require you to move the clamp down the blade as you go. On long kitchen knives I prefer a 10 or 12 in. bench stone. Most people will start with a Lansky or other guided system and eventually reach a point where they just freehand everything on a stone. The diamond Lansky system will absolutely bring back a terrible dulled edge very quickly. (too quickly if you're not careful.)