just bought a Lansky sharpening system

chococrazy said:
Hope this aint a thread hijack, but if I have a lansky diamond set I don't sharpen in a pushing motion I sharpen in a pulling am I correct?
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I have the Smith's version, a Lansky style sharpener, with diamond hones, and I go back and forth to reprofile. Haven't had any problems yet.
 
I have one, but it doesn't work as well as an experienced sharpener with flat stones and a strop. It is good at setting the angle. I use mine dry, and when it clogs up I put some oil on the stone and rub it lightly with my finger letting the metal float up and then blot it with a paper towel. Sharpen and repeat.

As others have said, there is also a knack to sweeping the stones across the edge as you push, and I would also move the clamp down the blade as you work, depending on the size of the knife. As has already been said, use the course stone till you get a burr then flip the knife.

Also, I've read complaints here about every sharpening system made. I think the trick is to just take your time with any of them, and every pro I've seen here seems to use a leather strop at the end. I have one on order now.
 
I am like a few other people here, I never really liked lansky sharpening systems. I got a sharpmaker and I like it much better. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I could never get my knives sharp with the lansky sharpener.
 
It takes a while to get your technique. I use a sawing motion to re profile, pushing motion the length of the blade with medium and fine, then a sawing motion with ultra fine decreasing pressure as I flip.
 
All you did wrong was to fail to grind the bevels to whichever angle you chose to use. The bevels on your knife do match those of the sharpener. You need to correct that by grinding them with the coarse stone. After that, the Lansky will get the knife as sharp as it can be.
 
Sharpmaker is alright for touching a blade up but forget about re profiling, it would take you a week.
 
I have an Edge Pro and a Sharpmaker. :)

Reprofiling on an Edge Pro doesn't take long at all and it's really doesn't matter what steel it is either. ;)
 
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Ankerson said:
I have an Edge Pro and a Sharpmaker. :)

Reprofiling on an Edge Pro doesn't take long at all and it's really doesn't matter what steel it is either. ;)
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Ditto to what Ankerson wrote. I also had a lansky system the deluxe with all five diamond stones and had to get rid of it. I found the thing to be poorly designed. Edge Pro is hands down the way to go with sharpmaker following in a close second.
 
Knife Outlet said:
All you did wrong was to fail to grind the bevels to whichever angle you chose to use. The bevels on your knife do match those of the sharpener. You need to correct that by grinding them with the coarse stone. After that, the Lansky will get the knife as sharp as it can be.
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That may have very well been part of my problem. I bought the Lansky Sharpener when I first started sharpening knives a very long time ago. Again I believe the problem you mention was part of what I was doing wrong, however, I had other problems on more than one occasion. One of the most disturbing problems was the sharpener ( or me ) getting different angles on each side of the blade. I twice ruined a knife because the first side of the blade I sharpened, the grind went 1/4 inch up the blade, when I flipped it over and done the other side the grind only went 1/16 of the blade. I checked the angles over and over and did not get that part wrong. After that happening twice to me on different occasions I threw the Lansky out.

It has been many years since then and I have come along way in my sharpening skills, and I myself would like to know what the problem was back then. In a way I don't think it matters though. Sharpeners (except for freehand) should be a little more fool proof. I didn't have the patience to figure what the Lansky ( or myself ) was doing wrong; I just threw it out and moved on.

Bill
 
Hitthespot said:
One of the most disturbing problems was the sharpener ( or me ) getting different angles on each side of the blade. I twice ruined a knife because the first side of the blade I sharpened, the grind went 1/4 inch up the blade, when I flipped it over and done the other side the grind only went 1/16 of the blade. I checked the angles over and over and did not get that part wrong. After that happening twice to me on different occasions I threw the Lansky out.

It has been many years since then and I have come along way in my sharpening skills, and I myself would like to know what the problem was back then.

Snipped for brevity
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Bill- I did that on a knife or two when I go the Lansky system. It took a while to figure out, but I had a DUH... moment and got it.

I had the blade in the holder clamped at an angle. This happened on my full flat grind blades where the clamp didn't have a flat area to firmly secure it. The clamp held the knife blade well, but when I didn't get it in straight it ground exactly the way you described.

I use the Lansky a lot to reprofile edges and love it for any knife blade under 4". But I use a diamond rod most of the time after that.

As was mentioned above, like any other sharpening system it took a bit of practice to get there, but I found you can easily get hair shaving edges from a Lansky.

As is seen, YMMV.

Robert
 
I have the Lansky and I hate it. It's just too "contraptiony" for me- there's too much fiddling and fussing involved. And the stupid thing won't work for half of my knives- they're either too thick, or too big. I do everything freehand now, and I'm much happier.
 
i've had a Lansky for years and can get awsome results with it--mine is getting so old it is due for a replacement--if anyone hates their Lansky so much they want to get rid of it--get in touch--:D
 
I got a Lansky today and tried it on some of my kitchen blades. They were less sharp after i finished with them lol. I'll try again tomorrow there were some good tips in the thread. If i cant do it after tomorrow i will try something else, waterstones maybe that looks pretty cool.
 
barsoomian said:
I got a Lansky today and tried it on some of my kitchen blades. They were less sharp after i finished with them lol. I'll try again tomorrow there were some good tips in the thread. If i cant do it after tomorrow i will try something else, waterstones maybe that looks pretty cool.
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Go back and re read my post above. You must have a consistent angle. No fixture will work if the sharpeners angle and the blades angle are different. You must grind the edge to match the angle on the sharpening fixture. Then you can sharpen.
 
Knife Outlet said:
Go back and re read my post above. You must have a consistent angle. No fixture will work if the sharpeners angle and the blades angle are different. You must grind the edge to match the angle on the sharpening fixture. Then you can sharpen.
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Well, that pretty much sums it up. I have shown several of my amigos how to set one up and use it, and once they do they actually like sharpening.

The biggest issue they don't understand is the first go around on the knife. Setting the angle on the knife to match the fixture is the most important thing. A strong light and my reading glasses are a must to make sure I have ground it down all the way to a flat edge.

Flip, repeat.

After that, it's basic sharpening. Raise the burr on one side, the flip the knife and ease it off.

Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
Well, that pretty much sums it up. I have shown several of my amigos how to set one up and use it, and once they do they actually like sharpening.

The biggest issue they don't understand is the first go around on the knife. Setting the angle on the knife to match the fixture is the most important thing. A strong light and my reading glasses are a must to make sure I have ground it down all the way to a flat edge.

Flip, repeat.

After that, it's basic sharpening. Raise the burr on one side, the flip the knife and ease it off.

Robert
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I just use a sharpe on the edge to make sure I am at the correct angle on my Edge Pro. :D
 
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