Just getting into folding knives, need sharpener. Lansky Diamond VS Sharpmaker

T

thomasward00

Joined
Jun 30, 2011
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14
This is my collection so far

3 Rat 1, Pain edge
2 Kershaw Blur Tanto part serrated
Kara Kara 2 Fully serrated

Will be adding a few more knives to the mix soon....


What should I get first, Sharpmaker withe the ultra fine stones or the Lansky diamond with a strop?


Has to work for both plain edge and serrated
 
I would just get the standard Sharpmaker set and get good with that. The ultra fines are not really necessary IMHO. I use them at the very very end but without having mastered the technique first they will get you no where.

Usually, by the time you get good with the Sharpmaker, you may want to move on to another type of sharpening (stones, freehand, EP, etc.) and may want to spend your money elsewhere.
 
Ive used a standard lansky 5 stone for years. It has held up fairly well and puts a nice edge on my knives folding fixed etc.

A few weeks ago i was hanging out with my nephew, he is also into knives and has never sharpened anything. I figured whats a better way to get him started on sharpening. So i gave him my standard lansky kit.
First showing him my techniques why sharpening one of his beater knives.
It was a smith and wesson with a butter edge. In roughly 10-15 min it was razor sharp.

I ended up getting the lansky diamnond kit with 3 stones then bought the extra course diamond, extra fine regular and 2 strops. And ordered a saphire.
It cost roughly 150 for all this. And wow its a huge time saver using the diamond kit over the standard. Ive yet to use the saphire cause i havent received it yet.

I like these becuse of these cause of the consistent angles.
Its good to have a few good tricks when using these for when you first start sharpening and when you have to resharpen.
I always measure from the thumb lug to the lansky clamp and record the measurement for each knife so i will have the exact same starting point when resharpening.
And use a marker on the knifes edge to make sure im properly hitting the entire edge.
I use a dmt sharpening stick to sharpen serrations. But thats been over 10 years since ive used it.
You can get lansky sharpening stone for serrated there around $10.
So if just got the basic 5 stone kit it would cost around 50-60 depending where you buy it from

Sooner or latter ill get a wicked edge, i would have one now if i could stop buying knives.
 
Last edited:
retzius said:
I would just get the standard Sharpmaker set and get good with that. The ultra fines are not really necessary IMHO. I use them at the very very end but without having mastered the technique first they will get you no where.

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Click to expand...

Totally agree. Been using Sharpmaker going on 25 yrs. The sharpening gods smiled down on me when I found a barely used one at a yard sale for 10 bucks, back in the days when they only came with the 20% angle. Since then I've have gotten a newer one with the 15% as that's a better fit for my Japanese kitchen knives. The only time I broke out my waterstones is with a new knife needing a little reprofiling, as the medium Sharpmaker rods require a tedious amount of time when major steel removal is required. . And now there is no need for the waterstones at all, as I discovered and purchased the relatively new Spyderco cubic boron Nitride rods. Yay...these things rock, and don't require the extra careful handling as the diamond rods ( tho' you don't want to beat the snot out of the CBN rods either)!
 
Sharpening questions belong in MTE
General knife discussion is for discussing the knives themselves.
 
If you have serrations, the Sharpmaker is #1. Get the diamond rods for those times when you need a new edge.
 
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