lansky 4 rod vs sharpmaker - worth the extra $?

M

mantzao

Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
1,522
Hi guys,

The first and only sharpener i ever bought was a lansky 4 rod.
I can get very good edges without being a great sharpening guy.
I don't try to learn about angles and stuff because i only need my knife to cut small edc things and for food prep.
Even though i find mirror edges beautiful and cool i never tried, nor do i think i could, to obtain that kind of level of sharpness.
However i've been thinking about getting a sharpmaker. It seems that the rods can be inserted tighter in the wholes than it does on the lansky.
But, do you think it's worth spending the money on a sharpmaker just for that?
Do you think i could get better and faster results with it?
I guess what i'm trying to ask is for you to sell me on the sharpmaker:D
What do you say?

For those who don't know about the lansky, here's a review

[video=youtube;GOxPjpztXwI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOxPjpztXwI[/video]
 
Mantzao,

I'm a Sharpmaker guy. If you said you were having problems getting your knives sharp, I would recommend the Sharpmaker.

But, seeing how the Lansky is doing what you want, you might just want to stick with it.

If you ever need to reprofile an edge, I don't think the Lansky will work. Of course, even with the Sharpmaker, you will need extra ($45) iamond rods.
 
Both are basically the same principle, I think the sharpmaker offers different angles, but I'm not sure.
The lansky is enough for me, if you don't let your knives get too dull, the ceramic rods are usually enough.
Strop a little after that, and the knife shaves without tugging on your hair.
For really dull knives (that rare with me) I use a 2-sided stone
 
I loved my lansky. I ended up buying sandpaper at different grits and simply attaching it to the sticks. It made reprofiling a knife a lot quicker. The edges were nice. I could never get it to screaming sharp, but they'd push cut paper with no problems.

After having an edge pro I can finally understand what "scary" sharp means, but for the money, I'd get the lansky again.
 
I use a Lansky 4 rod turnbox for touchups myself. Works fine for me. I'm not obsessed with angles, and I just do thin/small knives around 30* included and larger knives around 40* on bench stones. The Lansky's 40* and 50* angles work just fine for microbeveling and touching up at these angles, so I don't feel the need for anything else. Yes, the SM rods fit more precisely and they also give different angles: 30* and 40* included. Just depends on your wants/needs. If the Lansky is working for you currently and you are okay with its available angles, I can't really see a need for a SM, unless you want the shallower angles it offers.

edit: Lansky now offers a 2 rod turnbox with diamond rods. I just picked one up a few weeks ago. The diamond rods are vastly more aggressive than the normal ceramic ones, so they offer a bit more flexibility. The angles in the base were slightly different from my old 4 rod base (again, not as precisely made as the SM), so I just stashed it away and use them with the old base. I'd advise going with one of these rather than a SM. They run about $25 here, don't know about where you live.
 
Last edited:
I have both the 4 rod Lansky Turn Box and a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Probably the biggest difference besides the angles is that you don't have a 'flat' side like the sharp maker has. So the entire sharpening process is like usig the 'pointy' sides of the Sharpmaker stones. You also DO have to be careful using the Turn Box as it doesn't have the blade guards that the Sharpmaker has. Not an issue if you keep nice and even strokes, but I've almost cut myself when I got in too much of a hurry.

Neither are any good for REALLY dull knives, or ones that need any reprofiling. For that I use the full Lansky sharpening system.

All in all I think the Sharpmaker is a better product, but considering that you can get the Turn Box at Amazon for less than $16 it costs like a quarter of what the Sharpmaker does.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B8FW0E/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
 
I have the large Lansky system and the Sharpmaker. I like them both. The Sharp maker is quicker to set up, use, and is less messy. Both do a very good job. If the grind angle on the knife is close to the Sharpmaker settings, a few licks on the maker will have your knife very sharp. Love the Sharpmaker for quick maintenance touch ups. The Lansky helps me to quickly remove metal if I dislike a factory edge angle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top