Lansky 5 Stone system VS. Work Sharp 221 manual Sharperner?

J

Joe2

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Jun 10, 2009
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I am looking to get ither or. They are both about the same price. Which would one recommend over the other? Thanks!

Joe
 
Sort of an 'apples vs. oranges' decision. If you're looking to set more precise, new bevels on knives, the guided Lansky system is set up for that. The WS 221 manual sharpener is more of a field touch-up tool, which would be fine after a good bevel is in place (such as produced on the Lansky). The Lansky will be more involved and sometimes tedious to set up and use, and the WS 221 would be more of an on-the-spot, spur-of-the-moment maintenance & touch-up tool.

Depends what your objectives are, in other words. :)


David
 
All I have now is a cheap pull through tung. carbide sharpener. So out of the 2 I guess start with a Lansky and maybe buy the WS later on if need be? Thanks!


*edit* Also, is the 3 stone (coarse, medium, fine) enough or should I really get the 5 stone version if I were to go with lansky?


Joe
 
Joe2 said:
All I have now is a cheap pull through tung. carbide sharpener. So out of the 2 I guess start with a Lansky and maybe buy the WS later on if need be? Thanks!


*edit* Also, is the 3 stone (coarse, medium, fine) enough or should I really get the 5 stone version if I were to go with lansky?


Joe
Click to expand...

If you're just looking to set clean, crisp utility edges on your knives, the three-stone set should do you fine. If you're wanting (now, or eventually) to further refine and/or pursue hair-whittling & polished edges, more stones in the sequence will help. You might also consider what steels you're sharpening. Very wear-resistant steels like S30V, ZDP-189, etc. would justify at least one diamond hone in the sequence, for setting the initial bevels. The standard stones in Lansky's kits will be very slow on steels like those, if trying to grind new bevels on them. Otherwise, with the vast majority of mainstream knife steels, the standard kits (3 or 5 stones) should work fine.


David
 
I got ride of my Lansky, slow on harder steels like someone else said. You also have to tape the blade or else it scratches when you clamp. Additionally the Lansky has drawbacks in that it doesn't work well on all blade sizes from kitchen to EDC and or thicknesses.

I would pass and get a cheap 3 stone system like a Smith's. Crock sticks or a Sharpmaker. If you get the crock sticks or sharpmaker get at least one very course stone so that you can set the edges as it will take too long using the rods.
 
The scratching issues on the blade are from grit/dirt between blade & clamp. The aluminum clamp, by itself, isn't hard enough to scratch a steel blade. BUT, to minimize chances of grit doing some scratching, taping the blade isn't a bad idea. This helps in gripping the blade as well, with slicker/shinier blades.

Any blades from traditional pocketknife size up to ~6" or so will sharpen up fine in the Lansky clamp. Position the clamp mid-blade on larger knives (up to ~8" or so), for adequate reach from tip to heel. For very small blades, like the pen on a traditional folder, use the notch at the end of the clamp's jaws. This particular clamp handles smaller blades like this better than other clamped systems (Gatco/DMT), down to blade widths of 1/4"-3/8" or so.


David
 
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