Lansky Diamond Sharpening System

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Blade_Crazy

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May 26, 2011
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Does anyone have opinions on this sharpening setup? My dad has used it for years and his knives are always shaving sharp.

I know a lot of you guys keep your knives at levels of sharpness i may never obtain (although i would love to in time) But for now i am on a limited budget and even more limited with time.

Please pass any advise or information as to this system and if it is capable of doing what i need (shaving sharp and able to hold the edge) and if this is the easiest way for if there is a better system for a comparable price.

Oh and the knives I will primarily be sharpening are Spyderco's with steels in the s30v area
 
It is capable of producing excellent edges. It's the first 'system' I used, and I learned a lot from it. First thing I'd do, if you haven't already, is to see how your dad utilizes it. In particular, pay close attention to how he sets the clamp on the blade. Any clamped & guided sharpener can either work excellently, or not, depending on how well the clamp is positioned on the blade. If it's not correctly clamped, and the inside faces of the clamp aren't flush on the blade, the blade can & will slip or move, which effectively erases any chance of getting a good bevel on the blade.

The Lansky hones are relatively small, so the diamond set will make a significant difference in how fast it works, especially with S30V. I originally used a 'Deluxe' kit, with the standard hones (not diamond), and the XC, C, and M hones are no longer flat after I used it on a ZT-0350 with S30V blade. I wore 'em out. At that time, I did have one medium diamond hone (bought separately), and it did most of the grunt work. Still took a long time to get the job done (it was a complete reprofile of the bevel).

In retrospect, if you're still interested in a relatively inexpensive guided sharpener, I'd look into the DMT Aligner or Magna-Guide first. They both use the same clamp, but the hones are different. The Aligner uses hones dedicated for it, and the Magna-Guide is designed for use with the Dia-Fold hones, which are also quite versatle for free-hand sharpening (built in handles, which swivel around to 'encase' the hone for storage). The Dia-Folds also come in double-sided configurations, which gives a little more bang-for-the-buck. You can accomplish 99% of everything you might need, with the C/F and EF/EEF Dia-Folds (and there's also an XC, if you feel you need it). The mono-crystaline diamond on DMT's hones is very good, and they seem to work consistently faster than other diamond hones. They cut very aggressively, and can produce wicked-sharp edges. Very durable too.

Make sure to use light pressure with any diamond hone. Because they cut so fast, bearing down too hard is counter-productive and will also scrub the diamond off the hone, shortening it's life.
 
prolly gonna practice for a while before it touches my sage 2 though :-D, also what angle's are best for for a sage 2 (if you know)
 
The 'correct' blade angle, as specified by the maker, will likely be at least a little bit off (as is usually the case, regardless of the maker). Use a Sharpie to darken your existing bevel, then set up the blade in the clamp and make a few VERY light passes on the bevel with the finest hone. See where the ink comes off, and adjust the blade position & sharpening angle accordingly. Won't get it absolutely perfect, but should get reasonably close. Then, COMMIT to completely finishing the new bevel, until the edge is fully apexed. So long as you make sure to completely apex the edge, you should be very happy with the result. I'd also highly recommend a good magnifier (10X or better), used under very bright light, to closely inspect your work as you go. That's the best way to make sure you reach the apex every time.

Good luck! :thumbup:
 
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any really good videos on how to do this? I am new to the world of sharpening my own knives and while i understood some i am a very visual person and often will understand better with something to watch.
 
Blade_Crazy said:
any really good videos on how to do this? I am new to the world of sharpening my own knives and while i understood some i am a very visual person and often will understand better with something to watch.
Click to expand...

This vid of a WEPS helped to get the correct stroke for my DMT Aligner kit for reprofiling. I was using the stroke that the maker of the aligner has in his vid and I was finding that with that stroke, reprofiling was not happening even with an XC(black) stone. After my epiphany from the WEPS video, I have reprofiled a few knives easily enough.

I hope that this vid helps you in some way. Welcome to the dark side knife bro.

[youtube]cGcMsgMYJuw&NR=1[/youtube]
 
The videos from DMT, for the Aligner and Magna-Guide, unfortunately don't get into the aspects of re-profiling. They only illustrate the basics of what they'd recommend for touching up a knife edge. Think they do about 6 light, heel-to-tip sweeping strokes per side, per hone. Obviously, that won't get a re-profile done. The stroke shown in the WEPS video (linked above, by singularity35) is very similar to what I've done, when reprofiling with either my Lansky, Gatco or the Magna-Guide. There's a lot more 'back & forth' motion, in narrow sections of the blade, since a lot more metal needs to be removed for a complete re-bevel job.

I'll add though, after the heavy grunt-work is done on a re-profile, I'll usually finish the last few strokes on the finest hone with that sweeping, heel-to-tip stroke, as shown in DMT's videos. Just enough to even out the grind pattern a bit on the edge, to make it more uniform.

DMT's videos for several of their products, including the Aligner and Magna-Guide, are on linked on this page:

http://www.dmtsharp.com/resources/video-library
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
I'll add though, after the heavy grunt-work is done on a re-profile, I'll usually finish the last few strokes on the finest hone with that sweeping, heel-to-tip stroke, as shown in DMT's videos. Just enough to even out the grind pattern a bit on the edge, to make it more uniform.
Click to expand...

Yep, this.
 
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