New to sharpening, need reccomendations

spoonycoot · Sep 19, 2016

I've done quite a bit of searching and reading. I'm trying to decide which sharpening system I should buy. I don't really have any high end knives, I have a leek with the compostie blade with the CPM D2 steel, a Blur with a serrated blade, a Scallion, a few case knives, and a couple fillet knives. I plan on adding a spyderco para2 or manix2, and will continue to slowly collect in the future. I have been flipping back and forth between the lansky diamond kit, the dmt magna guide, and the work sharp guided sharpening system (not to be confused with the powered belt sander) I haven't heard much about the work sharp. I have heard that most people think the dmt stones in the kit are good, but I'm reading a lot of complaints about the clamp, so that has me worried about that system. I've read hit or miss things about the lanksy as well, but the bracket seems to be better, but the stones may not be as good.

I think I'm leaning towards the work sharp guided system with the upgrade kit which adds a coarser diamond plate , a finer diamond plate and a leather strop as well as a 25 degree angle guide. Does anybody have any experience with this system?

I don't think sharpening will ever be a hobby of mine and I'm obviously not looking to split atoms I'm just trying to attain the best results with the least investment. . Any thoughts and recommendations are appreciated.

cbwx34 · Sep 19, 2016

spoonycoot said:
I've done quite a bit of searching and reading. I'm trying to decide which sharpening system I should buy. I don't really have any high end knives, I have a leek with the compostie blade with the CPM D2 steel, a Blur with a serrated blade, a Scallion, a few case knives, and a couple fillet knives. I plan on adding a spyderco para2 or manix2, and will continue to slowly collect in the future. I have been flipping back and forth between the lansky diamond kit, the dmt magna guide, and the work sharp guided sharpening system (not to be confused with the powered belt sander) I haven't heard much about the work sharp. I have heard that most people think the dmt stones in the kit are good, but I'm reading a lot of complaints about the clamp, so that has me worried about that system. I've read hit or miss things about the lanksy as well, but the bracket seems to be better, but the stones may not be as good.

I think I'm leaning towards the work sharp guided system with the upgrade kit which adds a coarser diamond plate , a finer diamond plate and a leather strop as well as a 25 degree angle guide. Does anybody have any experience with this system?

I don't think sharpening will ever be a hobby of mine and I'm obviously not looking to split atoms I'm just trying to attain the best results with the least investment. . Any thoughts and recommendations are appreciated.

Used them all... I'll give my vote to the WorkSharp setup. You get a nice solid base to work from, guides if you need them / totally freehand if you don't, quality abrasives,... basically everything needed in a nice package.

You may have to put a little more effort in learning, since it's not guided like your other examples, but the guides they provide help, and in the long run, I think you'd be happy with the investment.

Edit: BTW, even though you said "not... the powered belt sander", it often gets confused... so to clarify:

bodog · Sep 19, 2016

For a newbie not looking for anything fancy but that will definitely get the job done I'd vote for the lansky 5 stone kit with metal clamp and an old leather belt to strop. No gimmicks, nothing crazy, fairly priced, and it works. One day you may decide to "graduate" to something else but a lansky system will last you 10 years or more sharpening regular knives. At least it did me until I caught the bug. Let the stones do the work and make sure you put a drop of oil on the stones, fully apex the edge, and you'll be good to go for a long, long time. Just make sure the stones and guide rod line up straight and remember the angle you last sharpened to.

mauiblue · Sep 20, 2016

I started off with a Lansky sharpening system so many years ago. It worked out okay for me for years. Then I started acquiring more knives in my collection and wanted a quality sharpener. I ended up with a Edge Pro system over 10 years ago and never looked back. I love it. I thought of going with a Wicked Edge system but the Edge Pro is working out fine. If I want to do quick sharpening jobs I use the Spyderco Sharp Maker.

cbwx34 · Sep 20, 2016

You guys are dedicated... I lasted about 3 months with a Lansky before I was looking around saying, there's gotta be something better than this...

It's OK if your knives are in decent shape, but I found it painful if a knife needed much work.

Alberta Ed · Sep 20, 2016

Get a set of DMTs and an angle guide that clamps to the back of the blade (you can find several makes). Basically, that's all the various systems do and the angle guide is simple, versatile and cost-effective.

spoonycoot · Sep 20, 2016

Well it seems I'm still at square one haha. From further research I found a thread where a guy had several tips and tweaks to improve the lansky. For example replacing one of the clamp screws so you don't hit the stone on the screw affecting your angle, also replacing the thumb screws used on the stones and guide rod for a longer stroke, as well as tips on holding it. I was almost ready to pull the trigger on it last night. After further thinking I'm back to not knowing what to choose. Half of me thinks if its going to take this much more time effort and money to improve the lansky I would be better off learning to freehand on the work sharp.

For those of you that have used the work sharp does it take time to break in the surfaces, are the extra abrasive at first?

ichor · Sep 20, 2016

Been using Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker for over 20 years. Once you add the CBN Rods, for major jobs like reprofiling, You can spend more, but ya can't find a simpler, cheaper , easier system, with virtually no learning curve. YMMV

TheChunk91 · Sep 22, 2016

I have the small field version of the work sharp, it's a great little system and the angles built in to it really helped me with freehand over time to the point I didn't need guides anymore. If you go with that it will give you good consistent results, then at some point you won't need the guides anymore but the sharpener will still be just as useful AND you will be proficient at freehand. It's the most advantageous option:thumbup:

Jamesh Bond · Sep 22, 2016

spoonycoot said:
I've done quite a bit of searching and reading. I'm trying to decide which sharpening system I should buy. I don't really have any high end knives, I have a leek with the compostie blade with the CPM D2 steel, a Blur with a serrated blade, a Scallion, a few case knives, and a couple fillet knives. I plan on adding a spyderco para2 or manix2, and will continue to slowly collect in the future. I have been flipping back and forth between the lansky diamond kit, the dmt magna guide, and the work sharp guided sharpening system (not to be confused with the powered belt sander) I haven't heard much about the work sharp. I have heard that most people think the dmt stones in the kit are good, but I'm reading a lot of complaints about the clamp, so that has me worried about that system. I've read hit or miss things about the lanksy as well, but the bracket seems to be better, but the stones may not be as good.

I think I'm leaning towards the work sharp guided system with the upgrade kit which adds a coarser diamond plate , a finer diamond plate and a leather strop as well as a 25 degree angle guide. Does anybody have any experience with this system?

I don't think sharpening will ever be a hobby of mine and I'm obviously not looking to split atoms I'm just trying to attain the best results with the least investment. . Any thoughts and recommendations are appreciated.

For what it's worth.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...arpener-recommendations-for-newbies-READ-THIS

I gave up on it, but Bucketstove posted some good links.