smiths sharpening kit????

Joined
Jul 14, 2000
Messages
3,278
im talking about the lanskey look-alike.
how does it compare to the lanskey?
does it get the job done? will it screw up my blade? seen em in sams packaged with a buck odyssey for cheap,just a little curious....TIA
 
I actually bought the kit you are talking about. Now I have never used any lansky kit. I have a spyderco sharpmaker, the older version. I can get most of my knives shaving sharp with the sharpmaker so that is my point of reference. I have used the smith sharpeneing kit on two knives. My bear balisong, and my bm 710. The bm was alot harder steel. The course stones in the set were very course. You dont need anything that course on any softer steel blades. It literally reprofiled the edge of the bear like it was a course file on soft wood. I was amazed, and on the bm it also took off alot of metal with each stroke. The medium stones were still pretty course, and the arkansas finishing stones that it comes with, did not seem to put as fine of an edge on the blades as the fine sticks on the sharpmaker. I expected the sharpening kit to be a pos, and the blade to be decent, I was more impressed with the sharpening kit, than I was with the knife. But I should point out that I am very new to sharpening, and am by no means even competent. So dont take my opinions to seriously. I really dont know much about what I am talking about.
Kyle
 
It's a good sharpening kit for 15 dollars. It was a hassle to use though. Clamping the blade and using those tiny stones that clog up real fast got anoying after a while. I was never able to get my blades real sharp, but I might have been over doing the fine hone and rounding the edge. I also found the preset angles too steep for good cutting performance.
 
I still have one. I'm selling my Edge Pro Apex and getting my guns with the money... then I'm going to buy the Professional Edge Pro set. However, while I'm saving up for all this good stuff, that Smith's kit will see a lot of usage! Before I got my Edge Pro, the Smith's kit was used for everything. The coarse stone is more than half gone. Not a bad set for $15. I skip the soft Arkansas (medium) stone usually.

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Chang and the Rebels of the East
(Southern Taiwan Shall Rise Again!)
 
I have had both the smiths and the Lansky. To tell you the truth I liked the Smiths better. I liked the way the guide rods screwed into the stone holders. The lansky rods seemed like they didn't want to stay put. I also think the smiths had A better carrying case. But if you really want to get results I suggest the Spyderco 204 sharpmaker. Everyone on the forums rave about it. I ordered one yesterday from http://www.cumberlandknives.com it was less than $50.00 shipped. We'll see how well it works soon........

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Brian
AKTI# A000991
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I got the same kit from Sam's. IMO its really not worth it even for $30. I don't especially like the Odyssey so the sharpener was the main point for me.

Now to the sharpener, I couldn't get the 710 sharp, no matter how long I tried it for. The coarse stone reprofiled the edge and all the stones clogged very quickly. Plus, the smallest angle preset is 20 degrees so it wasn't even sharp enough to scrape a piece of hair off. I don't own the Lansky, so I can't compare them, but I wouldn't suggest this sharpener.

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Dave

My collection
 
In my experience, the Sharpmaker is a much better system than the Lansky/Gatco/Smiths types for getting that razor-edge, and keeping it that way.

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Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
glockman99@hotmail.com
ICQ# 53675663
 
I have one that I don't use anymore...because it is broken and sucked in the first place. I just bought two Lansky kits in the past week from other forumites for >$15 each in almost perfect condition. If you want to use this type of system then get the real thing otherwise you will be sorely disappointed. To one up that you could get it just for rebeveling purposes (that's what my Lansky is for) and get a Sharpmaker 204 (it takes forever to rebevel with that thing) for putting the scary sharp edge on it.

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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
 
Make that less than 15 bucks each shipped and the Sharpmaker also has the advantage of being able to sharpen serrations. Before I bought the 204 I hated serrations with a passion but now they just kick a$$
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
 
bteel, I've had no problem with the rods on your Lansky
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
 
Mykyl,
Glad you like it. The rods always semmed to want to work loose on me. I ended up just using the stones freehand. I recently picked up a 2204 sharpmaker and must say that it ROCKS I reccomend it.

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Brian
AKTI# A000991
Signature not available at this time. Please check back later.
 
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