What's your favorite budget sharpener? Do they work?

I like a norton combination India stone. It's a good allarounder. I finish on a tiny hard Arkansas stone, if I want a more refined edge. If I am refining an edge on ATS 34, I'll finish on a piece of an old ceramic razor hone. It's probably just hard enough for the job.

I strop on my hand for carbon steel or 'regular' stainless. Sometimes for ATS 34, I'll use a strop with some green rouge on it.

I don't like the results I get on high carbon and regular stainless with a loaded leather strop. I find it too easy to round the edge. I will sometimes use it when I'm in a hurry sharpening someone else's knife.
 
$12.95 for a DMT Aligner clamp and three-four sheets of wet/dry sandpaper
Doesn't get much cheaper than that, and with the right grades of sandpaper, you can get a hair-whittling edge in just a couple of minutes.

I find this works best if I put the sandpaper raised up about an inch or two, perhaps on a scrap pine board or a 2X4. Then I have enough room to adjust the Aligner's 'legs' to various heights running along side of the board on the table top.


Stitchawl
 
fvdk said:
My current favorite budged sharpener is the Ruixin Pro RX 008
For less than $30 shipped you can not go wrong and yes, it absolutely works.
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This is the one I was talking about.

I also modified a Lansky Turnbox drilling two more holes for the option of having another angle
 
Mikel_24 said:
This is the one I was talking about.

I also modified a Lansky Turnbox drilling two more holes for the option of having another angle
Click to expand...

That is good to know, I have seriously been thinking of getting one. Love the wheels, can't reprofile with them, or at least have not figured out how to.
 
The Smith'S Tri Hone is not a bad idea, but I think the older one was better. Coarse man-made stone and Soft Arkansas and Fine Arkansas. Now they only use a Hard Arkansas and two quite coarse man-made stones.

Not the best solution for large knives, but quite useful for smaller (pocket or kitchen) knives: A Coghlan's whetstone (coarse and fine), about 6,95 and a Opinel Natural Sharpening Stone for honing (~ 9$). This will give your knives a decent edge for most tasks. Works both for carbone and stainless steel (haven't tried hard steels).
I had some doubts about the Coghlan's first, because you don't want to wait until your blade is that dull that you need a coarse grit. But it is nice to have...few strokes, than on the finer side. This will give you already a fair sharpness. After the Opinel whetstone I could - with a little pressure - shave hair with an Opinel carbone. Stainless steel was sharp enough to slice tomatoes easily.

Or a UST (Ultimate Survival Technologies) Sharpening Stone (coarse, fine) 5$.
 
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It would not be economical long term but 3M Pro Grade Precision paper with Cubitron II grit is very good for coarse work by hand.
 
Been using the sharpmaker almost exclusively for over a decade now. Its darn near perfect for EDC sized blades. Did a light re-profile on a UMC Kabar recently which turned out... pretty good. Think I worn my diamond rods out a little though. Otherwise I do have a complete grit run of DMT stones which do work very well. Just more effort than I want to put into an EDC edge.
 
edcwhitewolf92 said:
I gotta say I have my favorites but when push comes to shove a kit for $30 to shave paper is pretty impressive. What is a budget sharpener that you've tried that actually works?
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I'm new to the knife game and used whettstones for my katanas..but wanted something for on the go for my ka bar if I'm in this Florida Amazon wondering what the hell I'm looking at lol! Speedy sharp has worked for me.. you just have to be careful to not use pressure on the tool itself.. just glide it over the edge.. works great for me so far.. for 12 bucks!? Booya grandma!
 
I have not tried the expensive sharpeners like wicked edge but have real good luck with the sharpmaker even with supersteels. I can swipe my knives a couple times at night on the sharpmaker and I am ready to go the next day.
 
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