Lansky Deluxe Knife Sharpening System: 5-Stone Knife Sharpener Kit

The answer is yes, it made my high quality steel knives at least as sharp as utility knives. I watched the knife sharpening review Project Farm did and decided to treat myself to this more affordable sharpener that seemed to get close to the top results on his testing. His complaints seemed to center around user-friendliness, which I would have to concur with. It's a little cumbersome to set up and hold, but in spite of that you can get fantastic results. I would have to say that given the affordability, that still warrants a 5 star review. Now to talk about the results, which are somewhat subjective since I don't have a proper way to test sharpness, but I think they're useful anyway. So I sharpened my recently purchased CIVIVI Elementum because it was losing its edge from the heavy use my pocket knives tend to see. I sharpened to 25 degrees, which is a little less steep angled than it came from the manufacturer. Once done I quickly ran the knife across a strop with some fine stropping compound. I already thought this knife was insanely sharp, but now I think it's even sharper than when it was new. I can cut thick cardboard with it with a single stroke and best of all it seems to stay sharp much much longer than utility blades do, so I've all but stopped using a utility knife. I'll reserve those for when I need to abuse the blade like cutting shingles or something like that. Another example was this long blade in my Henckels kitchen set that I like to use for cutting watermelon. Watermelon is always a challenge due to the tough skin. I gave this knife the same treatment, except I went to 30 degrees due to the abuse my wife tends to put these knives through, and it didn't seem to matter. It turned out equally as sharp as the 25 degree hone. I was surprised as can be when the blade went through the watermelon with a single easy stroke, which I've never experienced before, including when these knives were brand new, or when I sharpened them using other methods. This kit gets blades **super sharp**, so be very careful handling knives sharpened with it. I couldn't be happier. It takes some time to get the desired results, but man does it deliver, and it really beats the freehand honing kit this replaced (been using one for years, good but not fantastic results). You just simply can't replace the fixed-angle honing technique that this kit allows. Don't waste any time, just buy it. The only way I would say not to is if you want to spend the money and get something a little more user-friendly, otherwise it's a no-brainer. Well worth the purchase price.

Edit: about a month or two in and lots of use later - this thing is awesome. Add a leather strop with some compound (white and green for me) and you can turn your knives into absolute scalpals. Seriously, I get them crazy sharp and I have NO skill at sharpening by hand. Only slight wear on the coarsest stone because I use it the most aggressively when reprofiling, the rest of the stones still seem like new. Sure you could find other products that will make your blades a bit sharper and might be somewhat easier to use, but at what cost. This thing gets my knives sharper than most people even know is possible at only $35 (clamp included, year 2014). Plus what I said (below) about blade length is only partially right. After some experience and a renewed consideration of the 3D geometry, I realize you can fairly easily get a consistent edge on even a larger knife (5-10 inches) with this. Highly recommended for the novice sharpener. Pros: Simple to use, easy to learn, difficult to screw up too badly (just stay sober while sharpening ;)) Will reprofile most knives fairly quickly. Comes with everything you need to turn any dull piece of crap pocket knife you own into an impressive hair shaving sharp blade. I've only had this for a couple weeks and now my roommates are afraid of our steak knives. Tips: Buy the Lansky Super C Clamp to go with this. Highly recommended. You could alternately use the stand Lansky makes, or even fashion something of your own that will hold the knife clamp steady while you work. (a vice, or a mounted pipe that fits the hole etc). You REALLY will want something like this with the system so buy it or plan to make something. Center your knife in the clamp so that the blade tip and bottom of the blade are equidistant from the hole in the clamp. This way you will have a fairly even bevel and wont have to grind off extra at one end. Plus a centered position is pretty easy to remember when you come back to sharpen again. Downfalls: As others have said, this system is gets worse and worse as blades get longer because the angle of contact with the stone and blade gets shallower the farther away from the clamp you are sharpening. The result is that you may end up having to create a VERY shallow bevel on the tip and/or the bottom of the blade, while having a normal one in the middle of the knife. The longest knife I would recommend using with this is about 4 -5 inches. I am sure you could move the clamp on larger knives, I have yet to try this out because it complicates things and doubles your sharpening time. Due to the above limitation, keep an eye on the bevel at the points farthest from the angle hole - they will need more steel removed to account for the shallower angle, dont move down to the finer grit stones until the entire edge is ground down all the way. The clamp does not do great with full flat ground blades, especially if the thickness of the blade is tapered towards the tip - I find the Spyderco Ambitious is VERY difficult to position in the clamp.

The hardware included with this kit is a bit lacking but overall, the kit does a nice job. I bought it primarily to sharpen our kitchen knives and a blade or two of my own. The instructions are pretty clear and everything you need is in the kit. That said, there are a few deficiencies: The thumbscrews that secure the L-shaped guide rods to the stone holders don't work well. The problem is they are not flat on the end of the screw, so the rod tends to loosen and move too easily. You can file the end of the thumbscrew flat; this helps. The best solution is to substitute 10-24 x 1/4" cup point set screws for each thumbscrew, available at most hardware stores. These mate with the flat stamped in the short arm of the guide rod and hold the rod securely. You will need a 3/32" hex wrench to tighten the set screw. I used a 3/32" hex driver and this worked very well. The stone holders are made with a nice brass threaded insert for the thumb screw so you can tighten the set screws without worrying about stripping the threads. There's no need to over tighten them; just snug works fine. The cast aluminum clamp and angle selector has a knob that's used to hold the knife blade in place. You have to tighten both the screw and this knob pretty tight to prevent the blade from moving during sharpening. I substituted a Phillips head 10-24 screw for the knob. This lets me tighten both screws enough to secure the blade. For those not familiar with oil stones, be sure to use a generous amount of the provided sharpening oil at first as the stones initially soak up a lot of oil. Later when the stones are saturated, less oil will be needed. Don't skimp, however. The oil prevents the stone from "loading up" with bits of metal and particles of the stone. Keep wiping the stone and applying a little more oil during the sharping process. When you run out of the provided oil, any very light oil like 3-in-1 or similar should work fine. Don't use motor oil as it's too heavy. For my first try with the kit, I sharpened a couple of old paring knives, one with a carbon steel blade and one with a stainless blade. Both turned out very well and easily made very thin slices from an onion. We noted that even after sharpening, there was a bit of a burr on the blade edge. A couple of gentle strokes with a knife steel took care of that. A gentle stroke with the fine or ultra fine stones would probably take care of any burr as well.

What a great system, for not a lot of money! First comment to Lansky, offer a kit with the stand! Having tried it both with and without, will never use it without. Second, mark the guide rods and stones so they can be matched to each other each time they are used. Tip: Guide Rod to Stone Matching. Adjusted guide rods before first use so the stones and guide rod sat flat on a flat surface as so many others recommended. Worked great. Done sharpening, disassembled, put kit away. At next use, guide rods were not flat and we're way off adjustment... Rats! Subtle manufacturing differences between stones or whatever. Readjusted. This time, before storing, I marked each guide rod and stone with a sharpie. First stone and rod got 1 dot on rod and one dot on stone. Second set got 2 dots... and so on. Then tested my theory. Disassembled and reassembled. When dots matched on stone and rod when reassembled, bingo, alignment remained flat. When I intentionally mismatched dot numbers on stone and rod, then on same flat surface alignment was off. Do this and save yourself a ton of time and possibly bad results over the life of your kit. This doesn't mean you don't have to check each time you assemble to ensure flat alignment... but it means you will not have to keep: bending and adjusting guide rods. Tip: Consistent Guide Rod Level in Guide Hole on Clamp This is important as variation in angle will occur if guide rod is at top or bottom of guide hole. From what I've read, consistency of angle is important. For this, I've found it's all about how you hold the stone during grinding. I use the stand, so this may differ for those who don't. So to hold the stone, I hold it where the finger indents/grooves are between thumb and middle finger. Also, this grip point is anywhere between the 1/2 way point and 3/4 point of the stone itself. Not the entire length of the plastic stone holder, but the stone itself. Then my pointer finger is placed on top of the plastic holder of the stone. It is mostly with this finger that any pressure is applied to the stone during sharpening. That gives a tripod effect. Stable and great control over pressure, which is less and less applied as I move from courser to finer stones. Of course, don't press to the point of the guide rod bending, as you'll lose your grind angle. Doing this keeps the guide rod against the bottom of the guide hole on the clamp at all times during the grind. I also oil the stones before starting, and as I work my way through course to fine, I oil to unclog. The finer the stone, the more times I oil to clean. Tip: Oil to Clean Stones Keep a paper towel, folded in half, nearby. When you see or feel your stone has become clogged with metal, use the honing oil to bring the metal out of the stone (I swirl oil around with finger tip lightly for best effect), then press into the paper towel. You'll get a black rectangle in the shape of the stone. Repeat again if necessary, always using a different spot on the paper towel. I found that if I rub the paper towel on the stone, that it is not more effective and I end up with 'ground' paper towel on the stone. So simply press the stone into the folded paper towel and it removes the oily metal just fine. And again, don't use the same spot on the paper towel, especially when moving to different stones. Otherwise you risk getting courser grit on your finer stones. Last Tip: Saphire Stone vs. 1000 Grit Yellow Stone I bought the Saphire stone separately (not included with deluxe kit). Nice addition! Highly recommended. However, the order of suggested use seems wrong. I get far better results when I use the Saphire stone before the 1000 Yellow. It feels 'right' during grinding as well. The Saphire stone seems more abrasive than the 1000 yellow. Hope these tips help you get the blade you seek. I have used these same methods on knives costing hundreds of dollars to knives costing as little as $10... From kitchen knives to tactical to utility to pocket folders. Those ground at 30 degrees act as they should, tough and edge retaining for hard use and those ground at 17 hair popping delicate surgical precision. Enjoy your knives and the effort it takes to maintain them!

Wow, I just finished sharpening my first knife with the Lansky System and I am very impressed. It is by far the sharpest knife I have ever held in my hand. This sharpening system just works, there is very little guess work and if you just run through all the stones you will end up with a sharp knife. Now that we know the system works, is this the right knife sharpener for you? Well that depends. It does take a little while to sharpen a knife. I have only done one so far (a 8" chefs knife) and it took me probably about 45 minutes. This knife has been my primary kitchen knife for probably about 2 years and was more like a butter knife than a chefs knife. I purchased another sharpener, a pull through model, that messed the blade up more than it fixed it. For this reason I started with the extra course to basically reprofile the whole edge of the blade and worked through each of the 5 stones to get a very sharp and factory looking edge. If you have some knives (kitchen or otherwise) that are sharp but need to be touched up then you would probably only need to use the medium and fine stones with the addition of the ultra fine if you want a polished finish. Before purchasing I did a bunch of research. This system was the most recommended on different knife forums so that caught my attention. I actually didn't find much about using it to sharpen kitchen knives (or longer blades in general) so I decided to take a chance on it. One thing that has been revised since the photo shown up top is the knife clamp. It now has a rubber pad where the knife is clamped so that you don't have to put electrical tape on it any longer to not scratch your blade. This is a great addition but the execution is a bit off. The clamp has a indent where the pad is so if you are sharpening something like a kitchen knife (the manual says the blade should stick out 1/2" for the degree marks to be accurate) you will still be clamping on some of the blade with the metal and not the rubber at the end. Its not a huge deal but I did scratch a bit of the colored finish on my knife, something I figured would happen and was not worried about. If you are worried about it a small piece of electrical tape will protect the finish. If you are looking to quickly put an edge on your knives with very little effort I would look at something else. If you enjoy tinkering and that feeling you get when an hours worth of work gives you a perfectly sharpened blade then the Lansky System is for you.

when it comes to some things, i am overly OCD, i don't know why i just am - knife sharpening is one of those things. Dull knives drive me nuts - i'll even sharpen knives that aren't mine because it bothers me to see them in such shape... a dull knife, what's the point?? When i say i like my knives sharp, i mean sharp. That being said, the Lansky system is excellent!!! Using the system: overall, it is a pretty easy to use, however, it is not idiot proof and the set up is important. Make sure the knife is locked in place and is very secure. If it moves even a little, it will either mark the blade or throw your angle off. If you have teflon coated blades, it will probably mark the blade anyways, so tape it up. Do a good job cutting your primary angles, if you skimp here, it will take an exponential amount of time to clean up the mess and it will make it almost impossible to get a good edge anyways so take your time. Once a knife is sharpened properly, maintenance is a snap. I will then start off with a medium stone, then the fine and then LEATHER STROP. Using a strop is absolutely essential. If you don't take off those tiny teeth, the knife may seem sharp at first and yes, cut paper quite nicely, like the youtube vids so commonly posted, but the knife will not retain the edge. Once those teeth wear off, and they go quickly, the knife will be dull again. Get a strop after using the fine stone! 2 more things - put some oil on the rods that come with the kit - it helps, and use lots of honing oil - cuts way cleaner. Pros: If done properly, very sharp edges can be attained - hair shaving sharp. This is not that hard to get, but some practice is important - find what works best for you. Personally, i think this system is an incredible value too - when i think of how imprecise conventional sharpeners are, i cringe. Fast yes, but this is so much better, you have no idea. Negatives: one drawback is that this is a relatively compact system. It is possible to sharpen larger knives, but from my experience, you can't really PROPERLY sharpen more than 3-4" of blade at a time without having angle issues, so an 8" chef knife will have to be done in 2 stages - requiring a remount of the jig. On the edge, it will be noticeable where sharpening in one area stopped and another started. The blade will be plenty sharp, but you will notice the transition - minor issue, but if you are OCD like me, this may bother you a little. Only way to get rid of this is to get a larger system like an Edgepro... but of course, those are expensive ($250+) and not very good for smaller blades, so you will have to buy this anyways. Overall, the value of this system cannot be beat! Nearly every blade i have has been sharpened by this system and is razor sharp as i type. Everything - even my multitools and tiny swiss army knife! I wish i could say that i am a wet-stone master, but i am not, for most of us, the lansky system is a much better option. What are you waiting for - buy this kit!! and get a strop if you don't have one - trust me, you need the strop happy sharpening!

First, let me say that I am sharpening challenged. I have ruined blades on whet stones, belt sanders and grinding wheels. I recently purchased a five stone Lansky system. I used it to reprofile a badly damaged paring knife, to sharpen another paring knife, and two chef's knives. There is a bit of a learning curve, but as I learned to use the system, I now have knives that are sharper than any I have worked on before. From this perspective, and the reasonable price, the system should get 4 or 5 stars. There are, however, a couple of easily corrected problems (that Lansky should have taken care of long ago - are you listening, Lanky?). First, the jaws do not hold a knife securely. This is easily & cheaply corrected by using a small piece of rubber (think a piece of bicycle inner tube) placed between the jaws. The second is that the stones tend to rotate on the arm that holds them. This is corrected by grinding or filing a flat area on the short portion where the thumb screw presses against the arm. Lansky could correct both of these problems for a fraction of a penny per device, and it makes them much more efficient and less frustrating to use. I think that there are probably better systems on the market (i.e. the Wicked Sharp), but they cost several hundred dollars compared to approx $50 with stand. The Lansky sharpens very well at a fraction of the cost, and also does not require a lot of skill. Whet stones will put on a better edge at a lower cost, but require a higher degree of skill than most of us would be willing to make the investment in time required to develop. In summary, this is a pretty good system, although not perfect. It will allow you to obtain an edge close to that of a professionally sharpened knife, at a reasonable price.

Ive wanted A better sharpening system for a while the diamond rods and ceramic rods are fine for touch ups but for a re profile its so difficult and time consuming. with the lansky set you can check your grind angle and either resharpen or re grind and both are made easier by this kit. to connect the rods to the stones is a cinch the rods may need to be straightened out a but, there are great instructions that come with it explaining all this. just follow the directions and you can give a perfect edge at whatever angle you want on any knives, I had a really jacked up grind on a knife and had to reprofile, the lansky kit made that process so much easier, I did it in an evening probably 2 hours total while watching a movie, since the angle is controlled by the mount and rod you can get in a groove and not really pay attention to what your doing, so it turns a very tedious attention demanding task into something much easier. I still use my ceramic stick for that final hone but the kit makes symmetrical grinds and constant angles easy to achieve. and quickly. Ive tried a radical repro with a diamond rod and id never do it again. Ive done 3 with this kit and love it. Oh one thing I would take electrical tape and put it on the jaws of the clamp, the soft cast metal will wear and leave metal on your blade or take paint off, its too soft to hurt dlc coatings and whatnot but the epoxy paints on knives like cold Steel or a RAT -1 will be marred without some pad like a paper towel on those jaws, Ive found the electrical tape to work great it doesnt slide around and stays on for a long time so you dont have to worry about how many knives you do that tape will protect them. All in all a great kit, there are other sharpeners that use the same clamp and angle control methods, some are even more precise and have 1* increments not the 17* 20* 25* 30* this one does. also one thing ive found is there is a high and low to each angle slot, so you can use the top of the angle control slot by pressing down on the end of the stone, or you can use the bottom of the angle slot by keeping pressure on the joint of the rod and the stone itself, so if you wanted a fine edge but though 17* was too fine you can always go to 20* and use the top of the angle slot by pressing down on the far end of the stone and get like a 18-19* grind. All in all I like the kit, ive not used the others, some look very similar but use diamond rods or ceramics, its personal preference at that point, but the lansky kit is a good one, simple easy to use a great price, considering the price I dont think you can go wrong

Ich habe mir dieses Schärfset gekauft, da ich mit regulären Schleifsteinen Probleme hatte, den Schleifwinkel konstant zu halten. Ich habe dieses Set schon oft bei Messermachern in duzenden YouTube Videos gesehen und wusste daher genau, was ich zu erwarten hatte und wie man dieses Set benutzt. Ich bin selbst Messermacher und benötige für den ersten Schliff eines neuen Messers besonders grobe Schleifsteine, da diese viel Material in kurzer Zeit von der Schneide nehmen. Leider musste ich feststellen, dass die Angaben des Herstellers bezüglich der Schleifkörnung auf den Steinen etwas untertrieben sind. Der "gröbste" Stein soll eine Körnung von 70 haben. Dies entspricht nicht der Realität. Ich würde diesen speziellen Stein eher mit einer Körung von 150-200 angeben. Der feinste Stein mit einer Körnung von 1000 hat wohl eher eine sehr viel feinere Körnung. Man hört beim Schleifen kaum den Materialabrieb, wie es bei einer 4000 - 8000er Körnung der Fall ist. Die Steine erfüllen trotzdem ihren Zweck und das soll auch kein großartiger Kritikpunkt sein, da dieses Problem bei vielen Herstellern von Schleifsteinen auftritt. Ich habe mir einfach stattdessen ein Stück Schleifpapier unter einen der Steine geklemmt, das eine sehr grobe Körung hat. So konnte ich meine Erwartung letztendlich retten. Der Schleifprozess nach dem groben Vorschliff mit dem Papier ist ziemlich leicht und geht sehr schnell. Ich würde aber empfehlen, die Steine in voller Länge zu nutzen, da sonst schnell eine Vertiefung in der Mitte entsteht. Außerdem habe ich bemerkt, dass man schnell dazu neigt, die Steine stärker aufzudrücken. Dies ist nicht notwendig und verkürzt auf Dauer die Haltbarkeit des Steins. Dem Set wird ein recht unbrauchbares Öl beigelegt, das ich nicht für diese Steine verwenden würde. Es wird in der Anleitung als Öl für Diamant Steine erwähnt und bei der Lagerung von diesen Schleifsteinen wird empfohlen, diese trocken zu benutzten und sie nach einer Reinigung mit Wasser und einer alten Zahnbürste trocken aufzubewahren. Das Öl ist also gar nicht nötig für ein besseres Schleifergebnis oder eine Art Kühlung der Steine. Die Kritik an der Halterung und deren Qualität ist meines Erachtens etwas übertrieben. Ja, die Halterung ist etwas wacklig und ja, die Daumenschraube ist bei dem kleinsten Winkel etwas im Weg aber man kann die Halterung ja auch einfach umdrehen und schon ist die Schraube unten und stört nicht mehr. Die Qualität des Sets ist jetzt nicht gerade Spitzenklasse aber dicke Grate an den Pressstellen der Plastikteile gibt es nicht, sodass man sich beim Verwenden schneiden würde oder dergleichen. Mir gefällt an diesem Set, dass es so einfach gehalten ist und dass man schnell mit dem Schärfprozess beginnen kann und dieser nicht sehr lange dauert. Für mich ist der Preis vollkommen in Ordnung und ich würde es mir auch wieder kaufen.

Ideal para arreglar el filo y mantenerlo

I’ve been using the Lansky Deluxe Knife Sharpening System for a few months now, and it’s hands down one of the best sharpening kits I’ve ever owned. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned outdoorsman, this system gives you razor sharp edges with minimal effort. The guided sharpening angle system is a game changer, it takes all the guesswork out of sharpening and ensures consistent, repeatable results every time. The set includes a wide range of diamond-coated rods and ceramic hones, covering everything from coarse sharpening to fine polishing. I appreciate the sturdy clamp that securely holds knives of various sizes, and the compact case makes it easy to store and carry. Plus, it works great on all types of blades, from hunting knives to kitchen cutlery. If you want a reliable, high-quality sharpening system that truly sharpens like a pro, Lansky Deluxe is worth every penny.

No soy un profesional de los cuchillos y el afilado. Esta guía de afilado deja un filo muy bueno en casi cualquier pieza, quizá hay mejores y más profesionales pero para un uso doméstico este afilador este perfecto, te incluye una guía para su uso, es un poco incómodo el usarlo pero vale la pena. Lo que no me gustó es que debes comprar la base o soporte por separado o inprovisar uno, pero el resultado obtenido es 👌 genial. en comparación con los sistemas de afilado más profesionales este es el que para mi tiene la mejor relación precio calidad.

I've been using a gatco system for many years now, and I finally wore out most of the stones. The gatco has a much better clamp, with more angles availible for use. I found myself running out of adjustment on high angle knives very often, and going back to the gatco clamp. The stones are smaller but IMHO, higher quality. You can get an edge sharp enough to push cut paper if you take your time and finish with the finest hone. I could never quite get a smooth push cut with my gatco stones that were included with the kit. The finest ceramic hone is excellent, very hard and very smooth. Like any guided system it is limited in what angles you can use. That can be a big deal if you need a bigger angle than the clamp will give you, because heavily reprofiling a blade by hand can easily take hours on end. Different clamp reccomended. Also, long knives will need to have the clamp repositioned down the knife. It's worth investing in 2 clamps if you will be regularly sharpening 6"+ knives. On the other hand, for the money it's tough to do better. You don't need any extra hones to get a decently refined edge, it works well on many different blades, and so far it looks like they will provide many years of use. Unlike the gatco, you can adjust how the rod meets the stone so when they begin to wear you can flat them and adjust the rod. You can also buy new hones (like diamond for reprofiling) with no fear of changing the angle, just adjust the rod. Touch ups won't be as fast as a crock stick system like a sharpmaker, but heavier work is much faster. You can also cut a small relief bevel for ease of sharpening in the futire. This is the type of system I learned on and with the saphhire hone I can catch and split hairs. Even beginners can get excellent working edges with very little practice. Recommended.