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.

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

I just got this kit, and sharpened two Benchmade pocket knives and 5 kitchen knives. Overall, I am very impressed with the results, but less impressed with the kit quality. Still, the whole point of this product is to give you sharp knives, and it does that very well. Pros: - Includes 5 stones from very coarse and very fine. The coarse works great for setting a new bevel. Eventually, I don't see using that one much since I'll mostly be touching up a moderately dull knife with the 2 finer stones. - Gets your knives sharp without much fuss - Easy to use, once you figure out the quirks - Allows for 4 popular angles (17, 20, 25,30). Some other kits only allow for two. - Includes oil Cons: - Overall quality is only okay, but not great. The aluminum rods need to be lightly bent after installation to ensure a proper angle. - Knife clamp takes some work to figure out. First you tighten the front screw with a penny, then use the back thumb screw to tighten. It's not a great design, but it works once you get used to it. - Clamp can scratch a black blade, but a strip of duct tape works well as a layer of protection. - Thumb screw on the clamp is small, and can be difficult to remove with bare hands. The cons would be a much bigger deal, except for the fact that sharpening a knife is a delicate process. If you are bending the rods or loosening the knife during sharpening, you're likely using way too much force. Overall, this kit is easy to use once you get the hang of it, and it will give you great and consistent results. The only thing I would change is for it to cost $15 more, but include a higher quality clamp and rod system. If I were buying again, I'd look around a bit, but probably still end up with the Lansky. It's a good kit, and a solid 4 stars in my opinion.

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!

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.

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.

Great Quality. Able to deliver a VERY sharp edge.