Lansky Standard Coarse Sharpening System with Fine Hones

This is by far the best sharpening tool I have ever used. I picked this set up to replace my med stone. I have the 5 stone set and have it for close to 30 years, 27 or so. My med stone is pretty slim now. I feel like I have retired an old friend after all these years. OK now for the set. This 3 stone set is a great set to start with. The 5 stone set has the ceramic extra fine and the extra coarse stone. I hardly ever use the extra coarse and really don't see a need for it. The extra fine, that I use. It will give you a very nice polish to the edge. I like it but the fine stone that comes in this set will leave your edge hair shaving sharp. You will be happy there. That being said, I have the diamond extra coarse stone that I bought for a blade I had trouble with. I ended up taking that blade to a slack belt. Again disappointed in the extra coarse diamond stone. I also bought the blue sapphire stone. It was supposed to be a step above the Yellow ceramic. I don't see that. It's more of a fine stone that I do use sometimes before I end up with the ceramic for the polish. The price is great for this set. Would be a great tool for anyone that has knives. Will last a long, long time. The only problem I have had is now and again they slip from my finger tips and I drop them. This has caused the stone to break free from the holder. Nothing a little glue didn't fix. Have not had a stone break yet due to dropping them. Again that has been close to 30 years. The average person will be more than happy with this set. I do with Lansky would put a little more effort into the guide rods. This is the key to getting a edge that will make most scare and you proud of what you have done. Match your rods to each stone. Set the stone face down on a flat surface making sure the rod runs parallel to the face of the stone before you tighten. You might need to bend the rod a bit to make sure the rod is inline with the face of the stone. Doing this will make sure that all your stones follow the same line as you start with. The clamp/jig has for angle settings 30, 25, 20, 17. You might think getting shallow will give you a better edge. Well first of all the angle will change with placement of the jig so these setting are not true. I through trial and error, mostly error have found that the 30 works best for all edges that I work on. It will leave the most durable edge. The shallower the angle the more metal you take off the edge and the weaker the edge will be. Don't get me wrong, there are some edges that will need the shallow angle, but if you are new to this, stick with the 30. You will be happy there. Read the instructions. They are very good at telling how the edge will feel when you are ready to move to the finer stone. This is important since when you go to sharpen you blade for the first time, you are going to need to cut the angle. Don't try to match up the factory angle. That's time you don't need to spend. Cut your angle and move on. After a few edges you will get the hang of it. Sharpening an edge is something that takes time to get a feel as to what you are doing. Also take your time. There isn't a lot of plastic material to hold onto. It will, and I repeat, IT WILL SLIP FROM YOUR FINGERS at time. I can't say how many times I have cut myself. I get teased about it but anyone that sharpens many, many edges will tell you they do get cut. Doesn't happen much anymore but it still does. This is why you need to take your time. When you are on the fine stone or the ceramic the edge is very sharp and a slip can lead to a cut. I have starting using the cloth band aids to wrap my fingers when I'm sharpening many blades at a time. A little protection and if I do get cut. I already have a band aid on. lol Anyway, again this is a good set to start with. Great price. Read more

I’ve been contemplating buying this for a long time, and having finally done so, I don’t know why I waited so long. It’s easy to use, and leaves as sharp an edge right away as you can get with an Arkansas stone and a lot of experience and practice. Read the instructions carefully and check some of the videos out there and you’ll get extremely sharp edges with your first knife. This simple kit is all you really need to get extremely sharp edges on any high carbon blade. If you have knives made of the newer high speed steels, you should probably get the basic diamond set. Honing or stropping will give you an even sharper edge, but it’s not really necessary for most uses. You can operate the Lansky by holding it in your weak hand and moving the stones with your strong hand, but I find it much easier to clamp it in a vise. If you don’t have a vise, I recommend the Lansky stand or clamp. The Lansky is the original rod-type knife sharpener, the one everyone else copies. You can find imported copies cheaper, but I prefer to support the US company that designed it and still builds it. Read more

BUY THE STAND! WITHOUT THE STAND THIS PRODUCT IS WORTH MAYBE TWO STARS! Tl;dr at bottom. With that out of the way, I'm very impressed with how well this sharpening system works. It's easy enough to use and works with nearly any blade. The only regret for me is that I decided to go with just this base model first. I ended up spending an additional $10 to get the ultra fine hone instead of getting it in the next pack up for only $5. I also got the base, which is essential despite what the packaging says. Without the base the hones can wobble around in your hand and ruin the edge you were trying to put on in the first place. It's also easier for the blade to move around and again screw with the angles you're trying to hold. For $10 it's probably the most important addon you can get. What to know for usage: I've had success with sharpening a few of my favorite pocket knives. What you need to know is that it's going to take FOREVER the first time you sharpen your knife. Unless you're going with the same angle from before, you're going to need to grind some serious material away. It took me a good 45 minutes to get to a proper 25 degree angle from the 30 I had. Another thing I wish I knew going into this was the need to get the clamp on right. First time I used it I didn't have the blade properly seated (with the clamp parallel to what it's attaching to) and the knife moved around and ruined a good five minutes of sharpening. Another thing that almost ruined my opinion on this system was not having the base. It seemed easy enough to hold in my hands and sharpen, but I would set it down to pick up the next hone and it'd move the knife ever so slightly off. It was also difficult to get the right amount of force to sand the blade without either overdoing it and making deep scratches or underdoing it and nothing happening. The base helped DRASTICALLY. Another small gripe I have is that the product has a difficult time sharpening in any tight areas on the blade like where the blade ends and the handle/hand-guard begins. Honing oil: Haven't used it yet. No Opinion. TL;DR: Pros: Very easy to use WITH BASE Holds an edge to the angle you want with a near mechanical precision Surprisingly therapeutic Everything stores in one small container. Even the base. Cons: Price. If you don't get everything all at once this gets expensive fast and in the end it costs more than an electric sharpener. Need for additional parts. I ended up needing the base and without it this product might have been returned. Also I ended up wanting another ultra fine sharpening hone which cost another $10. Time. Even when everything's at the right angle this will take 10-20 minutes to sharpen a 4" blade. Read more

It works great and I've gotten all my knifes very sharp! Only two things are that with knifes with harder steel it does take a little while to get the first burr and if the knife doesn't have a flat surface at the top (for example some Spyderco knifes) then the clamp cant really get a good hold on it. Still a great entry level sharpener to get your knifes very sharp! Read more