The media could not be loaded. Sharpal has hit a home run for guided field sharpeners with added features that make knife sharpening fast, easy, and effective. Especially for people just starting out. All of the sharpening tools stow in the handle, making it easy to pack in a tool box or bugout bag. By stowing in the handle, any grit or metal dust from the diamond sharpening rods stays in the handle, and not all over anything else you're carrying, and makes it easy to keep track of your assorted diamond rods. The sharpener includes 7 sharpening rods and two strops. 2 each 320 grit round diamond rods, 2 each 1000 grit round diamond rods, 2 ceramic honing rods, a tapered diamond rod for serrated knives, fishhooks and such, and both a rough and smooth leather strop, all in one tool. The angle is adjusted by the orange, knurled knob mid-handle. You can set your angle from 15 to 30 degrees in moments. I recommend going just a bit steeper than the angle you're shooting for. I explain why in the video. Twisting the orange knob extends the orange paddles on each side of the handle, the there's a window that shows you where you have the angle set. By having one rod on each side of the sharpener, you can easily maintain your desired angles on each side of your blade while keeping the cutting edge pushing away from you. The round rods make it easy to maintain your angle, across the full length of the blade, even on curved bladed knives. I own several Sharpal products including assorted sharpeners and strops. They are well designed, high quality and offer extraordinary value. Highly recommended. Read more
For years now the Worksharp Guided Field Sharpener has been the gold standard for all-in-one portable sharpeners. I learned how to sharpen on it, and as I have yet to invest hundreds of dollars in a Precision Elite, KME, Ken Onion, or set of Japanese water stones, it is still my primary sharpening system. I am not a pro sharpener by any means, so I appreciate a guided system that makes things easier. However, I found myself wishing I could adjust the angle guide for different knives, and thought this new system could be the answer. It is a very creative design, but it falls short of the Worksharp in some very important ways. First I will list the improvements that it has made: Better handle - the Sharpal has a much better ergonomic handle with plenty of room for your whole hand. The Worksharp has no real handle to speak of, just room enough to hold it with your thumb and forefinger. Better abrasives - Sharpalโs microcrystalline diamond is a higher quality, more durable abrasive that what Worksharp uses. Also, some knives have wonky blade profiles, and the cylindrical rods makes it easier, in theory, to reach the entire cutting edge than the flat diamond plates. The Sharpal also includes a tapered diamond rod, which is much better for sharpening serrated knives than the tiny ceramic rod built into the Worksharp. Adjustable angle guide - the ability to adjust your sharpening angle with a quick twist of a knob is a real game changer, and the reason I had hoped this would become my new primary sharpener. The Worksharp is fixed at 20 degrees and there is no way to change it. 20 degrees is a good general angle and plenty sharp to pop hair, but depending on what knife you are sharpening you may want to go steeper or shallower. Also, not all knives come from the factory sharpened at 20 degrees. If you have a Spyderco with a 15 degree factory edge, you will have to reprofile it if you want to sharpen it on the Worksharp using the provided angle guides. Why the Worksharp is STILL the better system: Convenience - all of the abrasives on the Worksharp, coarse diamond, fine diamond, ceramic rod and strop, are outside accessible and can be used immediately one after the other. With the Sharpal, switching from coarse to fine to ceramic involves a lot of unscrewing and changing out of pieces. If you want to use the guides, you will have to have two of the same abrasives installed at the same time on opposite sides in order to sharpen both sides of the blade. Not a huge deal, but the next two are deal breakers for me. Ability to reach entire cutting edge - as you can see in the pictures, the Sharpalโs construction interferes with the ability to sharpen the entire blade. The bulk surrounding the angle guides bumps up against handles, thumb studs and guards, preventing the rods from reaching the heel of the blade. This problem is more pronounced for some knives than others, but it applies to almost every knife I tried. You can see in the pictures how it compares to the Worksharp. It seems only large fixed blades with very large ricassos or choils are exempt from this issue. Perhaps cutting out the plastic on either side of the angle guides would solve this issue. Ease of use - the Worksharp has two angle guides on either side of the diamond plate, so you can sharpen both sides of the blade on the same abrasive, and most importantly, you can *SEE WHAT YOUโRE DOING*. Stroke for stroke, back and forth, no need to turn the sharpener around, or go to the under side of the sharpener where you are basically sharpening blind. With the Sharpal, not having angle guides on either side of the rod necessitates sharpening in this over/under fashion which is awkward for a relative novice like myself. You see the scractches on the Opinel in the picture? That is the result of me attempting this method. Like I said, these last two issues are both deal breakers for me all on their own. Solve one, and the other would still be a deal breaker. Itโs too bad, because this is really close to being the perfect sharpener and perhaps with a few tweaks it will be. Maybe these wonโt be an issue for you like they are for me, because Iโm seeing a lot of glowing reviews. Myself, I will be sticking with the Worksharp. UPDATE 6/15: Iโve upgraded my review to four stars. I didnโt give up on this thing because I think the cylinder that holds the abrasives is an excellent, well thought out design, but I feel the adjustable angle guides are poorly executed, and for that reason I cannot upgrade to a full five stars. If, like the Worksharp, they had used diamond plates that were the same width as the angle guides it would be possible to reach the entire cutting edge and be a much more effective system out of the box. But Iโve recently become more proficient at freehand sharpening and am no longer dependent on or limited by the need for angle guides. Some may think Iโm crazy for doing this, but I tossed the original handle and attached the cylinder to a Crescent screw on file handle (size PH2) with a threaded insert that fits perfectly. Now I love sharpening on this thing. Itโs become my go to for maintaining my kitchen knives and is super handy for that purpose, even beating out the Worksharp Benchstone that I purchased not long ago. Using the same back and forth motion that I learned on the Worksharp, I can keep my knives shaving sharp with just a few passes on the ceramic and/or the fine diamond, which I keep installed on the outside and ready to use. The coarse diamond is conveniently stored in the cylinder in case I need to resuscitate a really dull blade. Itโs a little small for my larger knives but still gets the job done. I would love it if Sharpal made a sharpener purpose built for kitchen knives with this same design but with longer rods and no guides. There are a million honing and sharpening steels out there, but a 4-in-1 with replaceable abrasives would be a home run. As for โfieldโ sharpening, I still think the Worksharp is the better choice. Read more
Firstly, everyone should remember this is a field sharpener. It does not replace a good fixed angle system or someone with the skill to free hand on a good stone set. But for a quick tune up of an edge under heavy use on an extended camping, hunting trip, anywhere you will be using a blade for an extended time and no access to a decent way to sharpen, this very compact sharpener does a good job of getting your edge back in serviceable condition. This will never replace a quality fixed sharpener. The angle guide gets you close to the angle, but nothing replaces a good inclinometer on a fixed rig. The diamond rods are really nice for doing an intense quick fix on a rolled edge or deep chip. The ceramic works very nicely to put a fine apex on an edge. and finally, the stop is essential for honing the apex to a razor edge when a 1 micron diamond strop dressing is applied. You put all this in a very clever portable storage form that can be taken anywhere. I also love the replacement packages they have when you wear out any of the rods or strops. This is a great take along fast sharpener that will maintain your blade. This does not mean that it takes no skill to produce a good edge. That is something that still requires a little microscope like the Carson $12 dollar hand held scope and a good sharpie to see what you're actually doing to the apex at the micro level. You gotta practice and learn how raise a burr, remove it, and hone the edge. Read more
