The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.
I've had different blade sharpening tools: large stones, diamond systems, pocket stones, and other weird ways to put an edge or maintain one on a knife. While I am able to keep a knife sharp, the feeling I had was that I could do better.
Staying Sharp
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The Lansky Deluxe is one of several brands of guide rod sharpening systems, but is the only one that had friends saying "Dude! You don't have a Lansky set?" until I caved in and bought it.
They were right. This is better. Much, much better.
From Lansky's web site:
Serrated Medium Hone: for sharpening serrations
Coarse Red Hone: (120 grit) for edge reconditioning
Medium Green Hone: (280 grit) for sharpening and less frequent touch-ups
Fine Blue Hone: (600 grit) for most frequent touch-ups to keep your blade paper-slicing sharp
Ultra-Fine Ceramic Yellow Hone: (1000 grit) for polishing the edge for a razor sharp edge
Honing Oil: Specially Formulated for sharpening
Easy to use, multi-angle clamp: to hold the blade securely
Guide Rods: One for every Hone
Setup and Use
I don't know what to say other than this was about as simple to setup and use as anything I have ever used. The directions are available in several languages, the illustrations are clear and easy to understand, and any tweaking to the tools are simple.
Guide Rod and Stone
The instructions say to install the guide rod into the stone as shown, placing both on a flat surface and checking to see if stone and rod are flat to the table. All the rods in my kit were a little off and needed to be bent down to be even with the stone. After doing that, tighten the thumb screw enough to hold the rod steady and you are ready to go!
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| Guide Rod |
Blade Holder System
There are two slightly different screws used in the clamp for the final tightening. If you look at the picture and compare it to the photo up top, you can see a screw with a red cap is not used here. If the taller red screw interferes with the guide rods, there is a shorter screw provided in the kit! It's very good for Lansky to cover our options like this from the start.
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| Blade Clamp |
Again from Lansky:
"The knife clamp included in the sharpening system holds the knife steady, and holds the angle guide static and firm, so that the user can achieve the desired angle with every stroke of the sharpener. The Extra-Coarse to Ultra-Fine hones provide an excellent range of grits for complete edge care and maintenance. The USA made Lansky system is perfect for outdoor sporting knives, kitchen knives or workshop knives, and offers the widest range of accessories available."I wanted to see how well it did on a thicker and odd blade shape, so I used my Shadow Tech Cub. The clamp worked very well, considering the blade spine has a very steep taper from the hilt to the point. Even after tightening the clamp more than necessary, it did not mar the factory-applied pebble powder coat finish.
My goal was to duplicate the factory grind angle as close as possible so I didn't spend all day removing steel or re-shaping the blade, so I used a Sharpie on the sides of the blade. After several trial swipes of the medium stone, I found the closest angle to the original.
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| System in Use |
I don't have a camera capable of close-up pictures, but after 15 strokes from the hilt to the point with the #280 grit, I had a sharper knife than I had using my diamond pad. 10 more with the #600 grit and it was super sharp!
I really am surprised my friends have not bashed me before now for not having one of the easiest sharpening tools ever!
The Takeaway
- Don't neglect to mention things that 'everyone knows about' to all your friends, because somebody might not be in that 'everyone' group.
The Recap
- One Lansky Deluxe kit purchased from Amazon: $39.95 with Prime.
Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!
If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!
NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.
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