I ordered a Lansky system when I was a teenager. It was some of the worst money I ever spent.
Aside from the fiddliness, the futzfactoring, and the cheap, bendy guide rod and clamp, even when it works the Lansky will put a shallower angle on the tip/belly and the ricasso, and blunter edge right in the middle of the blade.
Most people use sharpening systems cuz they're fast. They use them to sharpen kitchen and working knives. The Lansky system is a novelty, because it screws up knives slowly, in a cumbersome and deliberate way. And the Lansky is pretty hopeless for any knife bigger than 4", so forget kitchen knives, altogether.
If you want a hair-splitting edge, you only need one thing besides a basic stone/sandpaper. That's a strop, and the Lansky doesn't even include that.
Take a couple of smooth, flat pieces of soft face-grain wood. Balsa is favored, but any common wood works. Heat the blocks with a hair dryer. Draw a couple streaks of green (chromium oxide) buffing crayon over one surface, then rub the blocks together, hard, until the buffing compound all but disappears and the surface of the wood is completely smoothed and burnished. You now have a super fine grit sharpening stone for a few cents. Use like a strop. You should see faint black streaks starting to appear after a few dozen strokes. This will take your knife from paper-slicing and arm hair-shaving sharp to face-shaving and hair-whittling sharp.
Aside from the fiddliness, the futzfactoring, and the cheap, bendy guide rod and clamp, even when it works the Lansky will put a shallower angle on the tip/belly and the ricasso, and blunter edge right in the middle of the blade.
Most people use sharpening systems cuz they're fast. They use them to sharpen kitchen and working knives. The Lansky system is a novelty, because it screws up knives slowly, in a cumbersome and deliberate way. And the Lansky is pretty hopeless for any knife bigger than 4", so forget kitchen knives, altogether.
If you want a hair-splitting edge, you only need one thing besides a basic stone/sandpaper. That's a strop, and the Lansky doesn't even include that.
Take a couple of smooth, flat pieces of soft face-grain wood. Balsa is favored, but any common wood works. Heat the blocks with a hair dryer. Draw a couple streaks of green (chromium oxide) buffing crayon over one surface, then rub the blocks together, hard, until the buffing compound all but disappears and the surface of the wood is completely smoothed and burnished. You now have a super fine grit sharpening stone for a few cents. Use like a strop. You should see faint black streaks starting to appear after a few dozen strokes. This will take your knife from paper-slicing and arm hair-shaving sharp to face-shaving and hair-whittling sharp.
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