Anybody use the lansky sharpening system to sharpen esee knives ? If so what degree angle is best ? How does the work for you?
Hope it is fine jumping on this thread... I am looking at the Lansky sharpening system and was wondering if people like this system? Would you reccommend this or should I look into something else? Was thinking that something that helps me keep the angels would be good. Is the three stone system with the 120, 280, 600 grit stones fine or do I need the five stone system? @Tim Hester What do you think of it?
The factory edge is normally 20 degrees. Are y'all talking about the sharpening kit with the guide that clamps to the blade and the stones with the guide rods? I had one of those a long time ago. It worked well and made consistent results. The stones came loose from the plastic holders after it got some age. This was about 20 years ago they may be improved by now.
3 stone is fine, depending on how bad your edge is damaged, it may only need the fine stone to touch it up unless you decide to change the angle.
Thanks for the info. Here is what it looks like for those that haven't seen this one before... They are roughly $30 for the three stone and $45 for the 5 stone
Those Lansky guides work well for the $$. Like Ash said, 20 degrees is about right if you want to stay near the factory edge geometry.
I have the lansky set with 5 stones and in my humble opinion it’s a piece of junk. The rods bend screwing up your angles every time you put them in and remove them from the case. The clamp will constantly on the angle guide that clamps to the blade come loose and move making you stop to find where it needs to be and tighten again. I even got the little stand to try to improve it and nothing seemed to help. It’s clunky and awkward for me and poor quality I feel. It’s very finicky and constantly needs to be adjusted. I used mine once put it back in its case and just started using the super fine stone it came with freehand to finish the edge. I will say the stones seem to be pretty decent though but it’s very hard to keep it from needing constant readjustment. I started using the Worksharp field sharpener and never looked back. It was $28 on Amazon comes with a course and fine diamond stone with 20 degree guides a fine and course ceramic rod a leather strop a serrations ceramic rod and even comes with an arrow broad head wrench. With all that said my lansky is for sale if anyone is interested haha! Another good option but more expensive is the Spyderco sharpmaker. I think they’re about $50-$60. But I got my best results from the Worksharp.
I find that I mostly just maintain my blades 95% of the time with a 4 sided strop and compounds, I just don’t let them get dull.
I've never used a Lansky sharpener but I have a DMT Deluxe Aligner which works on the same principle. It comes with a coarse, fine and extra fine diamond stones which do a good job at sharpening. Another system I have grown to like even better is the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening system which uses angle guides and diamond plates that are placed on a pivoting base. I also purchased the Upgrade Kit which has 2 more diamond plates and a leather strop plate. Using this system I've been able to sharpen my ESEE knives to a mirror finish in just a few minutes. Whatever system you choose I would encourage you to go with diamond stones. They are not required on 1095 knives, but they will come in handy with blade steels like S30v, S35v, Elmax, etc. Perhaps I'm strange, but I actually find sharpening knives to be relaxing and fun.... So much so that I recently invested in the Wicked Edge system which can produce some insane edges. Anyhow, if I were you I would watch some YouTube videos on the various systems and see which one you like the best. Be sure to take a hard look at the Work Sharp Guided system. It's reasonably priced and does a great job of sharpening.
Ditto. I got the Worksharp Field Sharpener for Christmas. It has the 20 degree guide and I use it to touch up and keep my knives really sharp.
