The worksharp field sharpener is simply amazing. Once while on deployment on a Navy ship. Sheer boredom drove me to acquire a butter knife and go to work on it with the field sharpener. In the span of a little over an hour the butter knife could shave your arm
Memories. LOL I had a Buck 110 belt knife I used for basic stuff like cutting strings on lock out tags. I just had a fairly small stone that was pretty smooth. Sort of a 'marble' feel but I don't recall what grit. I used to keep that Buck razor sharp. Not because I needed it that sharp but like you said - boredom. Many long hours on watch in the power plants out in the Indian Ocean. You could not have books or any other entertainment down in the nuclear plants but you could maintain a tool (aka sharpen your knife).
Previous knife shop manager here. I can't tell you how many people walked out of the shop with both a Work Sharp Precision Adjust + Work Sharp Field, as a pair. They're products I use, and a perfect set for most average-to-above average EDC connoisseur.
I started with a Lansky Turn Box. Compact and very simple. I glued a piece of leather to the side so I could strop with it as well. Served me very well for years
Friend of mine was given a Benchmade Bugout with his name on it as a groomsman gift. He’s not a knife guy and had no idea that it was a nice knife. I bought him a Lansky Turn Box and showed him how to use it. Told him to touch it up occasionally instead of letting it get dull. That turn box will keep that benchmade and all his kitchen knives sharper than he would ever imagine with almost no effort and it as foolproof as possible. It’s ideal for most people.
I have found exactly one use case for having a pull through sharpener. Every year we take a family vacation where we rent a house or cabin and the kitchen knives provided are always cheap and dull af. I don't care if I'm shortening the life of someone's Walmart kitchen knives in their million dollar+ rental home. Saves me from packing my knives and trusting that the others sharing the house won't drop them or throw them in the dishwasher and I don't lose sleep if the pull through gets left behind.
I have the 9 dollar Camillus glide pull through with a ceramic rod and a carbide multi angle on it and it works as good as a whetstone but much cheaper
I appreciate how you keep it simple for those of us in the knife community that don't pretend to know everything. Thanks boss. You have my like and sub.
damn, thats a lot of money on sharpeners...for the first 2 years i worked in a kitchen i used the underside of a dinner plate to sharpen my knives. Ive since upgraded to spyderco ceramic plates. Appreciate the content, been watching and absorbing the info you output for years now. Its honestly been very useful in my professional life.
The best knife sharpener, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is the one that you are comfortable and efficient with. The only thing more useless than a dull knife is a sharpener that doesn’t sharpen a knife
_comfortable and efficient_ i can agree to that. but the *and* is very important! Just being comfortable but not able to sharpen a knife is worse in my opinion than uncomfortable but efficient.
I’ve owned pretty much all of these over the last 30 years and easily my absolute go to is a 915mm linishing attachment for a bench grinder. I have 1200 grit belts and once it’s worn in it’s a dream to get a razor sharp edge in a matter of seconds. Gotta be very careful and has taken me many years to perfect but damn they come out amazing and so quick. I was put onto this system by a mate that own a hair dressing scissor business and I’ve never looked back. I’d love to see you add this to your reviews
Not only is the KME device an accurate, repeatable way to sharpen your knives, their customer service/tech support (Brian) is fantastic. I switched from a Lansky system to the KME system several years ago and haven't looked back. The included carrying case is also very nice.
Moving up to any fixed angle system from a lansky is an improvement. The kme when introduced had its place, but they are doormant and no real improvements have been made. Initially I agreed with what you had sad about customer service, but that quickly changed when I had issues, that I was told were impossible. Finally, when my kme fully came unhinged, I went the tsprof route and haven't looked back, can still use all my stones from thr kme plus all formats of 6" stones thus making sharpening that much faster. If the kme. Still rocks ur world then rock on, your results are all that matters.
Most people with 420 stainless knives can get by with the D list sharpeners. As you move up knife materials the importance of a technically great edge greatly increases.
I COMPLETELY agree! The work sharp field sharpener is my go to. I once used it to sharpen my EDC fixed blade to shave my face. I’ve sharpened hundreds of knives with it and I haven’t even replaced the diamond plates yet.
I got the Sharpmaker back when it shipped with a VHS videotape still use it in the kitchen almost daily. Eventually went with a Wicked Edge WE130 which is fantastic. I set my bevels with the WE130 and do quick touch ups on the sharpmaker.
YES! I was getting concerned when I didn't see the WS field sharpener but then you pulled it out from off screen at the end proclaiming it as S-tier. The field sharpener has taught me how to sharpen free hand over the last couple of years and hundreds of sharpening sessions I have done on it. I actually just unboxed my grandfathers old norton india oil stone and diamond sharpening rod after realizing I naturally hold my blades at a consistent 20° when sharpening and now integrate them into the sharpening routine based on different circumstances along side my heavily used WS field sharpener. Great piece of kit for teaching through repetition and though better for touching up a knife, it as you said can be used to put an edge back on a knife with a destroyed edge if you are patient.
Started with an edge pro and learned just how sharp things can get. Then I learned freehand on Japanese stones and sold the edge pro when i could get as good results on my own.
I also had a lansky back in the day. A little bit tedious but I used to get razor sharp edges with that thing... I would actually put oil on the stones... my edge was borderline mirror pollished. I have a worksharp now but watching your video made me miss my old Lansky a little bit!
The best way to use a Lansky guided system is to hold the knife and stone exactly like you would if you were freehanding with a pocket stone. I have a video on my channel kinda showing this. I'll do a full sharpening if I ever get enough interest. Seems like people prefer to ride the struggle bus 😆
I really like my worksharp precision adjust but in my opinion you 100% need to get a brace for the jaws. Mine doesn't sit perfectly straight without a brace and the jaws flex down with very little force when sharpening if it isn't braced. But with a brace it's great!
Hi Pete, greetings from Bratislava, Slovakia (the heart of Europe)! I am a hobby sharpener and I do mostly freehanding on Japanese whetstones. Sometimes I need to do fine precise stuff on angle sharpener (I use the newest Ruixin Pro, which is a Chinese "stuff", however it has a surprisingly high quality... of course, you need to use hogh quality stones with it (e.g. Atoma diamond stones or Naniwa Pro stones)... And I love worksharp field sharpener, too. I take it with me to every family trip or to every holiday... Either this one or at least Fallkniven DC4 stone...because you can find dull knives in every apartment. This field sharpener is truly a masterpiece...
Dude, you have that Clark Kent aura going on. But when you get around knives and sharpeners, Superman comes out! I have always enjoyed your videos and your methods. Thank you for the time you put into these videos!
Something like the sharpmaker is ideal for keeping kitchen knives sharp. I run my kitchen knives over the rods a couple of times before putting them in the drawer. It even keeps my super cheap kitchen knife (3 euro at lidl) razor sharp.
Works for me: 1 - Lansky ceramic turnbox (For quick and easy touch ups on 20⁰ bevel edge blades.) 2 - Lansky deluxe diamond sharpening system (For re-profiling a blade or putting a new edge on a complete blunt knife.) 3 - Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener (Jack of all trades, can't go wrong with this one.)
Before the Work sharp field sharpener came out I made one out of Koa. Interchangeable angles and full size stones but now the Blitz 360 with veneve stones. Big difference. 😊
love everything you make bro. worksharp sent me a professional precision adjust and i was fairly impressed, but i could only compare it to the original version
I have two fällkniven DC4 and CC4 in my backpack all the time. With dbk 1micron compound and stroppy stuff 4micron sprayed on the leather sheath that it comes in. It's completely fine for the field. For home sharpening i'm using dmt diamond plates, resin bonded 12k and for the last step the spyderco 306UF and leather strops with dia compound.
Excellent video. I sharpen knives all the time as teach bushcraft and completely agree a decent strop will do 80 percent of jobs. Would rate fallkniven DC4 higher though. Excellent compact field sharpener
Hey man, I find you the prominent authority on all things knifey. You may not have the degree like Larrin Thomas (developer of magnacut), but you put in more blood, sweat, tears, and time than anyone on the planet. I listen when you talk!
One thing not mentioned is the convexing attachment for the TSProf Kadet. The micro convex edge I put on my PM2 in M4 lasts forever. Another great feature of the Kadet is the ability to use any stone/plate on the market, even in sequence you can mix and match: you just make the adjustment for each stone/plate individually.
I don’t know, I had the Lansky Diamond set and eventually got the Tormek T8 and would never use the Lansky again unless my T8 broke down. Faster, way better edge, and didn’t take that much learning, just watch their Tormek videos. Of course way more expensive but if you’re into sharpening a whole wack of stuff I would highly recommend!
For a new knife I use the guided Lansky system to initially set the angle I want. After it's all strops and smooth polishing steels (depending on the knife steel) then when that's not enough it's water and oil stone time until the angle needs resetting again on the Lansky.
Can't go wrong with a Norton India stone and a DMT Diafold, either. Or a good quality Arkansas stone, but they can get a little pricey, as can full size diamond plates. A ceramic rod is handy to keep around for oddly shaped blades and quick touch ups.
I've got the Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, Spyderco, and a 2x72 belt sander. Honestly I use the belt sander and Spyderco for almost everything. The belt sander does any big work, and the Spyderco is an excellent "maintenance" sharpener. I don't know how many I've given to people as gifts. As long as you tell people not to let the knives get TOO dull, it'll keep knives shaving sharp forever.
I prefer freehand sharpening over a sharpening system like Work Shar for example. For me learning freehand sharpening with stones and rods was the right decision and with practice you can achieve amazing consistency. At the beginning I practiced with cheap knives and now I sharpening all my knives free hand, even reprofiling an edge. The freehand sharpening somehow has a meditative character.
You mention 'freehand' several times in your post but I just dont think 'freehand' when visioning a TS-Prov or and mechanical jig type sharpening. They are fixed type mechanical jigs, their is nothing really 'free' about them they only work if the jig is there to guide your strokes. Now sharpening by hand with Japanese whetstones... that is truly 'free' hand. Im not suggesting jigs aren't good, there can be great if you know hiw to use them well but true freehand sharpening is unassisted when is come to the knife meeting the abraisive.
@@aussiehardwood6196 I don't use any tools to hold the edge angle. I use diamond plates, ceramic composite stones, water stones, diamond rods, ceramic rods and a strop with diamond compound.
Great video. I sharpen my kitchen knives on a silicon carbide stone and my pocket knives with a Lansky guided system using diamond stones. I maintain my kitchen knives with a honing steel and my pocket knives with wet/dry sandpaper stuck to a piece of wood and a leather strop. The sandpaper grit is 220, 600 and 1200 and lasts years as a maintenance tool. I get hair shaving edges with all these systems, but the edge I get with the Lansky is by far the best. Would love a KME one day.
For whatever reason, I end up scratching my knives to hell and back behind the bevel when I use my KME. I'm not applying pressure with it or anything, and I've gone long enough with the stones that they're "broken in". I used masking tape to stop that from happening, but it's a pain. It just remains in its carrying case these days. It's a much newer product, but the Worksharp Pro Precision Adjust works better for me. I prefer the clamping system that it uses, I haven't scratched any blades with it, and it has longer stones than the KME. It's like the middle between the KME and TSProf. It's also nice having a worm gear to set the angle and it comes with an angle cube if you're obsessed with getting a very specific angle. What I will say about it though, which also applies to the standard Precision Adjust, is the diamond stones lose their aggressive bite faster than the KME diamond stones (only really applicable if you reprofile a ton of knives, standard sharpening folks probably won't run into any issues). They're a bit cheaper to replace than the KME stones, and VASTLY cheaper than replacing the TSProf's Venev stones, but either their bonding process isn't as robust, or there aren't as many bonded layers. Either way, you might want to keep in mind the possibility of needing to buy a replacement coarse stone or two over the life of the device if you like to set a knife's angle yourself rather than using the angle that's already set on them.
The diamond plates from TSProf suffer from the same problem, but I don't have a point of reference to compare them to the KME or Workshop. I want to try the venev stones, but @ $80-100 per stone I'll probably just get a 400 grit and hope it lasts a long time.
The Simple Sharp from DMT is really good for larger knifes and is pull through. Perfect for kitchen knifes because you can keep your knifes very sharp in seconds. Only downside is that 3cm from the handle only get contact with the diamond plate from one side. This is only a "problem" for small knifes since you don't use the back 3cm anyway. For my outdoor knifes I only use diamond plates with a guide. Fast, easy and I get a razor sharp edge in minutes.
When I visit my dad or brothers I always take my worksharp field sharpener! It is awesome. I sharpen all of our knives on bench stones, but the field sharpener is so damn easy to use when I don’t want to take my stones! Everything I need is right on it. I even put diamond compound on the little strop to enhance its use.
I want someone to sell a replacement for the coarse plate on the worksharp field sharpener with a wider leather strop on it but is still held in place with the magnets.
Whew! I was afraid you would not cover the Work Sharp Field Sharpener. I agree with your evaluation. With the WSFS and a decent strop it's hard to go wrong.
And, there are some people out there, who just buy new knives when their’s go dull! I like my Edge Pro Apex 4! Takes some getting used to but….excellent results! I also agree that a simple strop really brings everything together. Great vid Pete!!!
I gotta say the WorkSharp belt sharpener you have there is specifically made for burst uses, turn it on long enough to pull the knife through a few times, let go the trigger to readjust your hands, and finish the other side of the blade. You will actually burn out the motor easily by running it under load for any stretch. The Ken Onion edition however was designed to actually shape an edge, for example if the tip broke on a blade, or shaping an edge on knife blanks. Good for beginner knife makers. In fact a pro knife maker friend suggested it when I expressed an interest in learning hobby knife making. He keeps one as part of his travel shop when goes to shows and such. Went through a bunch of $1 corner store knives learning on that thing, but it is worth the money.
what i never see people talk about and but it's so obvious: you can use your folding knives' handles as it's their own angle guide: 1 glue a small stone on a small wood block, palm sized little tool, about an inch thick, top and bottom surface has to be parallel 2 place the thing on a flat surface 3 open your knife halfway at a 90° angle 4 place the blade of the knife on the stone but the end of the handle on the table 5 sharpen the knife with a light touch the angle will always be the same, what it is is going to depend on the size of your knife being sharpened and the height of the block being used, but it's a pretty portable setup that gets consistent(ly adequate) results. gluing a bit of rubber on the bottom helps with it staying in place. using this with a rubberized handle would be a pain, but with wooden or metal handles it's fine. might scuff your table up if you aren't careful. you can however never dip into an obtuse angle this way, which saves time as you never ever have to give more than one attempt to sharpen the knife. the first will always be okay
The pull through sharpeners are awesome for sharpening cheap knifes in the field, while working on game. I use one of them on my Morakniv companion all the time. Awesome if you happen to hit bone or use your knife to cut through the ribcage. And if it massively reduces the life of the knife, or causes a rough edge, I don't really care. The knifes are only like 20 bucks, the carbide gets them plenty sharp enough and I regularly misplace my knifes anyways, so the reduced life will never be an issue. You are absolute right though, in that these sharpeners are horrible for nicer knifes.
I still maintain that a Smith's diamond system is still my go-to for getting a fast, consistent, hair popping edge on anything from Maxamet to s110v. Hold the stone and knife exactly like you'd freehand with a pocket stone. IMO it's better ergonomically and safe (not driving your hand towards a blade you're not holding). I've paid for professionals to sharpen my knives, and the edge quality is indistinguishable.
To get working sharp for working knives, my go to is the large DMT Diamond Red block. That and a strop keeps most of my blades working at evil sharp. Yes, I have a lot of the other sharpening systems you mention.
I wonder where the “blade grinding attachment” for the worksharp KO edition would fall on your list. I got one about 6 moths ago and love the ability to work on quite a few horribly abused knives in one sitting without causing a repetitive movement injury!
There is a very inexpensive Chinese draw-bar style sharpener sold under the name "Ruixin" that shows some promise if given a few tweaks, although it comes with a set of very cheap stones.
As a noob I have bought a worksharp years ago and I still use it to this day for folding knives and works amazing. I’ll borrow some whetstones for the kitchen knives
Honestly? I hate the Worksharp Field Sharpener. To be fair. It's the first and only sharpening method that I've used so far. After reading all the favourable comments online I bought it to finally bring back a good edge to my knives starting with a throwaway knife with 14C38N steel to practice - The Ruike P128. Now, what's my problem? I find that the sharpening surface is far too small for me to repeat the same dragging style sharpening motion for the whole blade reliably. What adds to this is that the 20° angle guide does more harm than good. With the sabre grind of the knife, the actual sharpening angle varies significantly depending on how high I place the knife on the angle guide. And because of the small surface, you keep hitting it even if you don't want to, thus screwing up your angle.
I have a couple of those EZ lap pocket swatches. I don’t use them for sharpening, though. They’re GREAT for subtly knocking down sharp g10/FRN/etc. and smoothing down of spines/locks/etc.
Fixed blades / camp blades: ken onion work sharp blade grinding attachment. Puts a shaving shallow convex secondary edge on any blade, even recurves are easy. You can use a fine belt at high speed to remove minor flat spots, rolls, & maintan a shaving edge with a few passes. Full convex & scandi blades need whetstones imo. Use the KME for folders.
Got the TSProf Blitz and the Spyderco and a lot of stones to freehand. TSprof setting the edge, freehand to sharpen afterwards and Spyderco for daily touchups on kitchen knives. Pretty happy like this. 👍
I think you should use as a baseline sharpening your knife on the base of a ceramic mug or a car window. Seriously though for EDC pocket knives, and those on a budget, a lansky is a great place to start.
I bought one of the Work Sharp Field Sharpeners years ago on your recommendation and absolutely use it more than my fancier fixed angle sharpeners. You can get excellent results and it is just so easy and quick to use, no set up at all.
It’s for kitchen knives not folding knives but the chefs choice 15v triton edge sharpener does an amazing job in a matter of seconds on my chefs knives. I feel like it was worth a mention
Great video. Years ago this would have been really helpful to me. I went down the more traditional path of hand whetstone sharpening which took a LOT of practice. But jigs are only as good really as the guy using them. Great video.
That is awesome that you showed that Work Sharp pocket sharpener last. That is the one I primarily use and it does put a sharp edge on blades. And I am no expert on sharpening. I have ruined blades using the Lansky fixed system and then I tried free hand on a basic two sided stone which I'm ok at. But that pocket sharpener is perfect because it's light and you can pack it in your back pack. Cheers Pete!
I got a couple fixed angle sharpeners and a handful of various bench stones, sharp maker and some other varients of the like. My go to for maintenance and light sharpenings is a dmt coarse/fine diafold and a strop i bought like 15 years ago. They fit in a sort of catch all drawer in my desk and keeps my pocket and kitchen knives good and sharp. When i need a reprofile because im not super good free hand ill use the kme or wicked edge go to fix em up.
Totally agree with your last choice 👏👏 that worksharp is a game changer , I am not the best but boy that thing makes me look great hair popping every time.
The Work Sharp Field Sharpener is definitely an “S” tier knife sharpener. I’ve given bunches of them away to friends and family. It’s one of the best all around general use knife sharpeners on the market. I’ve got full size diamond stones and strops. But I more often than not reach for my WSFS when quick touch ups are required. Work Sharp knocked it out of the park when they designed that sharpener.
@@Kadaververwaertungsanstalt I’m not sure. I’ve sharpened my Cold Steel SRK with it. It’s a 6” blade. I’ve touched up the blade on my Recon Scout Tanto and it’s a 7”-7 1/2” blade. So I’m pretty sure you could sharpen most any length blade. It just depends on your ability to use it properly.
@@Kadaververwaertungsanstalt No problem. If you’re thinking about getting one, you might as well get one. I doubt you’ll regret your purchase. I carry one with my carpenter tools to touch up edges on chisels, marking knife, razor knives, marking gauge and any other pointy or cutty thing that needs attention. I like that the diamond plates can be removed and you can set them on a flat surface and use it like a larger plate.
Could you please give on away to me? I'm in a difficult economic situation and can't afford it right now unfortunately to sharpen my knives. I would be forever grateful to you brother.
Although I've got a Sharpmaker, I find the cheap and cheerful 4-rod Lansky Turn Box easier to use. Followed by a wood-mounted leather strop with green compound I've had excellent, consistent results. Obviously premium steels take considerably longer. (8cr13 MoV - one hour, ZDP189 - 3 days @ 4 hours per day!).
The Tormek T1 is top of the list for kitchen knives and cleavers. The Work Sharp Kitchen Pro is also tops. I have all of these. I especially like the compound wheel on the T1 that NEVER needs loading and the diamond convex wheel.
Thanks for info I have 3 knifes that are all quite different to cover all my needs and I'm trying to find a solution to sharpen all of them well this video helped a lot I'm still not sure what I'm going to get but I feel more informed. Thanks for getting straight to business also and not wasting any time.
My sharpening journey has worked its way up similar to your tier structure. I couldn’t sharpen anything freehand, so I used pull through sharpeners, which indeed are garbage, then went to lansky and a sharpmaker and started having success. Then I got an edge pro which has served me exceptionally well for over 10 years. Eventually I got good enough at freehand that I could closely match the sharpness attained with the lansky, sharpmaker and edge pro. The edge pro is still my primary sharpener for its speed and consistency. I completely agree on the worksharp field sharpener, they are excellent. I have used one for years, and my uncle gave me another one so I keep it in my camping pack.
A 4" sewn cloth wheel chucked up in a cordless drill, hit it with some green compound or red jewelers rouge. Power strop your edge for 30 seconds and your blade will be hair popping sharp with a polished edge. Strictly for a work knife though, as you will eventually even polish further up the blade and even a stonewash blade will start to look like a Rockstead.
Used the Lansky for a while, didn't like the clamp and the stones were small. Got the KME on your advice, I like it a lot better. Cheap and nasty field substitute for a proper strop with green compound...a sheet of cardboard. Sounds dumb but it works, and cardboard is everywhere.
after many years i've ended up just using a DMT doule sided diamond bench stone, i work as chef and sharpen for the whole kitchen so multiple knives a day. obvs i'm not making mirror edges but are they useful in the real world of working khives.good advise here as always cheers.
