Lansky 4-Stone Deluxe Diamond System | Precision Knife Sharpening Kit

If you are looking for a sharpening system and reading these reviews, you have probably been fooling around with stones and gizmos, like me, for years; I own a Chef's Choice model 110, Smith's Tri-Stone, crock sticks, etc. and I have never been able to consistently achieve a sharp knife edge without lots of trial and error. The "secret", of course, is maintaining a consistent, repeatable blade-to-stone angle while sharpening; one slip and all of the previous honing can be ruined. I was looking at the motorized belt sharpeners and surmised that instead of screwing up a knife's edge in hours, with a motorized system I could do it in mere seconds ! I was surprised that I had never come across this Lansky system before now, but once I saw it, it immediately clicked - the simplicity of a system where the knife is held in a clamp and the stones are at the end of a rod which pass through slots thereby allowing the user to repeat the same angle of hone through all of the different grits was what I was looking for.The system itself is not "over engineered", i.e., not fancy, but adequate. The stones are only 1/2 " wide and 4 " long, at first blush this seemed kind of undersized, but once I used them it made sense. Because the stone moves over the blade ( not the usual knife moving over the stone), the narrow stones more easily conform to curved blades.View the Lansky video to learn the correct technique; YouTube is filled with videos on how to do it wrong: sawing action on blade's edge, using oil on the diamond stone.I wouldn't expect to have perfect results on your first attempt, like anything else worth learning there is a learning curve. After a few knives you will start to get the feel of how much pressure to use on the blade ( as the grit becomes finer, you will use less pressure: on the finest stone you will use a very light touch to just dress the edge ).Based on other's reviews I opted to buy a stand ( clamp on model ). I tried to use the knife clamp without the stand and it was awkward; nothing to hold onto. While the stand doesn't hold the clamp rock solid, it provides sturdy enough purchase of the knife and keeps it off the table when you flip it over. I had to put thread locker on the clamp's rod's end stud to keep it in place and then a lock washer to hold it firm to the base to keep it from loosening up - if you buy one you will see what I'm talking about. One last thing, I thought I separately ordered the ultra fine honing stone - yellow holder - but inadvertently ordered the leather stropping hone instead. What a dummy. But, after using the finest diamond hone, I daubed a little red rouge from the Dremel polishing kit, onto to leather strop, and the strop did an excellent job of polishing the edge to a mirror-like finish along with a touch more "keenest" to the blade.All and all I am quite satisfied with the whole Lansky system, and for the first time ever I have an entire knife block full knives that are as sharp as they were new and the means to keep them this way.11/29/14:Like I always say:" Anything worth doing is worth overdoing". I've since purchased the yellow and Sapphire stones to see if I could squeeze out that last little bit of edge. In my opinion there is a small, incremental improvement so I've added these extra steps when I want an especially sharp blade. Also, I purchased a set of extra wires to accommodate these additional stones. And not leaving well enough alone, I switched out the thumbscrew clamps for Phillips head screws. I discovered that one-inch self tapping sheetmetal screws have the same thread pattern as the thumbscrews; I cut the screws to about 3/8" (shaft length ), dressed up the threads, and permanently attached wires to each stone. The main reason I did this was to regain almost 1/2" length of usable sharpening stone surface and to have the stones all set up and ready to go without any assembly. Now, I need to gin up some kind of storage/carrying case for the these things...It never ends.

Holy cutting edge Batman!This system will make all of your knives very very sharp.We are splitting molecules with are old parring knife.

I purchased the Lansky Diamond Deluxe Sharpening System for two reasons:1. to sharpen our amazingly dull kitchen knives and2. to re-profile and sharpen broadheads, specifically a ~25° bevel Zwickey Eskilite 135 grain broadheads to 20° bevel.OVERVIEWThis system is great, but you need to make sure you've done your research in order to use it to it's full potential (and get over the crappy components).FIRST USEI must say there is some taking time to get used to the way this sharpener performs. At first, I sharpened several of the dull kitchen knives to "sharp", but they were by no means, "hair cutting" or "hair popping" sharp. For the most part, after I sharpened them, they still couldn't even pass the paper slice test (with thicker paper). So, I went back to the drawing board and did some more research. I visited knife forums and read threads in regard to sharpening with the Lansky system, viewed YouTube videos for tips and hints, and thoroughly digesting the manufacturer's instructions.RESEARCHED SHARPENING PROCEDUREAfter my research was complete I resharpened the knives, using the following procedure:- sharpened starting on the"course" diamond at an angle as close to the factory angle as possible until a burr could be felt/seen on the opposite side of the blade, then flipped the blade over and performed the same procedure on the other side of the blade.- used alternating scratch patterns to "see" the area of the bevel that was being sharpened- when I reached the "medium" stone I started to lighten up on the pressure considerably- when I reached the "fine" stone I only used the weight of the stone and sharpened in a decreasing sequence. I started with ten strokes on one side of the blade, flipped it over, ten strokes on the other side of the blade. From ten, nine, eight, seven, etc. all the way to one stroke on each side of the blade.The procedure outlined above, without the presence of a strop, ultra-fine Lansky stone, or Blue Sapphire Lansky stone allowed me to obtain an edge so fine that I was able to shave arm hair and slice through fine newsprint with ease.PROSI love the angle that you're able to hold with this system. It's almost a "set it and forget it" system. As long as you use the same slots each time and ensure that the rods are set correctly, you'll be able to produce a fine edge with very little work.The courser diamond stones are very aggressive and excellent at re-profiling edges. This system made easy work of the 50 Rockwell broadheads I took 5° off of. And the medium and fine grit stones finished the broadheads with an excellent edge that was sharp and durable.I'm also a big fan of the "compactness" of the product. All four hones, the guide rods, useless oil (see below), screws for larger knives, and the universal base (purchased separately) can all fit into the case and transported easily.CONSI'm not a fan of the thumb screw on the back of the stones. They stick out so much that you're unable to use the whole stone's surface to sharpen. To fix this problem I went to the local big box home improvement store and bought a 3/8" 10-24 thread set screw to replace the thumb screw. The new screw sits inside the stone and I'm now able to use the whole stone to sharpen.I think that the guide rods supplied by Lansky are flimsy and if not straightened properly can prevent the user from obtaining the most consistent edge possible. Keep them as straight as possible and re-check every time you set up the system.I don't like that the honing oil is included in the Diamond Deluxe System. I've heard from more than one source that using honing oil is detrimental to the diamond stones. If this is the case, Lansky is setting unknowing consumers up for failure. Most of my research has told me to clean the stones with water and fine abrasive like Ajax.CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, I think the Lansky Diamond Deluxe Sharpening System is a fine sharpening system. It can put an excellent edge on a knife (or broadhead). But for $60+ at time of purchase, I do expect better quality components. The guide rods bend easily, the oil doesn't need to be included, and the thumb screws on the back of the stones prevent you from using the stone to it's edge.