Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
First, let me state that despite owning a drawer full of various knives over the years, I have never actually sharpened a knife myself. I've taken a crack at it maybe five or six times but was never able to achieve results that were noticeable. I couldn't tell any difference either before or after my efforts and in some cases got the feeling I dulled the blade. Most of the time, I had them professionally sharpened.
Second - the knives:
1) Benchmade-Elisewhitz folder - good factory edge still, partially serrated
2) Kershaw Black Horse - owned since 1984, good edge still but hasn't been sharpened in 10 years.
3) Kitchen knife - so dull it won't cut tomatoes. It just squashes them. Back of blade is only marginally duller than edge. Notches in edge.
4) Kitchen knife - slightly sharper, will cut tomatoes but not cleanly, huge notches in edge.
From opening the package, reading the manual and watching the video, it took me about 90 minutes to sharpen all four knives with the majority of the time being spent on the two kitchen knives that were way far gone (about an hour of actual sharpening). The video was excellent and very informative. The manual was helpful as well - those two products alone were worth more than the sharpener in my view since it wasn't the tools that had frustrated me, it was the knowledge; but the Spyderco package includes some pretty effective tools as well.
Final results:
1) Sharp enough to shave hair from my forearm
2) Sharp enough to shave hair from my forearm
3) Sharp enough to cut paper,notches ground out
4) Sharp enough to cut paper
It would have been possible to make both the kitchen knives even sharper but I didn't really need razor sharp knives in the kitchen and didn't want to spend more time on these two. Besides, I was already pretty pleased with my progress at this point.
All in all, I liked this product a lot. It folds into a nice compact little portable kit and it does what it claims, which is basically sharpen anything that can take an edge - from knives to scissors to fish hooks. More importantly, the video and manual were handy in teaching basics about sharpening that expanded my own meager store of personal knowledge.
Second - the knives:
1) Benchmade-Elisewhitz folder - good factory edge still, partially serrated
2) Kershaw Black Horse - owned since 1984, good edge still but hasn't been sharpened in 10 years.
3) Kitchen knife - so dull it won't cut tomatoes. It just squashes them. Back of blade is only marginally duller than edge. Notches in edge.
4) Kitchen knife - slightly sharper, will cut tomatoes but not cleanly, huge notches in edge.
From opening the package, reading the manual and watching the video, it took me about 90 minutes to sharpen all four knives with the majority of the time being spent on the two kitchen knives that were way far gone (about an hour of actual sharpening). The video was excellent and very informative. The manual was helpful as well - those two products alone were worth more than the sharpener in my view since it wasn't the tools that had frustrated me, it was the knowledge; but the Spyderco package includes some pretty effective tools as well.
Final results:
1) Sharp enough to shave hair from my forearm
2) Sharp enough to shave hair from my forearm
3) Sharp enough to cut paper,notches ground out
4) Sharp enough to cut paper
It would have been possible to make both the kitchen knives even sharper but I didn't really need razor sharp knives in the kitchen and didn't want to spend more time on these two. Besides, I was already pretty pleased with my progress at this point.
All in all, I liked this product a lot. It folds into a nice compact little portable kit and it does what it claims, which is basically sharpen anything that can take an edge - from knives to scissors to fish hooks. More importantly, the video and manual were handy in teaching basics about sharpening that expanded my own meager store of personal knowledge.
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