A great Starter unit

My wife and daughters wanted new professional knives for christmas and in my search I came across sharpening systems. Being a tool guy I could see by watching youtube videos that this unit just needed a few tweaks to make it a solid performer. Do yourself a favor and get a 3" x 1" x 1/2" neodymium magnet to put under the base where the knife sits, get a digital angle cube to set the angle and lastly, get 2 , 5/16" drill stops to put on the stem which will keep you from pulling or pushing the stone off the knife edge. Mount the whole thing to a pc of 1x10 x 10 board and you're all set. Oh and get yourself a leather strop for the final step. Took me 20 minutes to set all that up. After another 20 - 30 minutes on my first attempt at sharpening, our 8" Henkle Chef Knife went from dull as can be to razor sharp. It would now slice thru newspaper with ease and shave the hair on my arm. The stones are ok and cheap to replace and you can use Edge Pro stones as well. Bottom line, My wife and daughters were VERY pleased with the results as the knife glides thru veggies and onions like going thru warm butter. The ONLY con to this system is having to reposition the knife each time you flip it over. It's critical to get the SAME position with each flip. I manage this by putting white duct tape on the base so I can mark the knifes position and duplicate it each time I flip the knife over. When I decide to upgrade, I will absolutely get the KME Sharpener that eliminates the positioning issue. For $40, this is a great unit to start with.Read full review

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