http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4--HIDogrc8

If you are bored of the long sharpening process ... skip to ( minute 9.00 ) and see the result. SCARY sharp.

Hahaha! I know that guy! Well, not personally but from chatting with him at some knife forums.

I know this is heresy on this forum, but one of my least favorite things to do is sharpen knives. I just don't have the patience/skill for it.

I'm with you. That's why I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker. It makes me happy by making my knives reasonably sharp. I have no connection with the company other than as a satisfied customer....

I've spent waaaay too much time and money on sharpening gear. I've got maybe 15 Japanese natural stones, some of them pretty rare and expensive, and probably 50 Japanese synthetics- nearly all of the Naniwa Chocera stones, some Sigma Powers, a ton of Shaptons (both GlassStones and Pro Stones), an assortment of other Naniwa stones like the Aotoshi & synthetic Ohmuras, and a bunch of diamond plates for repairs and flattening of stones. My 140 Atoma is my favorite diamond although I have six or eight DMT Dia-Sharps, too. For volume work and/or heavy duty repairs like fixing broken tips I have three belt grinders, one 42" x 1" and a pair of 30" x 1" (although in practical terms the little grinders were pretty much retired when I bought the larger one).

Of course, as a chef I really do a lot of sharpening just to keep my own knives going. I have a work case that holds 10 blades, and I rotate knives in and out as they get dull. When a gyuto won't shave anymore, I give it two licks per side on a special glass honing rod; that's generally enough to bring it back to shaving sharp. When that doesn't do I try 2-3 licks per side on a fine ceramic. When that's not enough it goes back to the waterstones. So basically everything in my work case will shave or I leave it at home.

I actually do a bit of pro sharpening, just on a p/t basis. I have an arrangement with an online vendor that has me do finish sharpening of new knives before he sells them. And I have a few "customers" that ship me knives to work on. If I ever have time I'll probably formally hang out my shingle. My brother bought me a domain name and is (slowly) coding a sharpening site for me. Just another thing waiting for few of my rare "spare" moments!

I use the Smith's DFPK set and it works really well for me. When I was in the Boy Scouts I had learned the skill of sharpening knives the old fashioned way but have long since lost that skill. The DFPK set has a guide rod for angle so it's pretty much foolproof.

Here's a hobby that has wide use. I wish I could get a knife that sharp. Sharper is better. I can get a knife reasonably sharp, but this knife here looks like it can cut me through my computer screen.

Do you know of an equivalent since the company went under?

I have this sharpener, but my skills are not good enough to get the angle perfectly right.
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-FWFC-Double-Di...6451&sr=1-1

Pretty sure I can do that with my knives, but now I don't take my knives beyond the shaving sharp stage because I find anything pass that is mostly bragging rights, without much practical advantage.

I've been using Spyderco's Sharpmaker forever, and I like it a lot.

+ 1

I've ruined a good bunch of half-decent edges by trying to work on them. Forget it - I can afford to pay someone to sharpen them for me. I've wasted too many hours trying to figure it out.

Although I haven't met him personally, by all accounts the WEPS inventor, Clay Allison, seems to be a great guy. He's very active over at KnifeForums.com and is very responsive to customer input. I'm not sure what I think of the clamping system- held edge up it looks like it would be really easy to cut yourself. And I wonder how it holds knives that have lots of funky angles and false bevels. But I chat frequently with several very satisfied WEPS owners so I imagine it must work pretty well. And now most of my favorite synthetic stones are being offered for the WEPS thru CKtG and Jende, LLC.

Certainly for routine maintenance it's hard to beat the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. It's simple and easy to use yet very effective. The main issues are the lack of different rods and lack of a rod coarse enough to easily change a bevel angle or grind out chips. But for knives that don't get abused it will do the trick.

The Lansky and Gatco sharpeners will work pretty well and are pretty easy to use, too, but they're a bit cumbersome on longer knives.

Doesn't Spyderco offer some diamond rods suitable for regrinding bevels for the Sharpmaker? Pricey, of course.......

For my knives, I use one of these sharpeners which does a decent job for my needs. Also the sharpener is small enough (2-5/8" wide x 2-1/2" tall) to fit into almost any kit. These sharpeners retail for around $7.00 but are often on sale locally for about 1/2 that price.

He's good. If anything happened to the girl who does my sharpening I'd hire him.

I have the skill, I just don't like doing it. That's time I could spend working on another blade.

Teslinhiker, I have the sharpener, but can't knives that sharp with it. What's the trick?

The carbide side of that sharpener is pretty dreadful. It will produce and edge that will cut but it removes tons of metal shavings. It's like burning your clothes when they get dirty instead of washing them- serious overkill!

For people that just want sharp edges without a lot of messing around, I enthusiastically recommend the Edgemaker Pro. They're about $10 each shipped, and for most purposes just the Yellow is enough. At most, $20 for the top 3 out of the available 4 grits will keep you cutting for a long time. They use coated rods that utilize leverage to help cut, yet they're not overly aggressive. I've seen knives sharpened with nothing but the EMP for 15 years and they're sharp and in good shape.

They are great for people who otherwise don't sharpen their knives, or cheap axe.