Any 'Pull Through' Sharpeners worth a Darn?

[10SBUM]

In my 40 years of carrying a knife, I'm sad to say I've never learned how to properly sharpen a knife. I have tried several times (even tried the stone my father used) but seldom get a very sharp edge and/or else one side has a different angle compared to the other.

I have a Lansky Diamond Ceramic 4 Rod Turn Box that I've tried on some cheaper knives with varied (but usually not good) results.

To me it looks like the type that are usually smaller, have the fixed rods, and you pull your knife through to sharpen are the easiest type to use...ie: the easiest type not to mess up. An example of these would be the Lansky Tactical 'Blade Medic' 4-in-1 Knife Sharpener

Are any of these worth a darn? If so, which one(s)?

btw: thanks for all the advice on the Dragonfly 2...arrives tomorrow!!!

Thanks.

10SBUM

[Mic1]

no

[Surfingringo]

Nah, they are all terrible. I would highly recommend starting with the sharpmaker and diamond rods. Ask a few questions and do a bit of reading here and on Bladeforums "maintenance and tinkering" subforum. Get a solid understanding of what you are trying to accomplish and how you are going to accomplish it. I know that might sound silly, but it is vital. There are only 2 or 3 reasons why people find sharpening difficult and don't get good results. Once you understand what's going wrong its pretty darn easy to start getting it right.

[farnorthdan]

Pull throughs are generally frowned upon by knife enthusiasts, personally never owned one. The obvious answer here is the Sharp Maker, really doesn't get any easier than the SM and produces a very nice edge.

[WCC]

Those "pull troughs" are terrible if not outright evil!!

Get yourself a sharpmaker and don't look back. Don't let anybody make you believe you can't do it and that you need years of practice. You can get an extreme edge with the SM in a few minutes of tutorial, which incidentally is freely available with SAL's vids. It really is that easy!

[sal]

Not that I've ever seen. "Drag-a-matics", we've always called them.

sal

[Blerv]

It's faster and cheaper to get a small coarse bench stone. A Sharpmaker or quality bench stone is even better.

[bearfacedkiller]

In general the pull through sharpeners do more harm than good. Learning to sharpen takes a little time and effort but is very rewarding in the end.

[Boomstick]

Another vote for the Sharpmaker here. Turned several pretty dull, heavily used kitchen knives shaving sharp in just a few minutes. Also, it makes maintaining a sharp edge on the knives you use extremely easy.

[anagarika]

Fred Rowe over BF makes a respectable V through sharpener that is not a steel ripper. I never tried one (prefer free hand) but he received favorable response from some sharpening folks that tested it over a pass around sometime back.

[Doc Dan]

Learning to sharpen is the best way to go. I will be the lone voice of dissent regarding the usefulness of the pull through type. There are times when a quick lick with a Blade Medic or etc. is required. I keep one in my tackle box, for example. It is a quick fix for a messed up blade or dull knife when your hands are gooey or the light is failing while trying to clean a lot of game or fish. For general use I would not use them.

[ejames13]

Those "pull troughs" are terrible if not outright evil!!

Get yourself a sharpmaker and don't look back. Don't let anybody make you believe you can't do it and that you need years of practice. You can get an extreme edge with the SM in a few minutes of tutorial, which incidentally is freely available with SAL's vids. It really is that easy!

You must be a quick learner! It took me a good deal of practice to become proficient on the Sharpmaker. After a year of practice I'm now able to get great consistent apexes using the diamond rods, but I'm still working on removing all traces of a burr at the very end of my sharpening process.

OP, there's really no shortcut IMO. Get a cheap junk knife and a Sharpmaker and practice, practice, practice.

[ejames13]

Fred Rowe over BF makes a respectable V through sharpener that is not a steel ripper. I never tried one (prefer free hand) but he received favorable response from some sharpening folks that tested it over a pass around sometime back.

This is the ERU (Edge Renewal Utility) right? I've always wanted to try one out.

[anagarika]

Fred Rowe over BF makes a respectable V through sharpener that is not a steel ripper. I never tried one (prefer free hand) but he received favorable response from some sharpening folks that tested it over a pass around sometime back.

This is the ERU (Edge Renewal Utility) right? I've always wanted to try one out.

Ah yes, thank you, the name escaped my mind. It's not for heavy reprofiling if my understanding is correct, but can make exact apex angle ...

[Bloke]

Everything said above, plus if you use one on a fine tip blade your tip will disappear.
I have used a Lansky for well over a decade with excellent results. After I sharpened my very first knife on a SM only last week. I realised two things. Firstly, I had a very, very sharp knife in my hand and secondly, I should have bought one many years earlier. Give the pull thru a wide berth!

[Skaaphaas]

I found the sharpmaker very easy and intuitive. Keeping the blade upright is easier than I thought, and it is much faster than my Lansky that I always used, and more consistent across the blade.

I'm now looking for the ultra fine stones but they don't seem to be available here.

[WCC]

Those "pull troughs" are terrible if not outright evil!!

Get yourself a sharpmaker and don't look back. Don't let anybody make you believe you can't do it and that you need years of practice. You can get an extreme edge with the SM in a few minutes of tutorial, which incidentally is freely available with SAL's vids. It really is that easy!

You must be a quick learner!

Not really. I think most people can keep a knife sharp if they understand what angle their knife is at and keeping the knife upright using the SM. I’m not talking re-profiling here.
I started with the fine stones, just touching up blades such as S30V. I then progressed onto other steels; finding it very satisfactory keeping my blades ultra-sharp. With enough time under the belt it was not hard progressing onto re-profiling.

[Evil D]

They pretty thoroughly destroy an edge but I guess if you had absolutely nothing else to use you could probably do worse on a rock if you don't know what you're doing. I think a person would be far better off just buying a cheap bench stone or even some sandpaper and try their hand at freehand sharpening before going this route.

[pdptrow]

There's a new sharpener out there called "knifebot". A hands off machine , put your knife in slot like a knife block and it magically sharpens to a convex razor edge, if you believe the video, about $300, i think

[Evil D]

Apparently there are some electric sharpeners that are at least decent enough to put a 30 degree bevel on a blade, but I never trusted anything powered to sharpen my knives, I remove enough metal on my own I don't need a grinder helping me along.