Recommend a Sharpener to Gift

[kennethsime]

Some good friends bought their first house recently, and in addition to a nice bottle of Scotch, I'd like to give them a Spyderco knife sharpener they can use to keep their kitchen knives (and the occasional pocket knife) sharp. They have one nicer Henckels Miyabi chef's knife, and a smattering of smaller/less expensive knives.

I'm torn between the Sharpmaker, the Gauntlet, and the Galley.

• The Galley's 12" rods look excellent, but I worry that the 20° inclusive angle will be a bit steep, and they won't be able to hit the edge on many of their knives. I also don't love that it needs to be screwed down, and that it only comes with the fine rods. Do the Gauntlet rods fit the Galley V?
• The Gauntlet looks nice, and is definitely simpler to use than the Sharpmaker, but it still only has 6" rods - right? Also, only has he 40° setting - would be nice to have both 30° and 40°.
• The Sharpmaker does it all, of course, but the rods are pretty short - this makes sharpening larger kitchen knives a bit more challenging, although it can certainly get the job done.

The price difference doesn't matter too much here - I just want it to be a nice, reliable, easy-to-use sharpening solution for them.

[Evil D]

Sharpmaker. The Gauntlet is only more simple by having one less sharpening angle, and an extra angle doesn't make it so complicated to use that a novice can't figure it out.

[SG89]

Sharpmaker because it has the scissor sharpening feature and the ability for the case to be used as a bench sharpener. The triangle rods are good for sharpening all kinds of household tools not just kitchen knives

[JRinFL]

I have two of those three, and out of all I would choose the SharpMaker as the most universally useful.

[TkoK83Spy]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

[Ric]

For non sharpening experts / hobbyists Gauntlet premium is the way to go.

Good rod length for longer kitchen knives.
Easy to use and effective.

[soc_monki]

Sharpmaker! Add the diamond or cbn rods and it will do anything for them and last a very long time!

[kennethsime]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

Rick, this thought crossed my mind as well. How does it do with larger knives, like an 8" or 10" chef's knife? And have you figured out installing after-market stones yet?

[TkoK83Spy]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

Rick, this thought crossed my mind as well. How does it do with larger knives, like an 8" or 10" chef's knife? And have you figured out installing after-market stones yet?

The largest knife I've sharpened is just shy of 8" and it worked out just fine! 10" may be pushing it, but I honestly don't know. There are ways to add your own sand paper options to these though, but I haven't tried them myself yet. It's doing pretty well as is, and I've been using it pretty frequently. Makes me scared how much I would love a Wicked Edge, KME, Hapstone, etc haha!

[kennethsime]

The largest knife I've sharpened is just shy of 8" and it worked out just fine! 10" may be pushing it, but I honestly don't know. There are ways to add your own sand paper options to these though, but I haven't tried them myself yet. It's doing pretty well as is, and I've been using it pretty frequently. Makes me scared how much I would love a Wicked Edge, KME, Hapstone, etc haha!

Well, I was shopping around and Amazon promised to deliver me one tomorrow, so I went ahead and ordered one. Then I remembered I was supposed to be ordering a gift for someone else, and placed another order.

I was holding out for a KME for myself, but I figure at $50 you can't really go wrong. Will report back.

[ChrisinHove]

The largest knife I've sharpened is just shy of 8" and it worked out just fine! 10" may be pushing it, but I honestly don't know. There are ways to add your own sand paper options to these though, but I haven't tried them myself yet. It's doing pretty well as is, and I've been using it pretty frequently. Makes me scared how much I would love a Wicked Edge, KME, Hapstone, etc haha!

Well, I was shopping around and Amazon promised to deliver me one tomorrow, so I went ahead and ordered one. Then I remembered I was supposed to be ordering a gift for someone else, and placed another order.

I was holding out for a KME for myself, but I figure at $50 you can't really go wrong. Will report back.

I just paid £9 ($13) for a new Ruixin Pro 8! I have used a SM for years - and it’s brilliant! - but wanted to try a guided system. The KME is £200+ here…

I reprofiled a damaged Global single bevel Deba immediately on it’s arrival, to try it out. It certainly worked well enough but
I should do better with experience.

Back to the original post - the single angle Gauntlet might be less fussy for the non-afi user, and so more likely to be used.

[tonijedi]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

How good is it for reprofiling?

[TkoK83Spy]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

How good is it for reprofiling?

It works quite well actually. The most work I've done reprofiling with it was when I got rid of the convex grind on one of my CRK's. I dropped it 6 degrees on one side I believe it was? Mind you CRK is known for a softer S35VN, but it didn't take me too long at all. A couple hour long sessions maybe. The 320 "coarse" grit option works ok and is still doing fine after using it quite a bit, but it's lost some bite for sure. WorkSharp is supposedly coming out with more grit options after seeing the success of this sharpener and all the requests for other options.

[Oloung1]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

How good is it for reprofiling?

I also have the WS Precision Adjust and the Sharpmaker + CBN rods. For reprofiling folders, I prefer the WS Precision Adjust, it's faster and gives me more consistent bevels as long as I watch the rotation between sides. A Lansky eraser helps me clean the plates during rebeveling.

For touch-ups, I prefer the Sharpmaker. Fast for touch-ups but takes a while for rebeveling. Simplistic setup. Feels like less "work" than the Precision Adjust when just refining a micro-bevel. Also, it feels like I am removing less material on micro-beveling compared to the Precision Adjust when I clean the rods after each session. My 600 and ceramic white on the WS looks twice as loaded as my Sharpmaker brown rods when I micro-bevel. I like having both, for my uses each has an efficiency greater than the other.

[TkoK83Spy]

For units in that price range, it's honestly very tough to beat the WorkSharp Precision Adjust sharpener ($50) I don't even take my standard Sharpmaker out for use anymore.

How good is it for reprofiling?

I also have the WS Precision Adjust and the Sharpmaker + CBN rods. For reprofiling folders, I prefer the WS Precision Adjust, it's faster and gives me more consistent bevels as long as I watch the rotation between sides. A Lansky eraser helps me clean the plates during rebeveling.

For touch-ups, I prefer the Sharpmaker. Fast for touch-ups but takes a while for rebeveling. Simplistic setup. Feels like less "work" than the Precision Adjust when just refining a micro-bevel. Also, it feels like I am removing less material on micro-beveling compared to the Precision Adjust when I clean the rods after each session. My 600 and ceramic white on the WS looks twice as loaded as my Sharpmaker brown rods when I micro-bevel. I like having both, for my uses each has an efficiency greater than the other.

Yes, that is also a good point. It does take a little work to get the WorkSharp set up for each particular knife, figuring out what degree it's already at. But, once you've got it set up it's far more consistent and quick than using the Sharpmaker. I also have the CBN Rods and did some reprofiling with them and the knives turned out ok, but not as good.

I also believe one of my slots in the 20 degree settings on my Sharpmaker case is not quite right. The rod shakes around quite a bit and doesn't hit the bevel the same spot as the other side when sharpening. For quite a while I was doing touchups just holding the rod in hand, which I eventually got pretty good at and decided to get a couple benchstones. So that was kind of a blessing I guess haha!

I do have a Sharpmaker base that a fellow forum member 3D printed for me that has a 17dps setting. All my knives I've reprofiled are anywhere from 15-17 dps. So having that 17dps setting has been wonderful for touchups. Definitely much quicker than setting up the WorkSharp. Though I am a bit nerdy and have a notebook of all my knives I've reprofiled to what degree and grit finish

[wrdwrght]

I have no experience with the Gauntlet or Galley, but I have used my Sharpmaker for years and it has not ceased to give satisfying results. I actually have a back-up, even though I’m a free-hander by habit. I do give Sharpmakers to family members, so that’s a kind of recommendation.

[kodai78]

Sharpmaker because I know it. You can teach someone to sharpen a knife in minutes and you can sharpen scissors and potato peelers and probably anything else in the kitchen.

[Oloung1]

Though I am a bit nerdy and have a notebook of all my knives I've reprofiled to what degree and grit finish

This is actually brilliant and wish I had thought of this myself. There are a few knives I haven't touched in a while and my memory with older age isn't helping me

[eRoc]

I also have the Worksharp precision. It's replaced my Sharpmaker for now. Just easier and more convenient. I'm planning to gift a few come Christmas time.

I keep a sharpening log book as well, just makes things easier with all the angles and finishes I'm testing out.

[not_the_sharpest]

I'll add another vote for the Worksharp Precision. For the price and being dummy proof, I've been pretty happy with it. Sharpmaker still is great for touchups.