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Pros: Ease of Use
Cons: Durability, Effectiveness
Good not great sharpening system
This is for the Gatco Edgemate 5-Stone Professional Knife Sharpening System 10005. It will get the job done and provide a very sharp edge. Drawbacks: 1) The stones seem to loose material quickly. After sharpening about 5 knives, I can visually notice some loss of stone material where the stone has been taken across the blade. If you plan to sharpen a lot of knives, you may want to purchase extra stones in the grits you use the most. 2) If your knife blade is not very tall (like a small pocket knife), you have to insert it into the clamp far enough to secure it leaving a small amount exposed. For this type of knife, it is impossible to sharpen a blade down on the lowest degree angle (11 degrees) because the stone rubs against the clamp holder and hits the back clamp screw. If you have a tall blade that protrudes a good distance out from the clamp, then you can use the 11 degree slot. 3) You get an extra coarse 80 grit (black), coarse 120 grit (yellow), medium 220grit (green), fine 400 grit (red) and serrated hone (blue) with the set. I suggest getting the ultimate finishing stone 1200 grit (sky blue) stone too. So, my 3rd drawback is there is no stone between the red 400 grit and the sky blue 1200 grit. Going from 400 grit to 1200 grit is too much of a difference. There needs to be a 600 or 800 grit option. The 400 grit leaves the blade edge a little too rough for my liking. Upon research, there used to be a 600 grit stone offered but has been discontinued...why? Note to: Gatco-please offer a 600 or 800 grit stone option to better fill the gap between the 400 and 1200 grits.This kit will sharpen your knives but it's not a "Professional" sharpening kit due to the drawbacks mentioned, in my opinion.
