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Pros: Effectiveness, Ease of Use
Cons: None
great product, great price
I debated buying this or the Spyderco system. I read some reviews, and it seems that there isn't much difference between the two, except pretty much the price. This is easy to use, stows well, and is a drastic improvement, for me, over sharpening freehand with a stone or using or 'prefab' sharpening "V" tools. In particular, I was having trouble sharpening my higher-end blades (Elmax, SV35, etc.). The steel's so hard that the prefab tools were not doing the job, and freehand it's hard to control the grind angle precisely enough to get the kind of result I want. No more. Use the grey (medium) rods first, then the white (fine). GREAT edge. And doing it is easy as (and remarkably similar to, in motion) slicing bread. I sharpened about 30 folding knives in about two hours, without rushing (3 at a time: 3 on the grey rods, switch to white, 3 on the white rods, on to the next 3). There's also a triangular rod with three different angles for serrated knives. It made a massive difference on the bread knife in the kitchen. Wow. Only one niggle: the rods are stowed under the bottom of the unit, but there's no guard or door over them. Given that ceramic rods can break if dropped on a hard surface, I put a couple of rubber bands around the thing when I stow it. Highly recommended.
