The Lansky knife-sharpening system
Tom Cackett cuts to the detail on the Lansky knife-sharpening system
The Lansky system was developed in 1979 as it looked to get an edge on competitors with regard to symmetrical knife sharpening. It differs from other knife sharpeners because it uses controlled angle stones to ensure you sharpen each side of your knife equally. Imagine trying to push a stick exactly vertical into wet, muddy ground. You won’t get it perfectly vertical, and each time you push it from one side to the other to try to make it vertical, you will most likely push it too far onto one side.
The same principle applies to knife sharpening. Ideally, you want a symmetrical edge on a knife because an uneven edge won’t be sharp, and whatever sharpness it does have won’t last because of the uneven pressure the edge will receive.
Lansky offers its kit in a variety of specs to suit different budgets, ranging in price from around £34 to £86. I opted for the 4-Stone Deluxe Diamond sharpening kit. The benefit of diamondcoated stones over regular stones is that they are more abrasive, so will sharpen a knife quicker. Whichever kit you go for, they all come in a handy travel box.
It is daunting when you first open the box as you are presented with a metal clamp, sharpening stones and a selection of rods, none of which look like they have an obvious way to fit together. A detailed read of the instruction manual and it soon becomes clear. Lansky systems may seem complicated at first but, like most things in life, I found that once you get the hang of it, everything fits into place and becomes second nature.
Aside from creating a uniform edge on your knife, one of the other advantages of the kit is the ability to choose the angle you want to sharpen your knife at. The Lansky kit offers four options:
30° angle – for heavy-duty blades.
25° angle – for multi-functional hunting or outdoor knives.
20° angle – for a sharp edge for kitchen knives or pocket knives. 17° angle – for a razor-sharp edge for filleting knives.
The more acute the angle, the sharper your knife will be, but the more delicate the edge and the quicker it will become blunt. To select your desired angle, you simply slot the guide rod into one of the pre-marked slots in the clamp.
The kits come with either three, four or five stones, ranging from extra coarse to extra fine. Depending on how dull your knife is, you pick an appropriately coarse stone, attach it to one of the guide rods and start grinding the blade with an arcing movement. The process is quite therapeutic, and once you’ve sharpened one side of the blade, you flip the clamp over to sharpen the other side. You will know when you have finished
sharpening one side partly by touch, and partly by sight; you’ll notice a polished bevel start to appear along the edge of the knife. You should stick with the coarsest stone until you’ve got your desired sharpness, and then start moving down through the stones to refine the edge.
A downside is that the clamp doesn’t come with a stand, so you end up holding it with one hand and trying to move the stone with the other. I found this pretty awkward and ended up buying a separate stand for it, which made it much easier. Given how much easier the stand made things, I am surprised it doesn’t come as standard.
Buying a Lansky kit won’t suddenly make
“The kits come with either three, four or five stones, ranging from extra coarse to extra fine”
all of your blades Samurai-sword sharp, and you will have to learn how to use it. You also need to be honest about the quality of the steel you are trying to sharpen in the first place. A good sharpening system can’t turn a fundamentally bad-quality knife into a good one.
Overall, I’d say the controlled-angle system has made it much easier to get a sharp edge on my knives and, while it is difficult to quantify, I have noticed that they stay sharper for longer. For someone who isn’t a knife sharpening expert, the Lansky system offered me a system that provided results.