WORK SHARPBenchstone Knife Sharpener, 3 sided for faster manual pocket or hunting knife sharpening

This unit has transformed my kitchen knife sharpening experience. Most people, if they have any sharpeners at all, use crappy pull through sharpeners with carbide blades. They are quick, easy, and idiot proof. They also sharpen unevenly, get your knives just sharp enough to cut, and remove a lot of material and will eventually deform the shape of your blades. This is a “proper” sharpening system, and for the price it’s the best basic setup that should be standard in every kitchen. My set of Sabatier kitchen knives we’ve had since I was a kid have never been this sharp. I also have a large and always growing collection of knives, from huge choppers down to thin slicy pocket folders, and I wanted something for them with more capability than the excellent Worksharp Guided Field Sharpener, which has been my go to sharpener for more than a year but is really meant as a portable unit for repairing your knives away from home. The Benchstone has more real estate to work with (6 x 1-1/2” vs 4 x 1”), and the ability to switch out the guides so different knives can be sharpened at different angles if necessary. 20 degrees is a good all around angle that provides the best combination of cutting ability and durability, but some knives, like boning and filet knives, will require a more acute angle. The Benchstone comes with 20 and 25 degree angle guides, but you can purchase 15 and 17 degree guides separately from the Worksharp website. If these were included with this unit it would be a perfect beginners sharpening system; the fact that I had to go and make a separate purchase on their website (I also bought a spare fine diamond plate) and pay for shipping was annoying, and it may be disqualifying for some people who are willing to pay $50 but not $65, before tax. But I still don’t think you will find anything better, more versatile, or easier to use for the price than this. Even if you’re not a knife junky like me, this is a perfect one and done purchase to take care of all your knives. Just be warned, if your knives are dull and neglected from years of use, clanking around with other silverware, and being sharpened with cheap crappy sharpeners, that initial proper sharpening will take a while. After that though, it will be much easier as long as you stay on top of it. A few strokes on the ceramic or fine diamond plate every so often will be all you need to maintain sharp knives. Just get it and you won’t need anything else.

The instructions for sharpening a knife say to pull the sharp edge against the stone, which surprised me. I always thought the method was to drag the edge away. This method works well and quickly gives me a keen edge. The entire unit is very portable and is slip-resistant for its size.

Great product for a great price. It works great for my pocket knives and my kitchen knives. A really great sharpener. Will make your knives truly sharp like never before.

Sharpener works well. Did a great job sharpening various types of knives--kitchen knives, filet knives, Buck knives, a Spyderco and others. My problem was that after a few uses the locking device for the individual slides became more and more difficult to lock in place. You had to wiggle back and forth several times. Sometimes one would lock and not the other. It became very exasperating to use. I talked to the manufacturer and their service rep said the engineer said it had been designed that way so the slides wouldn't unlock. I explained the problem was not the unlocking but that it was difficult to lock it in. Several emails and could never get the point across. I am returning the sharpener because I have no way of knowing that it might become impossible to lock in at some point and the manufacturer doesn't seem to want to stand behind their product. They never suggested replacing the item, they kept saying it was designed that way. Good sharpener, bad engineering design and poor customer support. I wouldn't recommend it for long term use. EDIT: several days after writing this review I was contacted by an engineer with the manufacturer. He wanted my feedback to improve the product and offered me a replacement or upgrade at no cost. A much better result than I envisioned.

Meat cutter here. I got this to sharpen my knives for work, and at home. And man this thing is superb, yes it’s in the smaller size but man it did the job. Easy to use, it’s stable, good value compared to those $100 stones, the angle guides definitely helped out. 5 out of 5.

When properly used will get your EDC Folders, and kitchen knives razor sharp, along with anything else that needs an edge. I would also look into getting a strop as well.

Very intuitive, the abrasives are good quality and the knives are sharp. I love it, bought it around the same time as a ken onion v2 and barely use the v2.

Very well made, removable guards, worth the money if you don't want to buy a set of dmt diamond stones