Lanksy Sharpening System Review

Last updated on June 5th, 2020 at 04:50 pm

I’ve never been able to produce a sharper knife than when using the Lanksy sharpening system. Rather than being a whetstone-type system, the Lanksy sharpening system has guided rods that hone an edge with various stones. We’re talking hair splitting sharp.

Guided Rod Sharpening System Pros:

Extremely effective
Guided, consistent sharpening
Multiple angles depending on knife
Multiple Uses
Comes with honing oil

I’m convinced there is no way to get a sharper knife than a guided system. The 4-angles provided allow you to put a different angle on the edge of your knife, which opens the door to customizations to your knife. I love this. If I want to put a more tough angle on my survival knife, I can use the 25 or 30-degree angle guides and not worry about rolling my edge. If I wanted to go to the extreme end and put a 17-degree angle on a kitchen knife slicer, I could do that.

The 5 stone system starts at an ultra rough 70-grit to a 1000-grit ceramic stone. This allows for re-doing an edge to a mirror polish when used correctly. I can push cut circles in paper using the 17 and 20-degree guides but can get close with the higher angle knives as well.

Guided Rod Sharpening System Cons:

Time consuming
No stand for the guide
Knife can become unclamped if not careful

lanksy sharpening system on a leatherman skeletool

The biggest constraint to this system is time. I can put a pretty decent edge on a knife using a whetstone. If time were a constraint and I needed to sharpen multiple knives in an evening, I’d reach for the whetstone first.

Setting up the Lanksy sharpening system is a process. Each honing stone needs to be tightened down on a rod and straightened. There are 5 honing stones in the kit, so this needs to be done 5 times. The guide needs to be clamped on the edge of the knife and tightened in a safe manner. Unfortunately, the Lanksy system doesn’t come with a stand. Without the stand, it doesn’t really feel like a safe system to handle. You can buy it for about $7 as of this writing, but it would have been nice to have it conveniently packaged with the kit.

Final Thoughts on the Lanksy:

This is a wonderful system of tools if you have the time and want to sharpen a knife to incredible sharpness. It is a fool proof way to make something scary sharp. I reach for this on my pocket knives and outdoor knives, but tend to hit my kitchen knives with a whetstone.