Lansky Blademedic 4-in-1 Portable Knife Sharpener

Wow! My father and grandfather were both carpenters. I grew up using a whetstone, oil, and a leather strop to sharpen blades. And that works great when you're at home on a bench. But it's not really an option when you're far from home in the woods. And it takes me about 10 min to put a razor sharp edge on a blade that's in good shape. For some tools in some circumstances it's just not worth the time to go use a whetstone. So I bought this as my first pull through sharpener not really knowing how well it would work or if I'd like it. It's great! I just got it today and used it to put an edge on some cheap steak knives and a couple of cheap chefs knives. And I touched up a couple of new Smith & Wesson assisted folding knives I just bought. How did it work? Fast! If you need to put a quick edge on a dull blade the carbide in this BladeMedic will do that. The ceramic will polish it reasonably well with a few more strokes. The ceramic for serrations and the tapered diamond rod work as advertised. Does it produce an edge like a whetstone? No. The carbide is pretty aggressive and leaves the blade a bit wavy. But the ceramic can polish the final result to a decent smoothness relatively quickly. The end result is probably 90% of the way to a razor sharp blade produced by a whetstone for someone with the skill to use it. But this takes far less time and almost no skill. And the thing is tiny. For a survival situation or putting an edge on a work knife quickly , this thing is great! I'm not throwing away my whetstone but I'm keeping this BladeMedic in my pocket or my pack from now on. This is perfect when time counts and you need an edge to get something done whether that's a chore around the yard or a survival situation. It's well made and solid. It's just big enough to grip safely. The metal frame makes it heavy but also very rigid. Four different sharpening tools ensure that you can sharpen just about any blade. And the carbide as well as the ceramic rods can be replaced easily. For less than 10 bucks this thing is a great value. Edit 01/18/2020: I've had such good service from the blade medic the past 4 years that I recently ordered the Lansky QuadSharp and C-Sharp. I just received them today. They are identical in size and shape to the Blade Medic but where that tool has a single fixed angle at 22.5 deg for both the carbide and the ceramic, these two tools ditch the fold out diamond rod in favor of 4 different sharpening angles, 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom. The 4 sharpening angles are..... 17 deg = really thin blades with a razor edge but not durable under hard use 20 deg = recommended for kitchen knives and probably good for most pocket knives 25 deg = recommended for "outdoor" knives, trades some sharpness for durability 30 deg = recommended for big heavy cutting tools where durability is more important than sharpness With the QuadSharp you get those 4 angles in carbide sharpeners. With the C-Sharp you get those 4 angles in ceramic sharpening rods. Both tools also include the same big piece of angled ceramic that's on the Blade Medic which Lansky calls a bench stone. That can be used to sharpen serrations in a blade. I use it more often in place of a strop to put a final polish on a blade and remove the microscopic burr that the pull through sharpening stones invariably leave. LOL, I'm not a salesman for Lansky. But I liked the Blade Medic so much I figured with the three tools, I can sharpen just about anything in the house whether it's in the kitchen, my toolbox, the garden shed, or my backpack. And I can hone my pocket knife to a sharper edge if I want sharpness instead of durability. My whetstone was inherited from my father and will probably last my lifetime. I may be getting lazy but that whetstone is seeing less and less use. I pull it now more for nostalgia and to keep my skills than any real need.

I like this Lansky PS-MED01 BladeMedic pocket sharpener much better than the Smith's PP1 Pocket Pal Multifunction Sharpener that I purchased first. This unit looks and feels much more substantial than the Smith's does, and with my large hands, I find it easier to use. That said, the two sharpeners work about the same, though the Lansky model offers an additional ceramic hone for serrated knives, that will also allow you to fine-tune the edge of most any knife, if you know what you're doing. Keep in mind that any of these pocket field sharpeners with fixed-angle sharpening elements are not the answer for every knife you may own, since some knives may use an altogether different final angle to achieve the blade's cutting edge. Indeed, you could screw up a fine knife with a significantly differently angled cutting edge, by aggressively using a gizmo like this. Consider how you would sharpen all of these edges, with a fixed-angle sharpener like this \/, when your edge profiles may look like this: ^ /\ |\ /| This is a rough example, but it illustrates the point. Also, different knives use different steels, and different steels offer different qualities. Some are harder to sharpen, but hold their edges very well. Others are easy to sharpen, but require frequent sharpening. Some are rust-resistant... Some are flexible... Others are very rigid (but brittle)... Indeed, some fine blades feature one or more different steels laminated over one another, to produce a blade that possesses the qualities of several types of steel. Still, for most of the knives in your drawer or pocket, this handy tool will restore a sharp cutting edge, as promised, in just a few strokes through the carbide and/or ceramic slots. The secret here is to use this tool often, and never let your knives get dull in the first place! A good quality knife, kept sharp, will serve you a lifetime unless you break or lose it. Really, what we're most often aiming to do when restoring a knife's cutting edge, is to "realign that edge". Think of a piece of paper or a business card, viewed edge-on ------ ; now think of that edge slightly wrinkled, or zigzagged... Magnified, a dull knife's cutting edge when viewed edge-on, may look something like this: --*-^--*-^-- (* ^ represent burs and irregularities on the otherwise straight edge --- ) Drawing that edge across a hone or sharpening carbide/ceramic--or a sharpening steel--clears off the burs and realigns the edge, so that it looks like this again ------ and cuts as it should. This is an entirely different approach than grinding a new edge on the blade, and is a much better approach to maintaining a sharp edge. I think you can see where achieving the correct angle to realign the edge is of paramount importance! To fine-tune "any" edge to factory specs, you'll need something a little more sophisticated, like the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker Knife Sharpener 204MF (available right here on Amazon). It comes with an instructional DVD and there is plenty of You Tube on how to use this system. Understand that using this device properly requires that you develop a skillset. I will review the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker at a future date... For expensive, high-quality knives that require more than the edge to be realigned, you may best be served by having a pro do it for you. A prominent high-end restaurant in your area (or a quality butcher shop) can no doubt recommend a sharpening service. And some companies, like Benchmade, for instance, offer customers a lifetime blade restoration/re-sharpening service. In any case, for what it is and what it does, at the price offered, I give the Lansky BladeMedic a full Five Stars. For those planning to carry this tool at all times, you might prefer the aforementioned and lighter Smith's PP1 Pocket Pal. But I prefer this one. --RayB

Very-very good and helpful for knifes

Ho acquistato questo affilacoltello portatile e sono davvero soddisfatto. Fa il suo dovere egregiamente: affila i coltelli in modo rapido e preciso. È molto pratico, di dimensioni compatte, e comodo da usare, ideale per tenerlo a portata di mano in cucina o portarlo in viaggio. Non è ingombrante e offre un'ottima performance, anche per coltelli da cucina di media qualità. Un accessorio che consiglio a chi cerca una soluzione semplice e veloce per mantenere i propri coltelli affilati. Pro: Pratico e facile da usare. Affila i coltelli in modo preciso e veloce. Compatto e comodo da portare ovunque. Contro: Nessun difetto riscontrato. Un ottimo affilacoltelli, perfetto per chi ha bisogno di un'attrezzatura funzionale e facile da usare!

The Blademedic will never let you down, but its tungsten carbide sharpeners are extremely rough on steel and over time can take quite a lot off your precious knife. This is why I use either the white ceramic block (1000 grit), or its 'V' ceramic blades (also 1000 grit), or if sharpening serrated edges, the diamond taper (600 grit, not '1000' which I mistakenly said recently. Size: Smaller than many pocket knives at 3.9 x 1.25 x 0.45 inches (closed) and with a weight of 3.3 ounces, it is an entire sharpening kit that fits conveniently in your pocket. The tapered diamond sharpener clicks firmly back into its 10cm body using a magnetic block, about 1cm square. When extended the diamond taper also is secured by a similar magnetic block, roughly same measurements, 1cm square. These magnets are really useful to keep the taper from wagging like a dog's tail. Some notes: The ceramic pull-through sharpener is used as a finishing step to the carbide sharpener to finely hone the blade. It can also be used on its own to “touch up” relatively sharp blades. Again, only three to four strokes are necessary. The pull-through sharpeners are simple to use. You simply place the blade in the sharpener and pull it through with a little downward pressure applied. Beware the tungsten carbide blades because they are hard on your knife and can take quite a bit of steel away after only a few sweeps of the blade. Unless you have an old dog of blunt knife that needs to get sharp again, then use the tungsten carbide blades, but finish off with (2) the 600-grit diamond taper and finally (3) either the ceramic blades or that lovely ceramic block on the top. Note that the ceramic block is triangular-shape, enabling serrated blades to achieve a razor sharp edge. It’s designed to get into even the smallest serrations. It can also be used on its own like a benchstone. I highly rate it. Lanksy's Blademedic is reassuringly weighty in one's hand. Note it has torx bits for undoing the sharpener for cleaning or whatever. The Blademedic is an inexpensive, practical knife sharpener that groups several different knife sharpening tools into one. It is convenient to carry and easy to use so you never need to make do with a dull knife. Its cost is great value, it is highly durable, and nicely pocketable. Hopefully I'll be more careful and not lose this one. This is quality. Quality lasts long, and in the long run makes for great value. Why buy cheap ineffective knockoff when you need to cherish your knife? This alone is good enough reason to buy what is quite the classic sharpener. 5 / 5 Brilliant good value!

Very Nice, sharpen my knives with just 3 or 4 stork. Its kind of fool proof:) you don't have to be a professional to sharp your knife when you have this product

Fantastic Product. Very portable and versatile.