- Comes with angle clamp
- Includes honing oil
- Includes custom caring case with instructions
I have to admit I was looking at the expensive $160.00 sharpeners and read the 4 reviews for this item. They all claimed that it was great so I figured I would give it a try. Here are my thoughts:
1. Initial Reaction when I first opened the box was. I GOT SWINDLED. This looks like a pile of junk
2. After reading the directions: I GOT SWINDLED. This looks like a pile of junk
3. After using it for the first time: WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It REALLY WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overview: The main unit is a T shaped piece of aluminum which is in two pieces (Two L brackets). It has notches in it for the different angles you want to put on the knife, i.e. How sharp do you want it to be. You place the knife between the two pieces of aluminum and tighten it in place. You then pick up the coarse stone which is one of the items in the picture that look like screw drivers. You hold onto the base of the of the T with the blade facing you and put the metal rod of the stone into the angle notch you want to use and push the stone towards the angle bracket. You then pull it back out move the stone about ¾ of the stone width down the blade and repeat until you have done the entire side of the blade. Next you flip the angle bracket upside down and repeat for the other side of the blade. You do the same thing using the medium and finally the fine stone. Once done depending on the angle you chose you will have a wickedly sharp knife.
PROS: IT WORKS PERFECTLY!
CONS: Ok you're not paying $160.00 for it so it has some. Most of the cons go away once you realize you do NOT have to press hard to get the job done.
1. Kind of cheaply made but could easily last a lifetime with proper use.
2. Holding onto the base of an L bracket is kind of stupid and difficult the first time you try to use it. They should have put some sort of hand grip to make it easier to hold on to.
3. Depending on how hard you press and how long the blade is (Long kitchen knife) it is pretty hard not to have the knife swivel between the brackets. Once I realized I only had to apply light pressure this problem went away.
4. You're pushing the stone over the blade. Do not slip or get your fingers in the way or you will be a bloody mess. Once again if you applying light pressure and are paying attention so your fingers do not get in the way it is not an issue.
5. When you first put oil on the stones it instantly disappears. This is not really a con as the stones are new and thirsty but once they get used repeatedly this issue goes away and you still have plenty of oil left.
6. The metal shaft of the stone should be steel not aluminum so it cannot accidently get bent which would mess up the angle. Once again unless you are applying way too much pressure this should not happen, but let's face it people drop thinks so steel would have been better.
7. Depending on the angle chosen you could have the stone come in contact with the T bracket. This is more of the user paying attention when setting the blade between the angle brackets.
8. If you do press to hard on the stone and temporarily bow the knife the stone will come in contact with the metal sides of the blade and leave scratch marks. Once again use light pressure.
Conclusion: It works great and YES I would definitely recommend and buy it myself again. No I have no intentions of buying the $160.00 sharpener as this one works great. When you first get it try it out on a long junk kitchen knife that you do not care about. This will allow you to practice with how much pressure to apply. I am pretty good with it after several tries and using light pressure I can do one side of the blade using one stone in less than 20 seconds. I then come around for a second pass since I am using only very light pressure (part of the 20 seconds). Doing an entire knife on both sides using all three stones takes me about 3 minutes. I could go faster but I want to make sure the blade is not scratched and comes out perfectly and I do not want to get stupid and cut myself. I do not recommend this unit if you are not coordinated holding the T bracket in one hand and sliding the stone over the blade with the other. However, for most people especially those who have worked with tools in the past this is a much cheaper alternative than paying $160.00 and it really does work!
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Let me say that had it not been for a few things, this kit has the capability of producing an excellent edge, once i was done making some changes. I like the idea of buying a product and not having to fix it in order for it to work properly. This would be a 5-star product, a few key things aside. Here's what i didn't like and what you'll deal with out of the box:
1. Opening the case requires me to pry it open each time. The plastic case is designed where a stone sits right near the edge that you'd be pushing on to open the case. This prevents it from opening normally.
2. The built-in guide rods are supposed to slide in and out. I was unable to get most of them out by hand. I had to use pliers to break them free, then i had some luck. I ultimately had to slide them in and out a bunch of times to get them to "break in."
3. Now that the rods are loose enough to slide in and out, they're also loose enough to wobble up and down. This changes the angle on the stone, making getting a sharp edge almost impossible. When you go though the various stone grades, you need the angle to stay the same in order for the finer stones to do any good. Having a wobbly guide rod is a showstopper.
4. The honing oil bottle is made of Adamantium (Wolverine of X-MEN fame has a skeleton made of Adamantium, a nearly indestructible metal). Sure, it looks like clear plastic. It's the hardest to squeeze squeeze bottle i've ever used.
5. The clamp, while quite good, has one useless feature. The tip of the clamp has a cutout that can allegedly be used for clamping thin blades. It would work, if that cutout was flat. It's not. It's pretty well rounded and I have yet to find a technique that clamps a small blade in this cutout securely. I believe the clamp was a cast component, where this part should have been machined to be the needed shape. Looks like a bit too much cost-cutting was done on this part.
The above combined to make a "professional" kit that's hard to open, hard to use, and makes a terrible edge. I actually began to package this up to return it, but then realized the wobblyness of the rods was likely to blame for most of my disppointment with this product. So, here's what i did to fix most of the above issues and make this into a good kit:
1. Now that the rods are loose enough to slide in and out without having to take steroids, i fixed the wobblyness with a bit of superglue. I put some of the glue on the rods, then slid the rods in an inch or so. This forced the glue into the wobbly slots. I let the glue cure and then broke the rods free from the glue by twisting them with pliers. Once broken free, the rods still slide in and out nicely, but no more wobble! This alone made my second round of sharpening attempts very successful. I got some very scary sharp edges on my kitchen knives and my pocket knives.
2. I replaced the not-so-squeezable squeeze bottle with a softer one that also had a small dropper-style tip. This allows for easy dispensing of the honing oil.
Additional tips and comments:
1. I soaked all the stones thoroughly with oil. This used up about half the bottle of oil, but from now on, only a few drops are needed to keep them clean and happy during use. My new squeeze bottle makes this a pleasurable experience. Be sure to clean the stones by adding some oil, spreading it on the surface of the stone, then smacking down onto a paper towel. This will get the fine metal shavings out of the stone and prevent it from clogging up.
2. Make sure all the rods are at the same angle. This makes or breaks a successful sharpening session. With the wobbly rods i dealt with, the edge was awful. Once fixed, the edge was great.
Conclusion:
This kit had me so frustrated at first that i wanted to return it. The only reason i decided to try fixing it was my next step was to buy an Edge Pro Apex system. Considering that system is around $200, i really thought twice about having to spend that kind of money. Ultimately this product did deliver a good result, but not until i had to make some improvements. If you don't mind making some changes, you'll probably be happy with it. The larger stones and integral guide rods to me seem better than the Lansky system. The clamp offers finer angle selection, which i consider very useful as well. All this is unfortunately negated by some poor choices in some injection-molded plastic parts. I think Gatco cut a few too many corners when making this kit.
Read Best Reviews of Gatco 10005 5-Stone sharpening system Here
I have tried many different knife sharpening systems and this is the first one that actually works. I took our old dull kitchen knives (which were exspensive to begin with) and was able to put a razor sharp edge back on them. I thought I was going to have to buy new knives and this set saved me a bundle. It took three passes because they were really dull but it worked great. I was also able to put a new edge on my pocket and hunting knives on the first pass. I haven't tried it yet on serrated knives, but I have no doubt it will work.
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With the "easy grip, clamp mount", it is convenient to use at a table. (For larger knives, attach to a short piece of shelving for a more stable base.)
The kit contains all of the stones necessary to take a kitchen knife to razor sharp. After the initial sharpening, only 2 stones are necessary to re-sharpen that edge.
I received my kit with one of the tabs broken in the box that holds the stones in place. The vendor (Picnic World) contacted me to see if everything was okay with my order. I replied about the broken tab and that I thought it was the factory's fault, not the vendor. The vendor contacted the factory and the factory supplied a replacement that the vendor forwarded to me. Great customer service on the part of the factory and the vendor!
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If you have found frustration with sharpening with a traditional Arkansas whetstone, this kit takes the frustration out of knife sharpening. It also made me a hero with our kitchen knives, not just with my Boy Scouts. I recommend this product for your everyday knives.
I've had my Gatco five-stone kit for about six years now and believe it was the best addition I could have added to my outdoor tools. I liked it so much that I added the 15006 Extra-Fine (purple) stone and the ceramic 15010 Ultimate Finishing (light blue) ceramic hone for a mirror finish to my edges.
PROS:
* Takes the guesswork out of making sure you have a good, consistent edge.
* Ability to adjust edge sharpness with stone variety (Extra Course to Fine).
* Price/performance. You get a good variety of stones for the money.
* I guarantee it will take a very dull blade and make it razor sharp if you follow the directions.
* Easy to handle and safe grips protect your fingers from getting cut.
* Self-contained kit; everything fits neatly in the box (except for extra stones).
CONS:
* Getting smaller or larger blades to lock in to the guide clamp and be stable can be a challenge.
* If not properly clamped on to the blade, the clamp can leave small marks in the blade finish.
* Rods are set firmly in the plastic handles, but can be pulled out. (A minor issue that has rarely happened.)
* The oil container leaked in mine. Again, not a major issue, but now I no longer have an oil dispenser in the kit box.
* One stone came loose from the plastic handle. I re-cemented it in to the handle. All other stones have been firm.
So why did I give this five stars if there are several minor issues? Because I can't give it 4 1/2 stars and this kit really does simplify sharpening. Try to teach a young Scout or adult how to sharpen a knife on a whetstone and you will find most people can't get a consistent edge. There are tricks you can do to keep the blade edge at a consistent angle, but that is often a futile trial for ham-fisted people.
A key element in getting a secure clamp on the blade is to use the screw closest to the "ladder" to clamp down on the blade spine. The front screw adjusts to the proper width. You will also find that you don't need to apply a lot of pressure to make this work well. Even if you have knives with nicks in the edge, just take the Extra Course stone and gently caress the edge of the blade until the nick is almost gone, then work your way through the other stones to the Fine stone to finish the sharpening.
As with all things, it may take a little time to adjust and learn the device's nuances, but it's well worth it. I've also been around knives and sharpeners for about 40 years, ever since I was a young boy, and I no longer use any of my whetstones. I keep the stones clean and oiled, so I've had six great years of successful sharpening.
The Forschner 40520 was rated as "best overall" in Cooks magazine in Fall 2004. Pretty good report card from "the" chefs magazine. It took top honors over several high end ($80 -$100+) Wusthofs and Henckel models. While they didn't claim that the Forschner was better at any one specific task or that the craftsmanship can stand up to the others (its blade is cut from a blank ribbon of steel, instead of a hand-forged one piece) they did say that its lighter weight was preferred by some of their testers and that it handled the basics just as well as more expensive models. I just took delivery of mine last week and I am putting it to the test. I can say that it arrives razor sharp...nice... and that it's fairly well balanced. The handle is made of a grippy composite that allows you to securely hold firm if wet or in akward positions. The handle is a little longer than others I've owned, maybe too long for small hands, but it is contoured so you can move up towards the blade for better control. The blade does have a nice rocked contour, which makes chopping & dicing easier. I've grown to prefer ligher weight blades and you don't sacrifice much when it's this sharp. Overall I would say that for the price, this is a great chef knife..time will tell if any problems develop. Definitely doesn't have the same craftsmenship or allure of one of the high end Germans, but if your looking for a highly functional, lightweight, standard chef, it's hard to go wrong here.
