Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I read all the reviews, watched the video on line, and took the plunge. I have now sharpened about every item possible and can provide an assessment. This product works and works very well. Knifes (both serrated and straight) scissors, awls and gouges all sharpen right up. After the first 10 knifes I wanted to write a review and respond to the one-star people, "What are you idiots talking about? This thing is so simple even a caveman can do it." But I read a little closer and it appears there are two schools of complaints. The first complains about the "tolerances" and the possible slop. These tend to be people who have been sharpening on stones for years and are rather accomplished already. The second are folks who have been using various gadgets over the years and consider this another ina long line of failures. This is my takeaway: If you are accomplished with a stone, or consider yourself already able to accomplish a sharp knife, you might be disappointed because there is not a lot of innate skill necessary here. Your talents will seem wasted. The trick is to not over think this. You hold the knife vertical and pull it down and across (or out) of the rods. The rods are at 30 or 40 degrees so as long as the knife is straight up and down, you're good. That's it. No oil, no real set up, just draw the blade while holding it vertical (and not quite vertical is ok - more later). The person using a stone for years has developed a soft touch, and the ability to maintain the same angle in both direction when pulling the blade across the stone. That is a very, very difficult skill to master. With this unit that skill is generally unnecessary. The rods are at 30/40 degrees, the knife is vertical. The consistent angle you hold the knife is the key. Trying to determine if you are holding a blade horizontally on a stone at a 30 degree angle is hard. Quick, draw a 30 degree angle right now - bet you're off by at least 7 degrees. Now draw another - bet that ones off by a lot, too! Now draw a vertical line. Damn near perfect I bet. See, that's how this works. It is much easier for us humans to distinguish between up and down verses flat. Much easier than the difference between 221/2 degrees and 34 degrees. Your vertical line was off by no more than a degree or two. But even if you hold the knife just a bit off vertical, but you do that every time, you're fine. Left side of the blade is 2 degrees off vertical, right side is 1 degree off - no problem. The idea is that the same bevel is on each side. Where you run into problems is when stroke 1 is 3 degrees off to the left of vertical, stroke 2 is 1 degree off to the right of vertical, stroke 3 is 4 off perfect vertical to the right and the next is 4 degrees off to the right, ad infinitum. Being off a bit is fine, as long as you are consistently off. This is where relaxing and just letting muscle memory take over. Get comfortable, drag the knife through, and repeat. Don't "try" to guide the knife to vertical, just draw it through and continue. Like when you drew the straight line. You didn't have to think about that at all. It's kind of like golf, knitting, bowling or measuring for cooking. The more you "think" about what you are doing, the more you "concentrate" on the specific task, the more you will be frustrated. Just draw the knife through the rods. They don't have to be precisely 40 degrees. They don't have to fit in the slots so perfectly that they do not wobble at all ( a very minor amount of play must exist to get the rods inserted) and you don't have to make sure each and every stroke is dead solid perfect. Just consistent. The thing is, I don't hold out much hope for pleasing the diehard Arkansas or Japanese stone sharpener because the required level of skill they already have accumulated is devalued. They may just have to dumb down their technique. Really precise sharpening with a stone is an art and a skill gained over time. I don't think a professional golfer has fun playing with what appears to be rookie equipment. That may be the stone sharpener's problem. They don't need this system, thus they devalue it. Nothing wrong with that. For the person who sees this as another gadget, you're right (and you're wrong because it really does work). Treat it as a gadget. Have fun with it. It is not hard to master if you approach it as an easy to learn task. Here is your tip: Start with the brown rods, and use the pointy edge. Make about twenty strokes per side. Now use the pointy edge of the white stones and do another 20 strokes. That was easy, now do it again. After the second time around check the blade (don't do so after the first time because you haven't quite relaxed yet). Is the blade significantly sharper than when you started? Then it worked. Do not try the sharpening steps using the flat side of the rods until you are comfortable with the pointy edges. Why? Because it is harder due to surface area on the rod you must contact with the blade and you WILL start concentrating trying to combine that vertical holding pattern with contacting the knife blade on the entire flat surface and then things will get out of had, and you will over-concentrate, and everything will go to crap, the blade will not sharpen, this thing is a piece of crap, AGGGGGGHHHHH! Deep Breath! Relax. You don't even need the flat side. The pointy side will make your knife so sharp you'll slice your thumb off as is.