The Smith pocket sharpener

[Mr. Whippy]

This little pocket sharpener is available for less than $10 at Lowes (and I assume Home Depot).  It seems like a handy little sharpener for a backpack so I picked one up.

First thing to note are the 2 V sharpeners.  One is carbide and is more aggressive, the other is ceramic and is for touch ups.

Also note the tapered sharpening rod.  I thought it would be great for sharpening guthooks like on Leatherman Charge ALX's, Raker Ring tools and serrated edges.

After using in for a few months these are my observations.

The carbide side is more aggressive.  But not as aggressive as the Spyderco Sharpmaker medium sticks. 

The ceramic V will bring a dull blade back to a useable level of sharpness.  However it will never get a blade back to the fine level of sharpness you can obtain with the Sharpmaker.

The sharpening rod is VERY aggressive.  In fact, it's almost too aggressive.  Using it on the cutting hooks never got them back to sharp.  If a tool had big nicks in it, it would definitely smooth those out.

High power of the rod:


Here it is next to the Victorinox rod I use to sharpen cutting hooks:




In short, it is a good sharpener for on the fly sharpening of a dull blade, but it won't get the results that the Spyderco Sharpmaker gets.  The rod is good for fixing damage, but is too coarse to get a fine edge.

[Chain Gang]

I have one and agree 100%.It basically gets the blade ready to be sharpened to a finer edge.

[jzmtl]

I find those sharpeners are great for axe/hatchet. They are soft so dull fast, but can be restored fast too and you don't need a really sharp edge anyway.

[jerseydevil]

I keep either that one or another Smiths sharpener in the back room of my store. I get a decent working edge if needed, enough to hold me over until I can get home to my stones. They are useful to have, and cheap enough that I have a couple on hand just in case.

[Mike]

Nice little review, thank you.

I would like to add, if I may.

Steels are used for re-aligning an edge not for sharpening. They also burnish the steel which is basically the act of smearing the texture of the steel from rough to smooth. This does not involve removal of material. This is also the premise behind the carbide "V" sharpener. You are basically smearing it to some degree of sharpness, and re-aligning the edge. This is a fairly crude method, but does have it's applications though I would not consider it a long term sharpening or touch-up solution.

The Spyderco ceramic rods actually remove material. That's what you see as grey lines on them after touching up your blades. Those grey lines are what you have to clean once in awhile to unclog the ceramic and restore the ability of the ceramic rods to cut and remove material.

Please note, you do need to clean the ceramic "V" regularly because it clogs quite fast due to the small area where the edge touches. One method is with running water, non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine. Just run the non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine through as you would your blade, then rinse with water. Basically you just want to get in there and remove any material that was removed from your edge. Again, that's just one method. You can probably think of many others since you know the concept.


Mike

[PyroJames]

Nice review, whippy.    I have one of these as well and they're pretty handy for touching up a blade when you're on the go.

[Mr. Whippy]

Nice little review, thank you.

I would like to add, if I may.

Steels are used for re-aligning an edge not for sharpening. They also burnish the steel which is basically the act of smearing the texture of the steel from rough to smooth. This does not involve removal of material. This is also the premise behind the carbide "V" sharpener. You are basically smearing it to some degree of sharpness, and re-aligning the edge. This is a fairly crude method, but does have it's applications though I would not consider it a long term sharpening or touch-up solution.

The Spyderco ceramic rods actually remove material. That's what you see as grey lines on them after touching up your blades. Those grey lines are what you have to clean once in awhile to unclog the ceramic and restore the ability of the ceramic rods to cut and remove material.

Please note, you do need to clean the ceramic "V" regularly because it clogs quite fast due to the small area where the edge touches. One method is with running water, non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine. Just run the non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine through as you would your blade, then rinse with water. Basically you just want to get in there and remove any material that was removed from your edge. Again, that's just one method. You can probably think of many others since you know the concept.


Mike

Mike,
That is some excellent information.  I may have heard it before, but I don't think it stuck.  I'm going to clean my Sharpmaker stones now.  Thanks man!

[Mike]

Nice little review, thank you.

I would like to add, if I may.

Steels are used for re-aligning an edge not for sharpening. They also burnish the steel which is basically the act of smearing the texture of the steel from rough to smooth. This does not involve removal of material. This is also the premise behind the carbide "V" sharpener. You are basically smearing it to some degree of sharpness, and re-aligning the edge. This is a fairly crude method, but does have it's applications though I would not consider it a long term sharpening or touch-up solution.

The Spyderco ceramic rods actually remove material. That's what you see as grey lines on them after touching up your blades. Those grey lines are what you have to clean once in awhile to unclog the ceramic and restore the ability of the ceramic rods to cut and remove material.

Please note, you do need to clean the ceramic "V" regularly because it clogs quite fast due to the small area where the edge touches. One method is with running water, non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine. Just run the non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine through as you would your blade, then rinse with water. Basically you just want to get in there and remove any material that was removed from your edge. Again, that's just one method. You can probably think of many others since you know the concept.


Mike

Mike,
That is some excellent information.  I may have heard it before, but I don't think it stuck.  I'm going to clean my Sharpmaker stones now.  Thanks man!

You bet! 

For the Sharpmaker rods, something like Comet works very well. You can use it by itself or with those little green and yellow 3M scouring pads. If you're in a hurry, just rubbing them down with hot water gets a lot of it off as well.

A dry way to do it is with those soft white erasers, I suppose pink ones would work too LOL! This is a good way if you won't be around water, Comet, or scouring pads.

Mike

[Mr. Whippy]

Nice little review, thank you.

I would like to add, if I may.

Steels are used for re-aligning an edge not for sharpening. They also burnish the steel which is basically the act of smearing the texture of the steel from rough to smooth. This does not involve removal of material. This is also the premise behind the carbide "V" sharpener. You are basically smearing it to some degree of sharpness, and re-aligning the edge. This is a fairly crude method, but does have it's applications though I would not consider it a long term sharpening or touch-up solution.

The Spyderco ceramic rods actually remove material. That's what you see as grey lines on them after touching up your blades. Those grey lines are what you have to clean once in awhile to unclog the ceramic and restore the ability of the ceramic rods to cut and remove material.

Please note, you do need to clean the ceramic "V" regularly because it clogs quite fast due to the small area where the edge touches. One method is with running water, non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine. Just run the non-waxed dental floss or non-coated string/twine through as you would your blade, then rinse with water. Basically you just want to get in there and remove any material that was removed from your edge. Again, that's just one method. You can probably think of many others since you know the concept.


Mike

Mike,
That is some excellent information.  I may have heard it before, but I don't think it stuck.  I'm going to clean my Sharpmaker stones now.  Thanks man!

You bet! 

For the Sharpmaker rods, something like Comet works very well. You can use it by itself or with those little green and yellow 3M scouring pads. If you're in a hurry, just rubbing them down with hot water gets a lot of it off as well.

A dry way to do it is with those soft white erasers, I suppose pink ones would work too LOL! This is a good way if you won't be around water, Comet, or scouring pads.

Mike

Just finished washing them and they look brand new!  I used a fibrous scrubby pad, soap and hot water and then rinsed in running hot water.  Amazing how much stuff had collected on the stones. Thanks again! 

[Ashley]

I use the lansky eraser block a lot myself.