ワークシャープベンチトップ砥石ナイフシャープナー

Very easy to use

Easy to use, good quality and had grinding angle guides but arrived extremely late

This review is for the "Work Sharp Benchtop Whetstone Knife Sharpener - For Knives & Edged Tools - Kitchen, Pocket, & Fillet Knives" I've sharpened many knives and tools over the years, and I bought this unit so others in the household could successfully put a razor sharp edge on kitchen knives. The one thing about dull knives is they aren't safe to use. This sharpening system is the real deal, and greatly simplifies getting a great edge on your knives. The whetstone (2-sided: 1000 and 6000 grit) sits in a tray with the angle guides at each end. The guides are held in place magnetically. The guides are 15 degrees on one side and 17 degrees on the other which covers pretty much anything you might want to sharpen in your kitchen (exception shears which you can freehand). They also sell, through their customer service, 20/25 degree angle guides for outdoor type knives. The sharpener stays put in use due to a combination of size, weight and rubber grip strips on the bottom. It pays to watch the Work Sharp video on usage. It wasn't the way I learned to sharpen many years ago, but I found it excellent to get up to speed honing wickedly sharp edges and the video was useful for the others in my household. Using the sharpener is pretty simple. First soak the stone in water for at least 5 minutes, then place your knife against the angle guide on one end of the stone, then 'sweep' the knife across the stone being careful to hold the angle from the guide. Then repeat the process from the other end to sharpen the other side. When satisfied with the edge, switch to the 6000 grit to put a very fine edge on the blade. If at any point the stone surface appears dry, sprinkle some water on it. The whetstone is large enough to easily sweep a 10-inch chef's knife across its face. It works well with both carbon steel and stainless steel knives. Work Sharp is an 4th generation USA (Bend, OR) company. It's clear that they spent the time to develop a well designed and implemented product that is easy to use and durable. You can spend a lot more and get a less effective system than this at about $40.

Recommended by Josh from MKC. Works as advertised. Newbie to using a whetstone and really like it.

I have a few whetstones and polishing cloths and know when a stone is 'fine'. This product is labelled as having 1000 grit coarse and 6000 fine yet the actual stone is labelled as MEDIUM and FINE. Neither grit is as the same texture as my other stones of the same grade. The rest of the kit is OK and, thankfully, my other stones do fit otherwise Amazon would be getting another return.