GEN3 Guided Knife Sharpening System, Aluminium | Professional knife sharpener, Knife Sharpening Kit W / 3 Al Plates Diamond (320#, 800#, 2000#) for For Hunting & Kitchen Knives

This is my first fixed-angle sharpener, though I’m not new to sharpening. I have a WorkSharp Ken Onion blade grinder and a bunch of diamond stones for freehand sharpening. This system allows you to achieve extremely sharp edges, sharper than I’ve managed with other systems, with a minimal learning curve. It’s not without its flaws as a fixed system, but if you want sharp knives, pair it with some high-quality diamond stones, and you’re set. There are a couple of things I wish were included and offered as a package deal:1) The angle is infinitely adjustable within its design limits, which is cool, but I doubt most of us care to sharpen to 15.26 degrees. In addition to the adjustable angles, I wish there was a detent system or some way to repeatedly lock into common angles (10, 13, 15, 17, 20, etc.) without needing a digital angle meter.I also think they should offer a complete package ready to go out of the box, including more stones, a digital angle meter, a strop, rod stops, and their new center Y clamp. (Speaking of the center clamp, if you’re doing pocket knives, do yourself a favor and get it ASAP.) That would really make this system 100% ready to go right out of the box. Speaking of stones, I can’t compare them to other stones for fixed-angle sharpeners, but they have worked well enough so far on 8 different knives, all of which are 20CV, M390, and M4.The only minor gripe I have with this item is that a couple of the screws needed adjusting (flip mechanism and angle clamp), which was extremely simple, which is why it’s a gripe. If it’s so simple to fix, why couldn’t it have been done at the factory? But once again, it was very simple and didn’t require any special tools to adjust to my liking.Overall, as I mentioned above, I think this is a great system if you add some higher-quality stones. I’m not really sure what a more expensive sharpener would buy you.I forgot to mention that I had a small issue with the regular clamps that came with it, and Xarilk was extremely responsive and shipped me new clamps. It took a couple of weeks to get, but they took care of me right away.

Had to order this unit twice because the first one I received was a used item with gouges and dirt, so that got sent back.The second one I received appears to be new and as far as I can tell, everything works.Overall, for the price paid (which was $79 on sale), it's a pretty good value and a good choice for someone who wants a decent sharpening system on a budget. There are much higher quality and better machined fixed angle systems like this, but are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive. This unit seems to incorporate all the necessary and important features without breaking your wallet.PROS:- Easy to assemble.- Fit and finish, although not perfect, is adequate and functional.- When used properly, wIll put a nice edge on your blades.- Virtual clone of the TSProf Kadet Pro. Not as fancy and feature-packed, but operationally almost identical.CONS:- Instructions gave virtually no indication of how to properly sharpen.- Blade clamps do not have any type of padding or finish to protect the knife from scratches. However, if you don't over-tighten and are careful, so far I haven't scratched a knife, but would have liked to see the ends of the blade clamps made from a slightly softer material.- In order to get the correct angle, you will need a magnetic digital angle finder. The angle adjustment guide only provides pictures of different blades with crude markings. This is useless. Should show the actual angles in degrees instead of useless pictures.- Would have liked to see the sliding rod use a ball bearing system instead of a metal bushing. However, that would obviously add to the price.- The clamp that holds down the angle adjustment is not precise so that after you dial in the correct angle, pushing down on the clamp will cause the mechanism to readjust the angle by a little (about 0.3°)- The mechanism that rotates the blade clamp is not machined well, causing the sharpening angle to change each time you rotate. In my case, the angle changes by 1.5°. That may not sound like much, but if one side of the knife is sharpened to a 20° angle and the other is sharpened to a 21.5° angle, that can definitely affect overall performance of the blade. Each side of the blade really should be sharpened to the same angle. Because of this, each time I rotate the knife, I have to readjust the angle.It's a pain and it definitely slows down the sharpening process. In fact of anything, this is probably my biggest complaint is that this particular part of the system is poorly machined.Some of the cons are probably nitpicks especially at this price. But figured I'd mention them anyway.There are a couple decent YouTube videos showing proper usage of this Gen 3 unit which are worth watching.This system is a copy of the TSProf Kadet Pro. Not 100%, but pretty close. There are YouTube videos showing the usage of the Kadet Pro, so some of the procedures and techniques can be applied to this unit as they operate the same way.The stones that are included with the system I think are a good simple variety. I can't speak to the quality or longevity seeing as I have not sharpened many knives with it yet and I am also not even remotely a knife or sharpening expert. but so far the stones included seem to be fine and I've been able to put a nice edge on all the knives I've used it with.Xarilk also sells a multi-pack of diamond stones for only $20, which seems to be a pretty good deal.I'm aware that top quality stones cost significantly more, but I think it would be kind of pointless to spend double the price of the entire unit on stones. So even if the included stones are not supreme quality, as far as I can tell they are adequate and acceptable.Overall, I'm reasonably pleased with the system despite some of its shortcomings, but that's to be expected at this price. Upgrading to systems that fix all those nitpicks would cost 3 to 4 times the price of this unit. For example, the Kadet Pro is $500.TIPS:- I took the time to lightly spray all the joints and mechanisms with silicone spray lubricant and it helped make things move a little smoother.- Although it's not necessary, ideally you'll want to permanently attach the base to a workbench or table top. Screws are included. I don't have mine attached yet, so I hold the base steady with one hand while sharpening with the other which is not difficult.- In order to minimize the chance of the clamps marring the blade, I wrapped the ends of the clamp holders with 1-inch wide black Gorilla tape, which is thick enough to provide protection but still allow a secure hold with no wiggle.- Something that is not mentioned and I see frequently done improperly is the correct way to find the angle you're looking for. You will need a digital magnetic angle finder that can do relative measurements. I have the Klein 935DGGD and it works pretty good (Model 935DAG will also work).- Getting everything adjusted to the correct angle is actually a multi-step process. Basically you have the angle of the guide rod and then the angle that the actual knife is sitting at when clamped, which together produce the final angle. Only adjusting the main stem using the turning knob (and the useless pictures of different blades) will NOT give you the correct angle and could cause your actual angle to be off by 5° or more. This is why the dumbed down pictures along the main stem are useless if you're serious about getting the correct angle, which I assume you are. None of this is mentioned at all in the instructions.Step 1: Securely mount your knife in the blade clamps. Make sure it's snug, but don't over-tighten or you may risk marring the surface of your blade.Step 2: Adjust the height of the guide rod angle adjuster to the height of your sharpening stone and use the set screw to keep it at that position.Step 3: Install the sharpening stone and then rest the guide rod centered on top of the blade. You're now ready to measure angles.Step 4: Place the digital angle finder on top of the guide rod stem directly above the stone and once the measurement has settled, zero out the angle finder.Step 5: Now place the angle finder directly on top of the blade and use the adjusting knob on the stem of the unit to raise it up or down until you reach the exact angle you are looking for. The angle finder may jump around and it's probably not going to be absolutely perfect, but if you are within 0.1° or 0.2° you should be fine. depends on how much time you want to spend. Personally I adjust and readjust until the angle is spot-on.Step 6: Now that everything is at the correct angle, you can begin sharpening.There are many opinions about using some type of lubricant with diamond stones. Personally, I use Krud Kutter to lubricate the stones between each pass as well as using it to clean the stones after I'm done.Note: If during the sharpening process you change to a different height stone, all you need to do is readjust the guide rod stem to the height of the height of the new stone. By doing this, you will not have to readjust the angle of the entire blade clamp.However, if you always use the same height stone, you will only have to set the height of the guide rod stem once and you'll never need to change it again.