2021 test9 productsBlades, Bits & Abrasives
Which Knife Sharpeners Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 9 knife sharpeners options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Budget pick
Lansky
Price shown in test: 78
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Sharpness score after sharpening (lower is sharper, measured in grams of downward force on a Best Certified Sharpness Tester) | Sharpness score after 30 passes across hedge apple wood (durability test) | Sharpness loss percentage | Sharpness score after sharpening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Wicked Edge | 85, tied for the sharpest result of all 9 sharpeners along with TS Prof | 105, the sharpest (best) result of all sharpeners after the durability test, described as remaining the sharpest despite extremely sharp edges usually being more prone to rolling and dulling | 19 percent | not tested |
| 2TS Prof TS Prof 360 Blitz380 | not tested | 120, third best of the durability-tested group, still sharper than the factory edge | 29 percent, the highest (worst) percentage loss of the group given a percentage figure | 85, tied for the sharpest result of all 9 sharpeners along with Wicked Edge |
| 3KME Precision Knife Sharpening System225 | not tested | 110, second best of the durability-tested group | 18 percent | 90, third sharpest of all 9 sharpeners |
| 4Lansky78 | not tested | 135, tied with Tormek T8 for the durability-tested group, described as just as sharp as the knife's original factory edge | not explicitly stated as a percentage by the narrator for this brand | 95, described as very impressive |
| 5Tormek T8750 | not tested | 135, tied with Lansky for the durability-tested group, described as the same sharpness as a new blade edge | 26 percent | 100, described as right at 100 |
| 6Work Sharp Ken Onion Ken Onion130 | not tested | 185 | 8 percent, the best (lowest) percentage loss of all sharpeners, explicitly called out as coming out on top for this metric; narrator notes it started out less sharp than the top systems, which helped its relative retention | 170, described as pretty good but noticeably behind the top 5 stone/belt systems |
| 7Work Sharp Classic 2 Classic 285 | not tested | 300 | 13 percent; narrator attributes the relatively low percentage loss partly to the fact that it started out considerably less sharp than the other brands, leaving less room to degrade | 260, described as considered sharp for fine cutlery but not quite as sharp as Smith's or Speedy Sharp |
| 8Speedy Sharp12 | not tested | 385, described as holding an edge a lot better than the Smith's despite an identical starting sharpness score | not tested | 175, tied numerically with Smith's, described as almost as sharp as the original edge; sharpened in only about 15 seconds, described as very fast |
| 9Smith's4 | not tested | 1,040, by far the worst durability result of all 9 sharpeners, described as dulling dramatically | not tested | 175, tied numerically with Speedy Sharp, described as not bad for $4, though the resulting edge looked pretty jagged under inspection |
How it was tested
- baseline sharpness measurement with a Best Certified Sharpness Tester (grams of downward force to cut test media, lower is sharper)
- deliberate dulling of all test knives by dragging across an aluminum pipe under 2.5 lb of added weight
- sharpness measurement immediately after each sharpener is used to resharpen the dulled knife
- edge durability test: 30 back-and-forth passes across a piece of extremely hard hedge apple wood, followed by a second sharpness measurement, both as an absolute score and as a percentage sharpness loss from the freshly sharpened score
- a scrap-metal knife-making and sharpening demonstration is introduced near the end of the video but no results for it appear anywhere in this transcript; the description confirms 'two of the knife sharpeners used to sharpen a knife built from scrap metal' but this section is effectively a transcript gap with zero narrated data
“Lansky, once again, does a terrific job for a budget knife sharpener and that would definitely be my recommendation for someone just starting out.”