After many years in the knife industry, Steve McCowen of Iola, Wisconsin, had seen literally hundreds of knife sharpening systems, ranging from stones to expensive electric hones. The simpler devices required a good deal of skill, the more advanced systems came with mounting hardware and pages of instructions, and the electric sharpeners could grind the edge of a favorite knife to nothing in a few seconds.
Steve came up the idea for the Slide Sharp™ and contacted Charles Kain, a custom knifemaker in Indianapolis, Indiana. Together they developed the breakthrough, patented* product you see here.
The Slide Sharp uses a unique system of injection-molded nylon guides to hold the knife edge at the specific angle required for optimum sharpening. A hardwood base holds a porcelain sharpening rod. Simply insert the rod in the base, slide a return spring over it, select the sharpening guide needed for your knife, and slide on the cap.
Sharpening action couldn't be easier. Just pull your blade through a sharpening guide slot, pressing down lightly. The return spring pops the guide up again for the next stroke. You then repeat the same action as needed in the opposite slot, sharpening both sides of the blade equally, or as needed.
Two sharpening guides are included. One is a slight angle for putting an edge on sport, work, tactical and kitchen knives. The second has a steeper angle for heavier tools such as choppers and machetes.
The Slide Sharp system comes with two porcelain sharpening rods. You start with the coarser gray rod, and finish the edge with the fine white rod.
That's the Slide Sharp story. It's simple to use, quick and convenient. It is as easy to use as a butcher's steel, with the accuracy of the more expensive and time-consuming clamped sharpeners.
The sharpening guides maintain the edge angle and do the work for you. There's no guessing, no rounded edges, and no loss of blade shape from oversharpening.
If you can sharpen a pencil, you can sharpen a knife. And Slide Sharp is inexpensive and portable, which means you can have one for the kitchen, one for the tool bench, one for your tackle box, even one for your favorite firearms case.
Just got this for Christmas and it's great. I agree with a statement below that it doesn't create work great with a knife that has lost it's cutting edge, but it places a great finishing edge and pretty quickly too.
Stephen
2011-09-30 San Diego, CA
It works, but does not do the job as well as I had hoped it would. 3.5 stars
Claude
2011-08-11 Towson, MD
I ordered my Slide-Sharp with CRKT's Delegate EDC model. Having been ordered directly from CRKT, the knife was extremely sharp. After it came in the mail, I used the slide-sharp to put an edge on a knife I've owned for 6 years, the edge of which was almost entirely ground down, to the point where it wouldn't cut soft cheese. In under a minute, I had restored the extremely dull edge to the sharpness which it was when I ordered it years ago. I did a comparison test with the new Delegate and the knife I had sharpened and found that both cut the materials I tested them on equally well, whereas earlier the old knife did not cut at all. The slide sharp is hands down the best sharpening system I've ever seen. I've found a new hobby.
David
2011-03-17 Marysville, WA
It's an ok sharpener, and the design is very ingenuitive, but honestly my Smith Tri-hone and kitchen steel-bar work better and do a better job. This is not something you want if you are trying to set an edge with an extremely dull knife or with a knife that does not yet have an edge (I make custom knives). I'll probably be sending it back and use the money for an M-21 knife.
Robert
2011-02-10 Greer, SC
Quite a thought out unit here, took me a few sharpenings before I "caught" the proper way to use it. But this sharpener works and does its job well.
Ronald
2011-02-09 Dayton, OH
This is the quickest and easiest tool I have ever used to put a factory sharp edge on my knives.
Terry
2011-02-03 Alexandria, VA
Does a fantastic job of sharpening. After reading these other reviews, I've been very careful to keep the kit away from any table edges.
Caleb
2010-06-08 Fort Collins, CO
I feel that the design is easy to use and results in a sharp edge. I do have an issue with the durability of the sharpening rods. While sharpening, a spring somehow rod popped out and it fell to my wood floor, breaking the rod in three pieces. It was less than a three foot drop.
Patrick
2010-05-20 colorado springs, CO
It seems to work well for the limited amount I have used it. Unfortunately it fell off of a high shelf and onto a concrete floor resulting in both rods breaking. So the product is great just don't be an idiot like me and keep your stuff organized.
Grant
2010-05-09 lancaster, OH
I opened it up and immediately started sharpening anything that felt dull. Everything is razor sharp now.
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