Speedy Sharp: a neat sharpening tool from Canadian Tire

[PhotonBoy]

A few months ago, I bought one of these sharpening tools at Canadian Tire. It's called "Speedy Sharp". It seems to be manufactured somewhare in the province of Quebec. (Mind you, when it comes to knives and other sharp devices, I'm one notch above a newbie, so please cut me some slack here.) I paid $17.99 or about US$14.50.

http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0578006P/reviews.htm

(If you're asked for a postal code, use mine: B4R 1B6 )

Their description:
"Handheld carbide sharpener and honing tool. Space-age Micro 100 Super Carbide that will never wear out. World's fastest sharpener sharpens virtually everything."

One side is a specially shaped piece of "Super Carbide" that's really sharp as heck; the other side is a burnishing edge for finishing off the sharpening job.

Wow! I found the carbide edge amazingly hard and capable of peeling off strips of steel (like slicing cheese) from what appear to be really tough edges on knives. I can see it doing a really fast job on things like axe and mower blades.

After a bit of practice on a cheap Gerber plastic-bodied folder, I was able to get it sharp enough to cut paper really easy. I'm sold.

Comments?

 

[DonShock]

Here's the Speedy Sharp website. Single item price is about $12 USD with shipping.

 

[jbosman1013]

THROW IT AWAY!!!

Those are the worst types of sharpeners and can distroy a edge and knife in no time.

Buy a sharpmaker or the DMT guided sharpener but please what ever you do don't use that thing again.

 

[Oddjob]

I agree with jbosman1013. It may be good fo shears or a lawnmower blade but don't use it your knives. Invest in a Spyderco sharpmaker to maintain your edges.

 

[PhotonBoy]

I can understand the points raised in the last two posts. It's incredibly sharp and cuts steel really fast, but just as easily can do big damage very quickly.


So yeah, maybe okay for shears, mower blades and cheap knives, but dangerous for high quality knives.

My little $30 Gerber has been falling apart (both rubber inserts on the plastic body have peeled off) so I was willing to experiment with it. With a better (but imperfect) edge, I'm keeping it for now. It's quite small, very light and thin in my pocket.

 

[Black Rose]

At the moment I am using a Smith's Two-step sharpener and the Lansky version of it.

Even though they are similar in design, they work differently depending on the blade type. The Smith's sharpener is rather aggressive and can really remove material from a blade

I am planning on getting the Lansky Standard or Deluxe sharpening system or the Lansky Deluxe Crock sticks (or both )

 

[likeguymontag]

What kind of sharpener is this, exactly? I can't quite tell from the pictures, but I'd like to know if some of you think it's so terrible for one's knives. Is it a carbide vee that you drag the blade through? I have a sharpener like that by Lansky that also has a ceramic vee, and I've liked the results pretty well. Doesn't seem too aggressive unless you're putting on the initial bevel.

 

[moonfish]

I have a much smaller keychain version. I carry it around a lot. If you get carried away with it, you do remove a lot of metal and the real downside is if the blade is knicked, the carbide will follow the knick and you have to stone it out later. With a soft touch, the carbide works at least somewhat like a steel and just touches up the edge.

The lansky type is tedious at best. I think I have the Smith one and the stones aren't really fine enough to get uber sharp. The stones are really cheap but the thing wasn't much $$ in the first place.

I don't really do big sharpening sessions anymore. A few strokes on a stone or some sandpaper glued to a plate and then to the strop to make it polished. If it takes a whole minute, I'd be suprised.

There are infinite ways to sharpen things.

 

[likeguymontag]

[...] The lansky type is tedious at best. I think I have the Smith one and the stones aren't really fine enough to get uber sharp. [...] There are infinite ways to sharpen things.

I have the Smith's one too in addition to the Lansky one. I actually find them pretty easy to use. I hold the blade in place and draw the sharpener over them. I'd use a stone or sandpaper, but I have zero faith in my ability to hold an angle, and I guess I'm not ready for one of those uber-expensive jigs.

After I've sharpened with the ceramic rod vee, my knife is sharp enough to trim some hairs and stand on a fingernail held at a 60 degree angle. That's not very sharp, but it seems pretty good. The aspect of this class of sharpeners that I really like is that they sort-of help you hold an angle, which I hear is very important for a good edge.

 

[PhotonBoy]

Here's a scan of the working end:

(hosted by imageshack.us)

Top, left, right and front surfaces are concave, very smooth and shiny. Edges where two concave surfaces meet are *very* sharp. The front is more concave than the other surfaces.

I can carve my initials on glass with one of the top corners; guessing, it uses the same material as the small wheels on glass cutters.

I recommend practicing on a piece of junk before working on something you value.

<edit>The black area on the image is not really black. It's kind of a darker steel-tone that looks either quite dark or steely-shiny depending upon how light reflects from the smooth, glassy surface.</edit>

 

[jbosman1013]

Wow that's worse than I thought, looks more dangerous than anything.

 

[PhotonBoy]

The large image size may make it look ominous, but the exposed metal is only as long as my thumbnail is wide, about 3/4" long and 1/2" wide. The orange soft plastic handle fits comfortably in your hand.

 

[Echo63]

FYI - Those things are great for striking firesteels, they make a massive shower of sparks
(any remotely sharp tungsten carbide tool works well)

 

[Pontiaker]

THROW IT AWAY!!!

Those are the worst types of sharpeners and can distroy a edge and knife in no time.

Buy a sharpmaker or the DMT guided sharpener but please what ever you do don't use that thing again.

Listen to this man, these are garbage. Also NEVER use any battery powered sharpeners like they sell for kitchen use.They might sharpen your knife but they take off WAY more material than needed and will destroy the knife in short order.

 

[Mrd 74]

Might be just the tools for cheap machetes.

 

[PhotonBoy]

For about a month in the mid 1960s, I worked in BC on a forestry crew that worked to thin underbrush surrounding new growth trees on Vancouver Island. The moderate temperatures and high annual rainfall really fostered quick tree growth on the island.

Anyway, we used "brush hooks" that were a cross between an axe and a machete. We would walk through the underbrush, grab a small tree with thumb pointing down, push it to the side, and whack!! One swipe with the brush hook and the little tree was toast.

The Speedy Sharp would have been ideal to touch up the cutting surface on these. We used files at the time which were slow and clumsy.

 

[herbicide]

I've seen these before - they're designed as really fine hones/steels, for sharpening by smoothing edges, rather than removing material from them.

A Mrd 74 says, they'd be great for machetes - one swipe per side and you're good to go again.

 

[kitelights]

Listen to this man, these are garbage. Also NEVER use any battery powered sharpeners like they sell for kitchen use.They might sharpen your knife but they take off WAY more material than needed and will destroy the knife in short order.

I grew up with my father using an electric sharpener and I still have the remains of pocket knives, kitchen knives and silverware that he ruined.

As a result, I learned to use a stone when I was a teenager. Back into a few knives again, just a few years age, I now use a Sharpmaker. I like it very well, but it is not good if you need to do a great deal more than touchup.

I was in a kitchen store a few weeks ago buying a gift and they had a demo on Chef's Choice electric sharpeners. I started a 'discussion' with the gentleman on how he was ruining knives and he politely tore me a new one.

Unlike the fixed wheel coarse electric sharpener that my father ruined everything with, this sharpener had 3 different coarseness slots and the wheels were spring loaded to prevent applying too much pressure.

I watched him sharpen a customer's knife that was in bad shape and it took quite a bit of work. He got it very sharp - easily cut paper into strips, but the blade had been badly damaged and there was still a slight nick in it. I saw what he went through in an attempt to remove the nick, but finally decided that it wasn't worth the steel to remove it all and he left well enough alone.

I was unexpectedly impressed. Is there something else I should know to not be? It is limited to one set angle.

 

[jbosman1013]

With any pull through sharpener even high quality electric ones you will always have a burr left on one side because it does not evenly grind the blade. This burr will result in a faster loss of your edge and if cutting food guess where the burr of metal ends up. Most people think that these are great sharpeners because they work fast and put what seems like a better edge than factory. The truth is that they remove far to much metal than needed and can ruin the edge bevel and overall looks of a knife. If you ever get your knife professional sharpened you will see the difference but the fact is its hard to find someone that knows what they are doing. Thats why I have spent the last almost 20 years perfecting my sharpening skills and trust me my knives are 100x sharper than any pull through or electric sharpener could ever hope to produce.

This is what a truly sharp edge is like

 

[likeguymontag]

I was in a kitchen store a few weeks ago buying a gift and they had a demo on Chef's Choice electric sharpeners. I started a 'discussion' with the gentleman on how he was ruining knives and he politely tore me a new one. [...]
I was unexpectedly impressed. Is there something else I should know to not be? It is limited to one set angle.

Apparently you can still take off too much metal with those sharpeners. My parents have a ten year old version of the same one you saw demoed, and they've subtly changed the blade profile of a number of their knives. Their model also can't get close enough to the bolster for my tastes, once again evident in the blade profile.

It's possible that my parents results are because of user error. Maybe they used the coarse slots too often when they only needed to hone or steel their edges. Those sharpeners are probably ok if used carefully and responsibly.