Victorinox VN43323 Fixed Blade, Knife,Hunting,Camping,Outdoor, Black

This is ideal to take along on longer trips, like long camping trips or backpacking. Keep in mind that this is not a “sharper”. Meaning it’s not designed to take off blade material to achieve sharpness. However, the ceramic rod is gritty enough to slightly hone the edge to a very usable sharpness. My favorite part of this thing is the ceramic V thing. I usually cringe when I see these things, but this is designed to deburr and realign the edge. Almost like a leather strop. So after you get a rough edge with the rod, you swipe the notch few times and you have a good edge. Ok, not Workshop, Japanese water stone mirror edge, but a sharp working edge for everyday use. I’m gonna keep this in my backpack for my multi day hikes. Very light. You can take off the cover and the cap to make it even more minimal for you ultralight folks.

The sharpening process works great, but it took me 10 minutes of internet research just to determine how to use this properly!Because it’s not even remotely obvious if you’re supposed to sharpen with the V notch (like cheap chef’s knife sharpening kits) and then hone with the rod (again like for chef’s knives), or sharpen with the rod (like a whetstone) and then hone with the V notch.You’d think this would come with clear instructions, but there’s no actual directions, just the back of the package that mysteriously shows 1) a *kitchen knife* being gone over with the V notch, 2) a 20° blade angle (unclear what type of knife), and 3) a *swiss army knife* being gone over with the rod (and in an unsafe direction at that — *towards* the body!). But these aren’t numbered, so it’s unclear if they represent the order (start with V notch, then rod) or if the V notch is meant for kitchen knives, and the rod is all you need for swiss army knives…?What the *heck*, Victorinox? How could you produce something so confusing?Well after watching several YouTube videos, including the official Victornix one on this product, it turns out the correct answer is 1) sharpen (it’s not honing) the knife with the rod at the 20° angle, and in a safe direction (*away* from the body) and then 2) hone (it’s not sharpening) the edge using the V notch.Great. I can do that. That’s fine. But so why does Victorinox put the instructions in a *backwards order* on the packaging, use a *kitchen* knife in one of the illustrations (?!), and to top it all off, show the user sharpening the knife *towards* the body (unsafely)?? Victornix is generally a quality company, so it’s truly bizarre to see them so completely and totally mess up what should be exceptionally simple instructions. So 5 stars, but minus 1 for the “instructions”. What the heck, Victorinox.

Very easy to use and quality construction. Used on my kitchen knives for a quick touch up. I have a bench grinder for my other knives but wanted something for my multitools where I wouldn’t damage the scales

I was skeptical, certainly. But when this dropped down to $9, I said, why not? And after a very short time (5 minutes), I brought a carbon Opinel that I thought was sharp (but it obviously wasn’t, because it didn’t slice paper) to an easily paper slicing sharpness. Color me impressed. I already had a Smith’s handheld “pull-type” sharpener, but this stone works very quickly and the edge is better.