I have a similar tool called a 'Speedy Sharp' - I think it was about $5. I like it for hasty sharpening at the expense of removing what I'd consider 'too much' metal. Much more than a conventional stone (and hence, much faster). I would never touch a precision edge, such as a plane iron with one.
I have a drawer-full of sharpening gizmos, but after many years I'm convinced that there's really no substitute for stones - although there are poor to great stones. They all require some understanding of developing an edge, particularly if a fine edge is wanted. Probably the easiest (for knives) is the Spyderco Sharpmaker. Probably the best is anything that helps you hold an angle, high quality, flat, stones, and developing a little skill.
Strange that this came up on HN. I do hand tool woodworking and respect Chris Schwarz a lot (have a few of his books). I had not seen this gizmo before. I’m curious to try it now. Looks like it’s still sold at Lee Valley.
I can't speak for everybody, of course, but I think there's a general appreciation among computer "engineers" (sorry about the scare quotes, I'm grumpy this morning) for good tools and workmanship in any field. I clicked out of curiousity, but then upvoted based on the appeal of the tool. Also the jargon was thrilling, "straighten out a dubbed-over bevel on an incannel gouge"‽ Wowee!
Wasn't aware of it either. Chris has video where he shows how it can be used to create a smooth edge on a card scraper (prior to burnishing):
https://vimeo.com/154986086
I find that file alone is quite enough for me but it does look really nice use case. Would imagine it could be handy sharpening hard to reach places.
Also, while Chris isn't recommending it as a general tool for sharpening, I can imagine the name "Universal Sharpener" could lead people to believe it's a good choice for general purpose sharpening.
For some reason, Facebook has been showing me lots of woodworking videos and books lately. And this has some relevance for me. I did notice multiple posts pushing books by Chris Schwarz, and now I see this comment. So I'm wondering if Mr. Schwarz is simply buying ads, and social media is doing its thing.
If you don't block ads, I highly recommend clicking on the weird ones everyone once in awhile.
For about six months 80% of my ads were weird crystal figurines and other art pieces being sold for five figures. I kept clicking, and the advertisers fell over themselves to show me more of them. It delighted me every time I saw an abstract sculpture selling for more than my car, or a three story nativity carousel, both because it was fun to click through and look at them, and it was amusing to imagine how hard the ad engine wanted to sell me a 5-figure tchotchke for probably a 10% CPA commission.
I also had a fun period where I indicated I was interested in buying -- functional! -- windmills.
Be careful about clicking on anything you'd actually like to buy, though, like woodworking tools -- eventually you'll see something too good to pass up.
I’m already spectacularly in the marketing cohort for all things woodworking. It’s possible Chris is buying SEO and marketing, but given his self-described anti-corporate anarchism, I sort of doubt it.
> It’s possible Chris is buying SEO and marketing, but given his self-described anti-corporate anarchism, I sort of doubt it.
I mean you never know. But i think there's another explaination: He is one of the most popular woodworkers ATM and he has published a lot of material, so it's only natural if his name comes up more than others.
There seem to be several materials colloquially called "carbide". The one in this article is (I assume) Tungsten carbide. The one I first thought of when reading the article (being old enough to have used a carbide lamp while visiting a cave) is however https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_carbide. Any more candidates?
There's a whole variety of carbide matrices/coatings used for insert-tooling for machining. They change the binder and coating to alter the properties a bit. TiC (titanium carbide), Ti(C)N (titanium carbide-nitride), TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride), etc. The tend to all be referred to as 'carbide inserts' unless you're distinguishing between each other specifically.
I carry one of these with me pretty much all of the time. I tend to use my knife as a multi-tool and having the sharpener with it is handy. Works well on the machete too, and I've occasionally used it on kitchen knives (I find it both more effective and easier to use than my chef's steel, but I've never quite figured the hang of the steel).
I find the best way to think about a honing steel is that you’re micro beveling the edge. [0] The images there help develop an intuition of what angle will work well. That said it may be irrelevant if your universal sharpener is doing the trick. :)
Does it allow you to fix the angle of the edge? I have used a number of sharpeners that don’t and I am just not experienced enough to get a consistent angle every time.
Part of this is because it takes a lot of work to get a blade shaving sharp, especially hardened tool steel. However much effort you put into it initially, quadruple it. That's why professionals use machines to sharpen their tools.
There are plenty of angle guides that’ll help you set a specific angle. They tend to be object specific though because they typically involve clamping the blade to hold it in a fixed position. For example the Lansky and Worksharp Precision Adjust work for knives but not chisels. The Veritas Mk ii works for chisels and planes.
I have a drawer-full of sharpening gizmos, but after many years I'm convinced that there's really no substitute for stones - although there are poor to great stones. They all require some understanding of developing an edge, particularly if a fine edge is wanted. Probably the easiest (for knives) is the Spyderco Sharpmaker. Probably the best is anything that helps you hold an angle, high quality, flat, stones, and developing a little skill.