LanskyCoarse Diamond Knife Sharpening Hone (120 Grit) - LDHCR

I can't recommend this thing enough. BTW it is for the PURPLE backed hone, not black, bur for as good as it works I couldn't care less if it were hot pink with yellow polka dots. I've been using a Lansky kit for many years and have been very happy with it. The most time consuming process is sharpening a knife that needs a MAJOR amount of work to 'rehabilitate'. While the conventional stones work very well, they take FOREVER to remove enough material on a larger knife to get the blade's profile to where it needs to be. If you've ever sharpened "someone else's knife" that was beyond ruined, or re-profiled blade profile to a finer edge (30* to 20* for example) it could easily take a dozen hours of patient honing with a coarse stone to get to an appropriate starting point to advance with finer grit hones. This darn thing will do the job in a tenth of the amount of time and will leave an edge that is surprisingly good. This hone isn't really that aggressive, it doesn't leave overly deep tool marks. It just works very fast. After obtaining a proper taper to the blades edge the advancement from 400, to 600, and finer stones takes very little time unless you finish with the 2000 grit Sapphire Stone like I do...because I like incredibly sharp knives...EDIT: Two years later I'm still using this. To be honest I lost the first one and bought another. I decided to redo all my kitchen knives with a 17* edge and my cheapie "Wolfgang Puck" knife set I bought from Salvation Army apparently has steel that's about as hard as woodpecker lips. hard Hard HARD steel. I tried to get to my "starting point" with the coarse stone (red handle) but after about three hours I just ordered another purple diamond hone. Showed up quickly as always and after an hour of tinkering my chef knife is easily the sharpest knife in my house. Start with the diamond hone, then the stones, and finish with the Blue Sapphire. Freakishly sharp.

Years ago I purchased the Lansky Sharpening Kit, and chose the honing stones. I am not sure Diamond was an option back then. While it was a terrific product, and is really the only way I sharpen knives now, there was always the problem of taking so very long to change the edge angle on an older knife or one that I was refurbishing. The coarse stone provided does a good job with softer steels, i.e. most Finnish made Puukkos, etc., . I think that my knife collection is more about the harder steels. So, when using the product on a harder stainless steel, i.e. Cold Steel Voyager folder, etc., this is a labour of love. It works, but takes a long time.Lansky has the answer. The Coarse Diamond Sharpening Stone is FANTASTIC at getting that edge to the right angle right away. Of course I don't have to use it often because I do use my kit often to keep my knives in tip top shape, but when a new knife comes my way, or an older one that comes with years of poor sharpening, it requires a major overhaul. The diamond version of the Lansky hone does a great job, and works quickly. You will be amazed at how quickly the edge takes shape. I see no difference in quality between the ordinary honing stone, and the diamond variety; but the speed at is operation is phenomenal !!If you have a knife, or knives that are made from harder steel, then this is a MUST HAVE for your sharpening arsenal.

I have the kit that came with stones. Got it about 30 years ago. There weren't as many "super steels" in use on knives back then, especially none that I could afford.Today, one of the hardest steels, D2, is now considered a budget steel. This diamond hone makes it easy to reprofile a knife in just an hour or two.I also bought the gray, extra coarse, which is great when I'm doing a major change to the blade angle, but that one has a few oversized particles that leave some scratches above the sharpened area, so I stop that one early and do most of the work with this one. Next move to the medium diamond hone, and then medium and fine stone to finish off before a quick strop.I have reprofiled D2, CPM-D2, 14c28n, and Magnacut with ease.

Good stuff so far. Broke it in on a couple of knives. One being an everyday kitchen knife with softer 440 (I assume) stainless.Knife 2 was a Kershaw Ken onion with D2 steel. Both knives had paper shedding edges brought back quickly. Added a purchase of the Medium Diamond to further hone knives. Will update soon.For the money, I have some concerns of how long the diamond coating will last.

My experience is identical to the other good reviews, so I won't rehash what's already been said.I'd like to add that the first time I used this hone some of the grit came off. I was very concerned, especially because I was using very light pressure on average hardness steel. But fortunately it just seemed to be some lose grit that didn't adhere very well. After the lose grit came off the hone was still completely covered with grit and it worked great. It really does work much faster than a standard stone.I can easily get a great edge on all my knives with 3 hones: this one, a standard medium stone and a standard fine stone. I use this coarse diamond at 20 degrees to quickly create a primary bevel. I alternate each side until I can feel a burr with my fingernail on one side. I switch to the medium stone at 25 degrees and make a couple passes on both sides to create a small secondary bevel. I finish using a couple passes with the fine hone, still at 25 degrees over each side. There should be a burr remaining on one side. I remove it with the fine hone using very light pressure and only moving the stone toward the spine of the blade. After that process all my blades will shave hairs off my arm.

A must have product when re-profiling a blade.

This thing is great! I used it to reprofile the blade on an Ontario K Bar type knife that I got at a pawn shop. The edge was gone and in just a few minutes I put a 30 degree edge on it. I then finished it with a medium diamond and it's shaving sharp. Get one if you have some blades that need serious work.