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No. 17812
ID: e517e3
If you don't know what to use or how to sharpen, I would strongly recommend against doing so and learning with free-hand. Yes, having an understanding and practical experience with doing it by hand is a good foundation to be able to revert to - but it also means a lot of trial and error and learning when and where you're fucking up. And many people aren't even aware of when they do.
The stones seem decent. Arkansas stones are good and will work and perform well on a myriad amount of steels. Stay the fuck away from aluminum-oxide (corundum) stones, however. Ceramic and diamond are king as far as I'm concerned.
As far as "systems" go, of the ones I've bought and used the two best are the Lanksy sharpener and the DMT Aligner. DMT Aligner, especially, is pretty fucking boss and well designed (DMT's diamond stones are also very, very good). Lansky has diamond hones as well and is more versatile and cheaper. Look into which works for you. Whatever you get, make sure you have angle control options.
Spyderco Sharpmaker is sub-optimal because of lack of angle control past the standard 15/20 DPS and the "medium"/gray stones that come standard are shit and useless for reprofiling - you're going to need CBN or diamond. That's about another ~$50 on top of the system to begin with. Then you'll want SF stones because they're fucking awesome to finish with - that's about $15 each (yes, you'll need two). I'd just as soon avoid. I barely use my Sharpmaker outside of specialty sharpening now.
Despite it's legion of fans (...why?), the Edge Pro and it's many clones are some of the shittiest available. I hate the living fuck out of using them. Not only does the original Edge Pro not have a clamp system (automatic disqualification due to movements therefore causing changes in your apex angle), but the clamp system clones are annoying because you have to remove the clamp and turn the blade over to do the other side. Fuck these systems. I'm baffled that people actually like them.
Next on my list is a KME system. Expensive (around $200) and there aren't a ton of options, but it seems like one of the best designed systems out there.
TL;DR version: That's okay, but it's just decent-looking stones in a wood box to make you pay more for it. I'd suggest a DMT Aligner or Lansky guided sharpener. YMMV.
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