SHARPAL 194H Whetstone Knife Blade Sharpener Sharpening Stone Angle Guide, Chisel/Plane Iron Blade Honing Guide, Knife Edge Angle Finder, Knife Sharpening Trainer (Angle from 15° to 45°)

I give a 5 star to this product bc it can provide an idea about the angle you're applying during sharpening a knife. It's not even close to maintain an angle. This's what this angle guide shows. I feel that with practice I can improve my skill. I don't think it can be improved since the only thing that can improve is your technique. I recommend it if you have an extra $10.

Holds proper angle would work best with large stone

This is such a helpful tool for keeping your angle while sharpening. It takes a little getting the hang of it but after 3 or 4 swipes and you get the hang of it. I highly recommend this tool if your into precise sharpening. It's full proof. Just set the angle on the tool, pop it on your blade and get sharpening. It's that great.

In concept it is brilliant. Yet it needs a secure way to attach to the knife so as to keep the proper angle throughout the sharpening process.It shows you the proper angle. But after that, it’s all up to you to KEEP that angle as you guide the knife across the sharpening stone. It’s tough.

This is exactly the tool for new people to learn how to sharpen with a whetstone. The magnet allows it to be used with my small gereber afinity, and all my home cooking knives. 5 stars all day long.

I have better, but I was curious about this one. Sharpened my knives for about 30 years on Arkansas Stones. It has been a long road of experience...failure to success, but, sometimes I do well free-handed, but I have a system that keeps me on track. I just received my SHARPAL today, 07/27/24. Given the negative reviews, I was cautious in removing the SHARPAL. It is firmly packed in a plastic frame. Once removed from the securing frame, with gentle care, I lifted the angle base using the fingernail of my thumb. It is tight so you must adjust the pressure in lifting. Here I can understand how these things can be broken. The bubble arm rises one click at a time. You can independently determine the correctness of the angle with whatever tool you might have. Mine appears to be accurate. The bubble arm goes one click at a time, but, it is somewhat tedious to do. The magnet is fine on mine. SHARPAL will take time and practice. I warn you to be gentle with this tool. Do not force any part as the plastic is not of a quality grade. Does it work? I have no idea as I have not tried to sharpen a knife with it yet. I do suggest you make sure the angles are correct. If not adjust ti the correct angle. That is all folks. Continued 1Oct24. Now I would NOT RECOMMEND.

I used this recently and the experience has me re-writing my review (1st review wasn't bad, just not as good as it should've been)This tool is so much better than I realized. I used to use a system with a clamp, guide rods, and oilstones, but it was messy, complicated, and worst of all the angle was inconsistent from heel to tip. I switched to freehand sharpening, but I always got slightly rounded bevels. Even if I used angle guide ramps to set my angle, I was varying angle slightly throughout each stroke, causing rounded bevels. Even the angle ramps have their fault, as they end up covered with fine abrasive, which wears marks on the blade from repeated contact.Once I used this guide I was able to see exactly what I was doing wrong, and correct it in real-time. It helped me to form muscle memory of a correct pass, and after a while I was keeping the bubble level without trying. I was able to get a bevel so clean and flat, it looks like a machine did it.It's meant to be attached to a flat area on a blade (parallel to centerline), so If you have to put it on the grind face the angle will not read true, as the grind face will be a few degrees from centerline. No big deal, just compensate. With the guide attached, hold the knife steady at desired sharpening angle (like on an angle ramp). Level the guide so the bubble is centered. The guide will be set about 2 to 3 degrees higher than the angle you're holding, because the angle of the grind face has been added to it, but you will be hitting the stone at your chosen angle. Once you know exactly how many degrees to add for that knife, just set the guide accordingly for future sharpening.

This is a clever and inexpensive device that can help you get a consistent edge. However when I checked its accuracy against my Wedgek wedges it seemed off. Then I realized the wedges were measuring the angle of the bottom of the knife (the part being sharpened), while the SHARPAL was measuring the angle of the top of the knife, which is effected by the thickness of the knife spine. So the SHARPAL was slightly off. I fixed this by ignoring the scale on the SHARPAL and adjusting it until the bubble was centered on the wedge I was using. Then just sharpen as you normally would.