Norton IM200 Knife Sharpener Oil Stone Sharpening Stone Kit with Coarse /Medium Crystolon and Fine India Stones, Sharpening Stone Oil and Knife Angle Guide

This is the first knife sharpening system I have used, but I am quite impressed. My knives were becoming quite dull and when I first got this, I ran my knives across the course grit many times, then to the medium, then to the fine. My knives were noticeably sharper, but not as sharp as I would have liked. I used my knives for a couple of weeks, then pulled this back out and sharpened again on the medium, then to fine. Now my knives were quite sharp. This system does appear to have a learning curve if you have never freehand sharpened a knife before. I do believe that once I get the hang of this system, it will be so worth the money. You can sharpen your knife at any angle you would like.The guide included in the system isn't very good. To use it, you leave the guide at one end, align the knife and then simulate cutting a thin slice off the stone. You don't want to use much pressure, but you do need to keep the knife at a consistent angle. I think I kept a much more consistent angle on the second go.I see many stones come with nothing but the stone. This has 3 stones held in a nice container that hold a good grip on the table. Rather than holding the stone with your fingers and either losing an inch or two of working area, you can use the entire 8" of cutting. I have a 10" chefs knife and I can sharpen it just fine on these stones.The manual says you can use either water or mineral oil with the stones. I have only tried the mineral oil that came with the stones and it works well.This product seems like a good deal over the larger version. The larger version is about 33% bigger, but it comes with a 150% bigger price tag.

Really like the over all size of the stones. You can go from rough, medium and fine course stone. Also liked how it came with a container of honning oil. Like the tray style also for any oil that may drain off the stones

I have a multitude of knife sharpening tools including the Chef's choice electric the global water ceramic japanese whetstone and of course a few honing steels. I ordered this thinking I would have to return it. When it arrived it just looked like any sharpening stone array in a plastic turn case. I let it sit a day and then pessimistically gave it a try. Put some oil in the tray and realized it would take all the oil I had so I just oiled each of the stones as I used them. I used all three stones on a wusthoff , a viking and a global japanese knife. When I finished the process no mess like with the whetstone. Results were consistent on all three knives tested. Final test was all three cut through paper like butter. Each knife took about 15 to 20 minutes of work. Very little clean up. I really like this simple rotating stone system. I finished all knives with a honing steel or a honing ceramic. I can't argue with the results. This is the sharpest my knives have been in years. You might think this is expensive but it is a reasonable price for what you get. I will update after I do a comparison with the DMT diamond stones I have coming. 100% recommend this product.

Easy to use, you just have to practice a little to get as good as the people in online videos. But the results are fantastic.

This stone system is the beat out there for what I do. However it may not be so much for beginners. For someone who doesn't know how to use it, it could be damaged. The handles are trash. If you dont lift to spin the stones the handles break very easily. Had it 4 3 hours. One guy who knew nothing broke a handle off. Plastic case is very cheap. Stones are amazing. Good item if u get it on sale. Not worth 100 bucks with the casing this cheaply made tho.

I have tried most all the devices on the market for sharpening knives, both manual and electric, and none of them produced a really long lasting sharp edge, until I went to the Norton Three Stone Sharpening System. Recently, I was visiting my son and daughter-in-law (who are both graduates of The Culinary Institute and professional chefs) and I volunteered to sharpen their knives on their professional three stone system. The results were so impressive that I decided to buy the Norton IM200 -8" for myself. I woud have preferred the larger version but the glaring look from my wife when she saw the price prompted me to go for the 8" version, which works just as well but takes a little longer to get the same results. You're going to spend a little extra time initially to get the proper edge, but once you do re-sharpening is faster. My knives now have really sharp cutting edges which makes using them so much better than before. I do a lot of slicing, deboning, chopping and carving, and having sharp knives really makes the job so much easier.

This is reminiscent of the tri-stone sharpeners we used in the larger hotel kitchens. Neither the manual nor the box tells you what grit the stones were. Later you could tell which grey stone was rougher. The rubber feat can only grab so much on a homes countertop. Maybe on a steel countertop they would stick. Suggest using a silicone placemat underneath for grip. Or have the other end leaning against a wall or appliance to stop from moving. Over all it did a great job getting my knives razor sharp after honing at the end with a steel.

When I worked in the meat industry 1980-1989, all of the butchers sharpened their knives on a Norton Tri-stone… a big deal on the wrists all day cutting meat in a refrigerated room for 8 hours a day, you want a knife that slices easily.I have the Spyderco ceramic rods, have a Worksharp belt drive sharpener (that is good if you are in a hurry) none give a better edge than this unit does.