This thing works great. I was ready to buy new knives till ...
921132
This thing works great. I was ready to buy new knives till I got this.
It is a sweet little tool.  I wasn't sure of it working, but a few minutes
on each knife & they were like new again & very easy to use.
My wife says thanks for the sharp knives.
2706463
This thing is great. Watch out for the blade, very sharp.
4442620
This thing actually works pretty good, I've been reading through the negative reviews,
and here is what I have to say....

If you have a super dull knife, or a somewhat dull knife with a really hard steel, perhaps stainless...
You are really going to have a rough time with this sharpener.

This sharpener is not going to put an edge on your knife.  Think of it as more of a honing station.
If your knife is particularly dull, you are going to need to remove some steel, and these stones are
not going to do it.

You can get more power out of it, if you purchase the accessory, extra course stones.  It still won't put
an edge on a blade, but it will sharpen up a dull edge...there's a difference.

Another thing to consider...this sharpener holds the stones at either a 30 or 40 degree angle.  If your knife's  edge has a different degree angle, you will probably find that you are actually making your knife more dull.  If you keep at it with the extra course stones, you will eventually change the bevel, but its going to take a long time.  You may want to invest in an automatic sharpener like a worksharp, or perhaps try a cheap 'pull the knife through' type of hand sharpener that will remove a lot of material and set the angle you want on the edge.

Again...think of this as more of a honing station. Even with the course stones, it would take you hours and hours to put a fresh edge on a blade that did not already have one, or change the existing angle on  the edge.

As a honing station, its great!  You will be popping hairs on your arm in no time.  If you really want to achieve a scary edge...you can purchase the extra fine accessory stones.  They really make for crazy surgical sharpness.  I bought them for s***ts and giggles.  To be honest, I almost never use them...I really don't need any of my knives to be that sharp.  Its just not practical.

I really like the product, but only give 4 stars.  This is because in order to make this sharpener really functional, you really need to purchase the accessory extra course stones.  Also because I think Spyderco needs to make it clear that this is not so much a sharpening station, as it is a honing station.  I think this is at the heart of the bad reviews I see here.

Lastly...in alot of these poor reviews, a lot of people mention that they used it for hours on a blade with no result, and or kept watching the DVD over and over to see if they were doing something wrong.  This thing is as easy as pie to use, and really doesn't take long to clean up and hone your edge.  If you are spending hours on single knife blade or feel the need to watch the DVD more than once....chances are your knife is so dull that it really doesn't have an edge anymore, or has an edge that is set to a different angle than this sharpener was intended.

Just one man's opinion.
3511059
I never realized just how much I'd like one of these.  I used to keep my knives in a wooden knife block on the counter.  The block would get dusty and took up a lot of counter space.  I like having my knives handy and this really does the trick.  It looks sharp and clean too!
1389753
This product works amazing.  I got a set of knifes given to me that were really dull.  This product made all the knifes seem like they were almost brand new.  You could see the little shavings as you are running the knife. No need to buy new knifes!!
1678946
this thing is awesome! my knives are like factory sharp. easy to use,i did all my knives, about 15 in all , in about an hour . could not believe how sharp my knives are. i would recommend this to anyone looking for a great knife sharpener. if i could do it on my first try and get these results,anyone can.
449887
okay, okay, for real, I was having new sod laid and realized having one of these (I borrowed my neighbors) comes in handy to slice offf the excess grass to make a clean line.  Sure as hell beat my old-rusting-not-so-sharp saw and me working overtime to cut the pieces that way.  So I ordered this and it's one big knife.  It's hanging proudly in my shed until it's needed for chopping and/or protection.
1644752
I needed a new stone and this is perfect. Its a Great sharpener.  My hunting and kitchen knives are now as sharp as the day I bought them.
3102888
Every once in a while, you buy something that does exactly what you want and need it to do.  It doesn't happen very often, but the Spyderco Sharpmaker is a an example of this.

I needed a better way to sharpen my knives.  Simply put, water stones did not work for me because I can't hold a knife at a consistent angle to the stone.  So, I bought this product, and hoped it could improve my lackluster sharpening efforts.

Within an hour of using it, all of my Spyderco and Kershaw knives where razor sharp.  I literally mean razor, because I shaved my face afterwards with my Tenacious (please don't try that at home).  I also sharpened all of my old cheap beater knives bringing them to levels of sharpness they had never seen before.

Essentially, the Sharpmaker does everything it advertises.  Follow the instructions on the CD and you will give any knife a razor edge, quickly and easily with no real skill involved.
1232715
This is really good product. Works well as described. All my knives are sharp now.
4972143
I am so very happy with this great little knife sharpener.  I have a set of knives that are almost 15yrs old and needless to say, they were not very sharp, like, at all.  That was until I received this baby and only a few moments later, vua-laa, my knives were sharp once again.  I've actually been wanting one of these guys for some time now so I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to get this pretty cheap and then write up a review about what I think.  Well, I'm quite pleased (although I'm not sure how this is any different than the ones that look similar that are a couple bucks cheaper ~?).  Oh well, at least you have my word that this once does indeed do the job.  ;)
4000235
I absolutely love it. Recently my carpenter while doing remodeling for my kitchen handily made a knife rack that exactly fits into a narrow drawer. However it takes only 5 knives and does not accommodate various knife sizes. This tool does a much better job by having two rows overlapped in a way to allow various sizes to line up. Wish I had known and purchased this tool earlier, which could have saved the carpenter's ton's of time.

However, unless your knife's handle is extremely thin, it will be quite difficult to hold 16 knives as claimed in the product description, probably not even 11. Or even if it does, it'll be hard to get the knives-in-the-middle out.

It feels heavy, very sturdy, has a very smooth finish, silky. it looks like it can last forever.
1439113
It's nice to finally have a super sharp, lightweight, easy to handle knife to chop food in the kitchen. No matter how much I sharpened my other knives, they never were sharp enough to make my kitchen work quick and easy. This knife makes the work go so much faster, I can even use it to cut pieces of raw meat without struggling. I truly did not know what I was  missing before I purchased this knife. I now realize that quality knives are a wise investment.
16416
I had some really nice knives I just couldn't seem to sharpen, but this tool fixed my problem and saved me a lot of money. It works!
3810230
I bought this yesterday for my knives that had become quite dull, and now they are terrifyingly sharp. This is half the price at Ikea (under five bucks) so I recommend buying it there if you have an actual store nearby. I can't speak for durability yet, but if it breaks into pieces I'll update my review.
2768109
I just received this sharpener a couple of days ago and have only used it on one knife, but OH. MY. GOSH.  It put an edge back on my favorite knife that it hasn't had since it was new.  I'm very pleased.
3433351
Why did I wait sooo long to buy this Fillet knife? It works amazing and has already saved me so much time.
The scaler it comes with works great as well!