SHARPAL 196N 2 Pack 4-in-1 Whetstone Knife Sharpening Aid for 14, 17, 20, 25 Degree Angles, Black, Orange

Japanese knives, can be a pain to get them right, but I have a gizmo that does an almost perfect job, its jsut the wester knives i struggle with. This little gizmo, definitely helps, train you in getting the angle right, on the sharpening stone. Good quality, and great value. Easy to use, and helps with the performance of the stone. Nice size too.

A really good guide for different knives simply pop it on the stone, line your knife up and sharpen away.I haven't used the magnetic one yet, that one feels a bit meh..They both do the same angles though so I still think it's a 5 star product

These little plastic widgets may not seem very important but bear with me. Sharpening anything on a stone or diamond plate requires a consistent angle. These widgets give you a good start, 14, 17, 20 and 25 degrees, place the blade flat on the angled face and you have the desired angle for your edge. The trick then is to keep the angle throughout the stroke. I have found them useful and I am getting a good sharp edge consistently now. I think they are worth it for the money. One has a magnet to keep it in place the other a small rubber foot.

Its okay using it to get initial angle but not that good when using it while actually sharpening.

Size was small so didn’t take up much room and perfect for the job

These only really work on kitchen knives which have blades of constant thickness from spine, right up to the sharp edge. The thickness of a pocket knife blade’s is tapered toward the cutting edge meaning these angle guides will tilt your blade at greater angles than stated. They will probably still cut but won’t be razor sharp if that’s what you’re after.

Having a whetstone, it takes a while to actually manage to properly (or even improperly) sharpen a knife, so I got this to help in getting the right angle. I use it to begin with to make sure I'm in the right ball park, then use my thumb to keep to a similar angle. Gives a bit of confidence. Simple bit of kit. Still need some practice at sharpening the tip, and it doesn't help that much for that but still useful

Different grips under the guides, one has rubber one has a magnet…excellent thinking !! Sharpal have really impressed me with some of my recent purchases. Beware that the angles are correct but your knife has its own angle….this means that the degrees on the guide might not really equate to true measurements, but this does not matter as long as you repeat the process enough and write down the angle you used for each edge. Worth buying but you do get them with some sharpal products. Good guides especially if you are happy to sharpen edge leading.