Zyliss knives look great in a kitchen. The funky colours add a beautiful touch to a bland room. But do they cut well?
We recently bought four Zyliss knives. It’s for my wife. She’s the cook; I’m the eater. I would cook, but I fear ostracisation.
My wife loves the pink one. I like all the others.
I did some cutting tests to see whether they’d hold up in everyday use.
They’re fine knives; not top end, but good knives for average folks.
Let’s take a closer look…
Cuts well
Most new knives need sharpening.
It’s great if you can remove a knife from its packaging and it’s sharp enough to use, but that’s often not the case.
Zyliss knives are sharp enough to work well out of the box.
Is a sharp blade important?
I never sharpened my knives. If a knife didn’t cut, I applied more pressure. Knife sharpening was something tobacco chewing old men with bony fingers did.
Then a friend introduced me to the Lansky Deluxe, which I reviewed.
Since then I’ve never settled for a blunt blade again.
From the Lansky I went on to review the Warthog V-Sharp Classic 2, which became my go-to knife sharpener.
Once I started using sharpened knives, I couldn’t stand working with blunt blades.
The Zyliss santoku knife’s blade up close.
The Zyliss paring knife’s blade up close.
The Zyliss utility knife’s blade up close.
The Zyliss small cook’s knife’s blade up close.
Comfortable
Zyliss knives feel comfortable, if a bit small, in my hands.
If you have short fingers, you won’t have trouble gripping a Zyliss.
The plastic handle shouldn’t slip from your grasp either.
The santoku has a small handle.
The paring knife has a small handle.
The utility knife has a small handle.
The small cook’s knife has the largest handle of the four I bought.
Funky colours
The four Zyliss knives we bought came in these bright colours:
Blue
Pink
Green
Orange
It’s enough to make any vegetable green with envy.
For those who don’t like bright colours, Zyliss makes knives with non-coated blades too.
The blue santoku knife and sheath.
The pink paring knife and sheath.
The green utility knife and sheath.
The orange small chef’s knife and sheath.
Safe
Zyliss knives come with plastic sheaths.
When you’re done with the knife, give it a rinse and slide it into its sheath.
Now your knife won’t hurt tiny hands searching for things to explore.
The four Zyliss knives we bought came with colourful sheaths.
Dishwasher safe?
These knives are dishwasher safe, but ANY knife will get blunt from being washed in a dishwasher.
It’s better to wash your Zyliss by hand. This ensures that the blade doesn’t make contact with other hard objects.
Cutting tests
To test the knifes, I cut pumpkin, garlic, tomato, green pepper and carrot.
Some disclaimers:
I’m not a chef; I’m a tester of things. I don’t aspire to fast cutting.
I’m left-handed, but in the vids I use my right hand for cutting. This is awkward, so please excuse the lack of rhythm.
I worked with ink earlier in the day. Hence the black marks on my hands.
I got my son to video the cutting. He strung together some bits and bobs. Nothing special.
The goal was to show that Zyliss knives cut well, out of the box.
Zyliss achieves that goal.
Bristled knife block
Zyliss makes a beautiful black knife block.
But it’s not a standard wooden knife block with slots into which you slide knives.
It’s a plastic container filled with plastic bristles. You stick your knife in anywhere and it stands upright.
I’ve since learnt that they’re not the first ones to make a bristle block. I’m sure theirs aren’t better than other brands either. But it is a handy way to store knives.
You can pop the knives into the bristle block at any angle.
The bristle block has four holes at the bottom. If you did half a job of drying your knives, liquid won’t accumulate at the bottom.
Furthermore, you can remove the bristles from the container and wash the container.
The Zyliss bristle knife block with the Zyliss knives next to it.
The bristle knife block with the four knives inside.
You can pop the knives in at any angle.
The bristle block container has four drainage holes at the bottom.
You can remove the bristle block from the container for easy cleaning.
Technical specs
Technical specs for the Zyliss santoku knife. Metric & Imperial.
Metric
Imperial
Weight
55 g
1.94 oz
Length
222 mm
8.74 inches
Thickness
~33 mm
~1.29 inches
Width
21.4 mm
0.84 inches
Material (blade)
Stainless steel
Material (handle)
Plastic
Technical specs for the Zyliss paring knife. Metric & Imperial.
Metric
Imperial
Weight
41 g
1.44 oz
Length
185 mm
Thickness
~26 mm
~1.02 inches
Width
21.5 mm
0.84 inches
Material (blade)
Stainless steel
Material (handle)
Plastic
Technical specs for the Zyliss utility knife. Metric & Imperial.
Metric
Imperial
Weight
46 g
1.62 oz
Length
222 mm
8.74 inches
Thickness
~26 mm
~1.02 inches
Width
~26 mm
~1.02 inches
Material (blade)
Stainless steel
Material (handle)
Plastic
Technical specs for the Zyliss small cook's knife. Metric & Imperial.
Metric
Imperial
Weight
95 g
3.35 oz
Length
275 mm
10.82 inches
Thickness
~39 mm
~1.53 inches
Width
25 mm
0.98 inches
Material (blade)
Stainless steel
Material (handle)
Plastic
Final thoughts
Zyliss makes beautiful knives. Your kitchen cause visitors to yawn? Zyliss knives bring zest to any cutting board with their bright colours.
Zyliss knives cut well, out of the box. You need to sharpen most new knives. Many people don’t know this, and many people don’t care. That’s why a Zyliss knife is a good buy. It’s sharp enough out of the box. If you don’t care about sharpening a new knife, the Zyliss is for you.
Zyliss knives are comfortable. The handle, made from plastic, feels good in your hand. The handle offers a firm grip and won’t slip and cut where it shouldn’t.
A knife for any cutting need. I bought the following Zyliss knives:
Small cook’s knife
Santoku knife
Utility knife
Paring knife
But they have many more. They even make knives with toned down colours, for those who don’t dig the dazzling.
Zyliss products have great ratings. You’ll notice that many Zyliss products have a 4+ rating on Amazon, from hundreds of reviewers. They make happy customers.
Zyliss also makes kitchen utensils, including tin openers, cheese graters, food choppers and storage containers.
Zyliss knives are lovely cutting tools, and they won’t rip a hole in your bank account. I recommend you get some.
I contacted Victorinox a while ago, asking whether they’d like one of their products reviewed. They were ever so kind—as one would expect from a company of their stature—and sent me TWO products.
One was the Wine Master.
It’s a beautiful tool. But there’s a problem. The Wine Master is a sophisticated wine bottle opener for cultured people.
I’m uncouth. Letting me review the Wine Master is like charging a rabid wild boar with the safekeeping of a set of fine China.
So I decided to place the Wine Master in a romantic setting, where it belongs. It’s safer there, than in my rough hands.
It’s late afternoon. The sun clings to a mountain, giving a long wink, as they saunter hand in hand down the beach. There’s no wind. Lazy waves glide onto the shore and coast back, an endless cycle of invites for toes to take a dip.
He’s carrying a large woven basket covered with a tartan blanket. The blue head of a bottle of Fattoria San Giuliano Moscato D’Asti peeks out from underneath the blanket.
When they’ve put enough distance between themselves and the nearest person, they stop and he puts down the basket.
Then he throws open the blanket and floats it down onto the sand.
He takes her hand, helps her down onto the blanket and plonks down opposite her.
He’s been waiting for this moment for a year, and now that it’s here, the excitement is sucking the moist and words from his throat.
He slides his sweaty left hand into his pants pocket and probes for the square box. It’s still there.
He had it all planned out. He’d pour them each a glass of wine, then drop the ring into her glass, hold it up high enough for her to see and propose. It was the most romantic idea Google could come up with, given his budget.
But it seemed much easier at home, drilling with a buddy. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it now. All the practice sessions seem to have washed away with the tide.
“Lovely evening, isn’t it, babes,” he asks, running a hand through his hair.
“You mean, afternoon, sweetie,” she replies. A sly curl forms in the corner of her mouth.
It floors him every time. He wishes he could frame her smile and hang copies of it on every wall in the world.
“Yes, that,” he chuckles.
He clears his throat and asks, “Darling, would you like a glass of wine?”
“I’d love a glass,” she replies and puts her hands together. “It’s been a long walk. I’m parched.”
He removes the bottle of wine from the basket and places it on the blanket.
He reaches into the basket, feeling for the bottle opener.
Nothing.
He pulls the basket closer and rummages through the contents. There are plates, cutlery, expensive cheese, crackers, humus, carrot sticks, chocolate covered strawberries (her favourite), and a bottle of water.
But no bottle opener.
His brain freezes.
His buddy never mentioned this in the drill sessions. Google didn’t warn that this might happen.
What was he going to do? He couldn’t propose now. He needed a glass filled with wine. That’s what he planned.
He’d have to postpone. Or cancel the whole thing.
He could break up with her and arrange to start dating another time. Or he could stay single for the rest of his life. Become a cat lady.
But he’s not a lady.
And he doesn’t like cats.
It’s the end. She’ll never say yes. And they’re going to fire him by the end of the week. And they’re going to steal his car. And a wrecking ball would smash into his living room. He was going to lose everything.
“Babes,” she interrupts him, “what’s the matter? Did you forget to bring a wine opener?”
She always saw right through him.
“Um,” he mumbles, “I’m sure I put it in, sweetie,” he replies with a smile and keeps rummaging.
He’s so engrossed that he doesn’t notice her reaching for her handbag. She opens it, removes something from it and holds it out towards him.
“Sweetie,” she says, “you could always use this.”
He looks up from his activity and takes the Wine Master from her hand.
He gapes at the tool.
“Where in the world did you get this, babes,” he asks.
“Oh,” she replies, “I bought it the other day, in case you forgot the bottle opener today. I wouldn’t miss your surprise proposal for anything in the world.”
He starts laughing.
He wouldn’t have to be alone after all.
The Wine Master is beautiful tool.
But is it only good for opening wine?
Victorinox punts it that way.
They even speak of the large blade as a culinary cutting device, as opposed to a do-it-all cutting blade.
If you want to restrict your Wine Master’s usage to opening wine bottles and cutting cheese, be my guest.
But if you’re like me, you’ll use the blade for all sorts of things, from cutting rope, to cutting a fat piece of steak, to stripping wire, to cutting fishing line and a host of other things.
There are many reasons to love the Wine Master.
Quality
Diamonds are forever, and the Wine Master isn’t far behind.
Victorinox’s quality is self-evident. Their products are top notch.
The Wine Master is no different. It’s a solid, well-constructed tool.
Style
There are quicker tools to use for opening a bottle of wine, as there are quicker vehicles than a Bentley.
The Wine Master, with its olive handle and smooth lines, is a Bentley.
Sharpness
Out of the box, the Wine Master comes with a sharp enough blade.
Nonetheless, I sharpened it to a 20 degree angle on my Warthog sharpener.
It’s good to sharpen a new blade. It’s seldom that a knife is as sharp as it can be.
Price
The Wine Master sells for $162 (olive or walnut handle) from the Victorinox website.
Warranty
This, from the Victorinox website…
Victorinox AG guarantees all knives and tools to be of first class stainless steel and also guarantees a life time against any defects in material and workmanship (save for electronic components 2 years). Damage caused by normal wear and tear, misuse or abuse are not covered by this guarantee.
In the box
The Wine Master box came with the following items:
Wine Master tool (with olive handle; available in walnut too)
Leather pouch.
Instruction pamphlet.
The front of the Victorinox Wine Master’s box.
The Victorinox Wine Master.
The Victorinox Wine Master alongside the beautiful leather pouch.
The instruction pamphlet that comes with the Wine Master.
How to open a bottle of wine
Follow these steps to open a bottle of wine with the Wine Master:
Run the foil cutter along the upper edge of the collar, all the way around.
Remove the severed piece of foil from the lip.
Screw the corkscrew into the throat of the bottle.
Wedge the bottle opener onto the lip of the bottle.
Lever the cork out of the bottle by lifting the Wine Master by its handle.
Flick open the foil cutter.
Run the foil cutter along the upper edge of the collar, all the way around.
Remove the severed piece of foil from the lip.
Screw the corkscrew into the throat of the bottle.
Wedge the bottle opener onto the lip of the bottle.
Lever the cork out of the bottle by lifting the Wine Master by its handle.
There’s another way to remove the foil:
Cut the foil parallel to the neck, from the bottom, to a point past the upper edge of the collar.
Cut the foil a small piece along the upper edge, to form a T cut.
Remove the entire piece of foil.
Cutting
To test the blade, I carved a fishing lure from balsa wood. Wood, even balsa, is tougher than cheese, or other foods the Wine Master is intended to be used on.
I formed a billet by gluing together five pieces of 100 mm wide, 10 mm thick, 50 mm high balsa sheets.
Once the glue cured, I marked out a rough outline (which I hardly followed) using a pencil, on two sides of the block.
Then I carved away everything that didn’t look like a crankbait fishing lure.
Even though it’s not a carving knife, the Wine Master did a fine job. Cheese doesn’t stand a chance.
Stacked and glued balsa sheets for making fishing lures.
Rough pencil outline of fishing lure.
The Victorinox posing with two good friends.
The Victorinox did a fine job of roughing the balsa lure.
The balsa crankbait fishing lure, roughed with the Wine Master, ready for the next stage.
Safety
You don’t want your lure dressed in human skin. Cover your thumb in a plaster or sticky tape to lessen the chance of injury.
Do it BEFORE you start cutting, not like me. I had to open my finger before common sense kicked in.
Add protection to your thumb before you whittle with a sharp blade.
How to close the blade
When my son first picked up the Wine Master, he flicked open the blade, but complained that someone with short fingernails would have trouble closing it.
I could see his point…
…until I watched a promotional video for the Wine Master.
The Wine Master makes use of a liner lock mechanism. This keeps the blade in place when you open it.
A liner lock needs to be pushed aside for the blade to close.
The Wine Master’s liner lock is not easy to push if you don’t have long nails.
But you don’t push the liner lock aside using a fingernail.
To close the Wine Master’s blade, you press the Victorinox emblem, situated on the side of the handle. The emblem pushes back the liner lock and lets you flick the blade into a closed position.
Push down on the logo before you close the Wine Master’s blade.
Technical specs
Technical specs for the Victorinox Wine Master. Metric & Imperial.
Metric
Imperial
Weight
120g
4.23 oz
Weight (with pouch)
141g
4.97 oz
Length (open)
~222 mm
~8.74 inches
Length (closed)
129.3 mm
5.09 inches
Width
17.1 mm
0.67 inches
Height
34.6 mm
1.36 inches
Handle material
Available in olive and walnut
Final thoughts
The Wine Master is a beautiful tool.
Like all Victorinox products, it oozes quality and smacks of durability. It’ll open many bottles of wine before it gives up the ghost.
It’s not the quickest tool, but it’s elegant. The olive handle (or walnut, if you prefer) is a lovely touch.
If you’re a sommelier, you’ll impress customers by using the Wine Master as part of your wine serving ritual.
If you’re not a sommelier, but consider opening a bottle of wine a celebration, accompanied by laughter and fine food, performed with éclat, you’ll love the Wine Master.
Both of these are great knife sharpeners, but one is better. Which one is it?
Let’s take a look…
Ease of use
To use the Lansky Deluxe, you follow 17 steps. To use the Warthog Classic II, you follow three steps.
The Warthog is a plug-n-play sharpener. You remove it from the box and start sharpening. You don’t need to set up anything. You don’t need to lubricate anything.
The Lansky does not work like that. You have to connect guide rods to honing stones, clamp the knife in a guide and keep the honing stones lubricated.
The Warthog V-Sharp Classic II takes this round.
Speed
The Warthog works much faster at sharpening a blade, since it sharpens both sides of the edge at the same time.
The Lansky Deluxe cannot do that.
You sharpen one side of the knife, flip over the guide (attached to the knife) and sharpen the other side.
The Warthog V-Sharp Classic II takes this round.
Accuracy
When you sharpen a blade in the Warthog, the blade’s edge serves as a reference. Your sharpening angle remains the same, sharpening sessions after sharpening session.
If there is variation, it’s negligible.
When you sharpen a blade with the Lansky Deluxe, the blade’s spine serves as reference point. This means that, if you don’t secure the knife to the guide at the exact spot you tightened it to with your previous sharpening session, you’ll have to resharpen the knife completely.
The Warthog V-Sharp Classic II takes this round.
Versatility
The Warthog Classic II can sharpen only smooth blades.
The Lansky Deluxe can sharpen serrated blades too.
But the Lansky Deluxe 5-Stone kit doesn’t come with a hone for serrated blades. It’s an addon.
The Warthog can’t sharpen chisel (single bevel) knives, while the Lansky Deluxe can.
The Lansky Deluxe takes this round.
Efficacy
Both sharpeners do a fine job of sharpening blades.
This round is a draw.
Final thoughts
The Lansky Deluxe 5-stone kit is great for sharpening knives.
It beats the Warthog at two things: it’s able to sharpen single bevel knives and serrated blades.
But…
The Classic II is easier to use. It’s a plug-n-play knife sharpener. Remove it from the box and start sharpening your knives. There’s nothing to it.
The Classic II is quicker. It sharpens both sides of the knife at the same time.
The Classic II is more accurate. It uses the blade’s edge as a reference, while the Lansky Deluxe uses the blade’s spine.
The Classic II is cleaner. You don’t use oil while sharpening. There’s a bit of dust, but no grime.
The manual knife sharpening champion of the world is…
I bought the Warthog V-Sharp Classic II knife sharpener a while ago. Is it a good tool for sharpening knives? Read on to find out.
My wife and I were walking the mall, searching for a gift for a friend.
My friend’s a knife enthusiast, so we entered a hunting shop.
After finding nothing suitable, the shop owner pulled a dental torture device (that’s what it looked like) from a rack and placed it on a table before me.
The shop owner took a knife, flicked it open and pulled it through the tool.
My jaw dropped.
I had to have this contraption.
Never mind the buddy we’re supposed to be getting a gift for. He’d have to settle for a card.
I didn’t buy this majigger straight away. I feigned self-control for a few days, set a date and fetched it. It was a momentous occasion. Couldn’t wait to get home and sharpen anything and everything.
The Warthog Classic 2 is amazing for three reasons.
Easy to use
The Classic 2 is a plug-n-play type sharpener.
You remove it from the box and start sharpening your blades.
I don’t know why they included a usage DVD. It’s not necessary.
Saves time
A dull blade only irritates you if you know the worth of using a sharp one.
So go ahead and keep using a dull blade and hack away at whatever you’re cutting.
But once you taste the smooth, easy cutting of a sharpened edge, you won’t be happy using a dull edge.
And although various sharpening tools give you excellent sharpness, few give it to you with the ease and speed of the Classic 2.
Saves energy
We eat plenty of meat and vegetables.
Some foods are difficult to cut, even with a sharp blade. My wife often summons me to the kitchen to help her cut an unmanageable fruit or vegetable.
Throw in a blunt edge and you’re climbing a mountain with a rabid monkey on your back.
A sharp blade makes cutting tough fruits and veggies easier.
Tough
Some of the Warthog Classic 2’s parts are metal; some are plastic. All the parts will give you long life.
The sharpening hones will give you many sharpening sessions before they need replacing.
Clean
You don’t use lubricant for sharpening with the Classic 2.
The honing stones are diamond-coated. They’re made for dry sharpening your blades.
You’ll clean up a tad of dust, but there’s no grime.
No electricity
You can buy an electric knife sharpener, but you’ll need an electrical outlet to use it.
The Classic 2 is perfect for any sharpening situation, indoors or outdoors. You can sharpen anytime, anywhere.
Dislikes
The Classic 2 isn’t perfect (although it’s close). Here are my main issues with it.
It can’t reach the back
The Classic 2 can’t reach all the way into the corner of a knife’s ricasso. (The ricasso is a bit of unsharpened blade at the heel of the knife.)
The diamond hone rods are difficult to remove
Changing the sharpening angle requires the removal of the rods that hold the honing stones.
It’s a difficult task. You get used to it, but it takes a fair amount of finger pressure to unclip.
The knife guide is plastic
The guide against which you slide the knife down when sharpening, is made of plastic.
I have no problem with this, but some people might hate it.
Smooth (double bevel) blades only
The Classic 2 can’t sharpen serrated blades.
It also can’t sharpen a single bevel knife, since it uses a hone on either side of the knife to guide the knife while sharpening.
But it does a fantastic job of sharpening smooth blades. That’s enough reason for me to love it.
Price
You can buy the Classic 2 online for ~$75. That excludes shipping.
Compare this to knife sharpening services in the USA. You’ll pay from $1.75 to $3 per inch. Add shipping—$5 per order—and your bill for sending in knives soon surpasses a Warthog’s price.
Let’s do some calculations.
I sharpened 12 blades with a combined length of 1,673mm (65.86 inches).
The 12 knives I sharpened with the Warthog V-Sharp Classic 2.
Let’s cut the outsourced sharpening price to $1.50 per inch AND exclude shipping costs.
65.86 inches x $1.50 per inch = $98.79.
It would cost you $98.79 to have your knives sharpened by someone else. Remember, that doesn’t include shipping.
That’s for every time you want your blades sharpened.
The Classic 2 lets you do the job at 23 percent cheaper. And you pay for it once and use it over and over and over.
You save plenty of money.
Besides, what if you want to try a different angle on one of your knives? The Classic 2 allows you to experiment. If you don’t like the new angle you’ve given your knife, sharpen it to another angle.
Warranty
The Classic 2 comes with a guarantee. Here it is, verbatim:
Guarantee
Warthog Blade Sharpeners warrants that our Sharpeners and Diamond stones will be free from defect and that only the best Quality material is used to manufacture this product. The Guarantee is granted safely to the Buyer. Warthog Blade sharpeners will replace any defective products free of charge. Buyer must return the defective product to Warthog Blade Sharpeners for inspection. Warthog Blade Sharpeners have no obligation under this Guarantee if the product is mistreated or modified, or if the product has not been used according to its instructions.
Consequential Damages: In the event the manufacturer shall not be held liable for any special indirect incidental or consequential losses or damages allegedly attributed to this product.
Warthog Blade Sharpeners International
PO Box 3190, George Industria, 6536
Tel: 044 874 1411 / 1442 Fax: 086 529 1309
Warthog diamond stone
Warthog Blade Sharpeners manufactures high quality diamond stones that are free of defects. Diamond stones will retain their cutting ability for years of use. Diamond stones are manufactured for hand sharpening and not for motor-driven application. Initially your diamond stone will seem especially aggressive. It will smooth over time. When sharpening you need not to exert pressure – let the diamonds do the work. To test diamond stone use it on glass (ashtray or bottle, if it scratches the glass the diamonds are still in tact.) Diamond stones can be used to dry or use water for lubricant. Do not use oil on diamond stones. When sharpening it fast, use water or water with a little bit of dishwashing soap to keep the stone cool and prevent it from clogging. When cleaning is needed use soap water and a scrub brush, do not use petroleum-based cleaners.
Because the Classic 2 uses the blade’s edge as reference, you get an accurate angle that remains the same, session after session.
This is not the case with sharpeners like the Lansky Deluxe, which uses the blade’s spine as reference.
When you use a Lansky Deluxe, chances are you change the sharpening angle every time you re-sharpen a knife. Unless you marked your Lansky’s position on your knives. That’s a schlep.
Sharpening grit
The Warthog V-Sharp Classic II comes with two 325 grit diamond stones.
You can buy the following diamond stones for it:
270 grit.
325 grit.
600 grit.
1000 grit.
Use the coarsest stone (270 grit) for rough edges. Use the finest stone (1000 grit) for finishing an edge.
How to exchange diamond hones
The Warthog box claims that it’s easy to remove the diamond hone from the rod.
I needed the help of my trusty stubby screwdriver.
This 16 second video shows how I remove it and slide it back.
How long does a blade stay sharp?
There’s no clear answer to this…
A blade’s toughness depends on the type of material it’s made of, as well as the heat treatment it’s received.
Your blade won’t stay sharp if it’s made from an inferior material, or if they messed up the heat treatment process.
How long it takes to sharpen a new blade
This depends on the condition of the blade.
Let’s do some calculations, based on Warthog’s instructions for using the Classic 2.
Warthog says you must sharpen a dull blade by pulling it through the Classic 2, 30 to 40 times, using a sawing action.
This is a quick action, so we’ll assign a second to each pull.
We’ll also double the number of times you pull it through, because we can.
Warthog says it takes ten to 15 slow pulls through the Classic 2, to finish the sharpening process.
We’ll do it thirty times, and count two seconds for each pull.
So we have 80 saw-like pulls, at one second per pull, and 30 slow pulls, at two seconds per pull.
That gives us a total of 140 seconds.
Let’s add steeling to the process.
Steeling requires you to unclip the honing stone rods, flip them over and reattach. We’ll assign 30 seconds to this action.
Then you need to run the knife through the Warthog another 15 times. We’ll double it, and assign one second to each pull.
140 seconds + 60 seconds = 200 seconds.
The fast, saw-like action required for dull blades takes practice to perfect. So you’ll start off slow.
At a slow pace, you can sharpen a blade in less than ten minutes.
Once you get the hang of the Classic 2, you’ll sharpen a blade in less than four minutes.
Technical specs
Technical specs for the Warthog V-Sharp Classic II. Metric and Imperial.
Metric
Imperial
Weight
541 grams
1.19 lbs
Height
210mm
8.27 inches
Width
220mm
8.66 inches
Breadth
57mm
2.24 inches
Final thoughts
I love the Warthog V-Sharp Classic II.
It’s easy to use. Remove it from the box, set your desired blade angle and pull your knife through. Knife sharpening can’t be easier.
It’s clean. It uses diamond coated hones for sharpening. You don’t use oil for sharpening with these hones.
It’s consistent. Because the tool uses the blade edge as a reference point, as opposed to a clamping position on the knife’s spine, you never have to refresh your sharpening angle. The difference in angle, from one sharpening session to the next, is minimal, if any at all.
No electricity needed. Take the Classic 2 outdoors. It’s small enough to form part of your camping kit. And it’s manual. No need to plug it in.
The Warthog Classic 2 is hard to beat. It’s a premium knife sharpening tool. I recommend you get one.
UPDATE: the Maxeri is no longer available on Amazon. But while you’re here, check out my review of the Lansky Deluxe knife sharpening kit.
This knife is being marketed on Kickstarter as the B-2 Bomber nano blade (bomberco.com). It’s someone taking advantage of a chasm on a crowdfunding website.
Is this the world’s smallest EDC knife?
You’re a fan of knives. You’ve seen a few EDC knives, but you don’t like them. They’re too bulky; they’re more like EDC pangas.
You want a knife for helping out with mini hassles, not for fighting hordes of vengeful ninjas.
The Maxeri is an EDC tactical knife so small it fits into your coin pocket, and leaves room for change. (Sounds like the Jelly smartphone.)
It looks like a great product.
Let’s take a closer look…
Design
The Maxeri has a distinct military flavour, with the body and blade finished in black. The angular design adds to the military feel.
You look at the knife and wonder if it comes with a tin of camo face paint and a free GI Joe action figure. (It looks small enough to fit inside the hand of a GI Joe action figure.)
Blade design
The tip of the Maxeri’s blade edge is smooth, while the heel has a serrated, Great American Tooth pattern.
You can use the smooth part to slice through cardboard, leather, paper, biltong, paper packages and other everyday materials.
The serrated part of the blade does well at sawing and raking wood fibres.
The blade’s perforation prevents whatever you’re cutting from sticking to it.
Maxeri chose to shape the non-serrated part of the blade’s edge with a double-sided flat grind.
This is standard on many knives. It’s a good design, since it allows for easy sharpening with a Lansky sharpening kit.
The serrated part of the edge is chisel ground. A chisel grind is a single-sided grind. This is a popular style for serrated blades.
The B2 is great at cutting thin branches.
Snap lock
The Maxeri snaps into place when you open it. This prevents the blade from closing when in use.
To close the knife, push the locking lever to the open position and swivel the blade into the handle.
No wiggle
When you close the Maxeri’s blade, there’s no wiggle in the blade.
The blade is tight and cannot be moved, not even a hairsbreadth.
Dimensions
Maxeri specs…
Specs for the Maxeri EDC pocket knife. Metric and Imperial.
Colour
Jet black
Blade material
Stainless steel (440C heat treated, blackened)
Body material
Stainless steel (440C heat treated, blackened)
Teeth style
Great American Tooth
Blade hardness
58 to 60 HRC
Number of teeth (on serrated part of edge)
seven (two large, six small)
Blade length
30 mm
1.18 inches
Blade thickness
1 mm
0.04 inches
Handle length
48 mm
1.89 inches
Length (open)
80 mm
3.15 inches
Thickness
5 mm
0.19 inches
Weight
less than 28.35 grams
less than 1 oz
Width (closed)
20 mm
0.78 inches
Width (open)
16 mm
0.63 inches
Warranty
This from their Amazon page: “100% GUARANTEE – If you are not completely satisfied, please contact us to rectify the issue.”
Availability
The Maxeri does not ship anywhere from Amazon.
It doesn’t ship to South Africa, for instance. You’d need to use Aramex Global Shopper for handling international shipping.
Price
The Maxeri sells for $29.99 on Amazon.
Final thoughts
The Maxeri looks like a fantastic little EDC knife, especially for those who don’t want to go full Mission Impossible.
It fits inside your coin pocket, ready for micro action.
