Diamonds outperform all other types of sharpening abrasives. These quality sharpeners are laminated onto a high carbon steel plate. Utilizes exclusive knife clamp/angle guide that is extrememly strong and allows for angles of 29, 25, 22, 19, 15 and 11 degrees. Contains coarse(200-grit), medium(400-grit) and fine(600-grit) hones impregnated with monocrystalline diamond, honing oil and custom case. Made in USA.
If you have trouble with holding edge angle on regular sharpening stones, the is a pretty good sharpener. I can't get a "hair cutting" edge on knives with the sharpener, but the edge does hold sharpness well.
One trick - For knives with large bending radius - don't use the supplied directions of honing perpendicular to the blade edge - its best to hone in direction of blade in order not to get "flat spots" on the curved section. If you know geometry, you should understand. Cons -1. for very narrow filet type knives, its diffcult to hold the knife with the device and use the 15 degree or less setting, because the diamond cutting stone will bottom out on the holder. A good knife sharpener once you work with it a bit.
I have been using similar systems to sharpen knives for over 30 years. I finally decided to try the GATCO as my brother uses this system. Everything is fine except the new clamp. It is impossible to clamp in a small kitchen or pocketknife as the gap in the tip is way too wide. It will not grip a small to medium size blade. I had to borrow an older clamp from my brother or use a clamp from my other system. I am extremely disappointed in the poor quality of the new clamp.
Works good but not the fastest. Very time consuming but it does get the job done. the bracket could use some engineering to hold different sizes and thicknesses of blades. Other than that its a good product. I have sharpened filet knives to skinning blades and all hold an edge.