I previously [talked about the Japanese waterstones](https://brooksreview.net/2012/04/wet-stone-amazon/) that are my preferred knife sharpening method — but it is hard to overlook the Spyrderco Sharpmaker as it is universally loved.
What sets the Sharpmaker apart from all other sharpening systems is two things:
– It is almost foolproof.
– It works extremely well and extremely fast.
I hadn’t tried it before, but I ordered one to test out and I am blown away. I don’t think the edge is as fine as I can get with waterstones, but it is impressively — shave your hair — sharp. It’s a dead simple system, so if you own a knife this is something you should absolutely get, and it truly doesn’t take much time to keep a knife sharp with this.
I actually used it to sharpen our kitchens knives and was blown away by how well it worked on them. It’s a great system, priced well, and easy to use. If you can hold your knife blade perpendicular to the table, then you can use this sharpener.
Also, [you can pick up a set of ultra-fine stones](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019JTNDQ/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20) to get even sharper edges (I just saw them and ordered them).