I've bought a few sharpeners over the years, and never been "wowed" quite like the AS SEEN ON TV people seem to be until this one. I don't know this Ken Onion fella, but i'd like to shake his hand after using this. Let me start by saying I'm not overly patient and probably don't pay attention to directions or details like a man should. I finally got this and ripped the box to pieces to sharpen my Benchmade. Initially I didn't think I got it to the "Shiny" sharp as described on the box and directions, but it would shave hair, and after NEARLY amputating my own thumb the next day I realized it did better than I thought. The grouchy old lady who occasionally resides in my house decided her kitchen knives weren't up to snuff, so I gave em a few licks through "The Onion" as I like to call it (not to be confused with my primary news channel, also called The Onion). Before long, she was finally cutting tomatoes into their full potential of salsa, and raving that her expensive Cutco knives were as sharp as when that creep door to door sales guy came by and cut a penny with them (I did explain that was defacing money, and against the law). Long saga short, buy this thing. You'll sharpen all of your knives, the old lady's and probably even that neighbor you don't care for just to keep trying it out. It even does good on the replacement blade knives for those of you who are too cheap to chuck them after 9 minutes of use.