This showed up in under "Today's Deals" at Amazon.ca the other day. Since I was ordering some other things, it fell into my cart. Given the price (about $19 normally) and the small size, I wasn't expecting anything amazing. I've had it for a few days now and I'm pretty impressed. At 10 cm (4 in), it's tiny enough for any backpack or pocket, but it has a lot of features in that small space. Despite the size, the BladeMedic is comfortable to hold and use, at least for my delicate geek hands. If you've got a pair of catcher's mitts, you might find it more difficult. There's a very aggressive carbide sharpener and a ceramic one to smooth the edge. It also has a ceramic sharpener just for serrations that I haven't tried, since I don't own anything with a serrated blade. The folding diamond taper can be used to fix problem spots and get into tight places (like gut hooks). I tried it on my Leatherman Wave that gets abused nearly every day, as well as a couple of old knives I use in the shop. I also tried it with a couple of kitchen knives that were due for a sharpen. This isn't a replacement for your regular sharpening regimen. It's designed to quickly put an edge on a blade that needs it when you aren't near your shop. So far, it seems to do just what it says on the tin. Just a half dozen strokes on the carbide, followed by the same on the ceramic, put an edge on my poor Leatherman that had it sliding through paper. The diamond taper quickly ground out some dings and nicks in the old shop knives, and the rest put a decent edge on them in just a few minutes. The results with the kitchen knives were less impressive. I didn't use the carbide sharpener because there was no damage to the edges. The ceramic sharpener did make them a bit sharper, but nothing close to what the ceramics in my Spyderco sharpener does. Given the purpose of the Lansky, I half expected that. I don't know how it will hold up over time, but for now, I'm a fan of the Lansky BladeMedic. It's definitely something to have in your pack when you venture out in the wild this summer.
