I generally like the Lansky system for sharpening knives, or the stones, at least. The general setup, though, makes it really hard to maintain a consistent angle without entirely too much clamping. I designed this system to work with the Lansky stones but make it easier to keep the edge angle consistent along the blade. Overall, it works really well and makes it easy to get a really sharp blade in a modest amount of time. That’s a magnet in the piece the knife rests on, which keeps it stable and anchored.