GATCO is short for The Great American Tool Company, a family-run tool company out of Buffalo, NY, USA.
John Anthon, along with his wife Nancy, started GATCO in 1989 to manufacture high-performance knife and tool sharpeners and accessories.
Today, their company and product line has grown but their philosophy remains the same – to build precise and reliable knives and sharpeners that perform to 100% customer satisfaction, this from their company website.
Products include not only GATCO sharpeners but Timberline Knives and Cape Cod Collection Gourmet Series Knives for the home.
Gatco’s goal is to build precise and reliable knives and sharpeners that perform to 100% customer satisfaction…
This review will cover the Gatco 10006 Ultimate diamond hone sharpening system.
This is personally the sharpener that I own and it got me into knife sharpening.
Since diamonds are the hardest substance in the world, they take to sharpening knives and tools like a duck takes to water!
Diamond’s abrasive qualities are phenomenal and they can make quick work out of the toughest sharpening jobs and they are long-lasting, granted they are used properly.
This means the use of light pressure during sharpening to prevent the breakage of diamond crystals from their matrix.
The Gatco 10006 Ultimate diamond hone sharpening system utilizes the GATCO exclusive knife clamp/angle guide to ensure the proper angle is maintained during sharpening.
See the Gatco 10005 5-Stone sharpening system at Amazon
Product Specifications –
- Coarse, medium, and fine monocrystalline diamond hones
- GATCO exclusive six-angle knife clamp/angle guide, insures a precision honing action
- Special serrated knife sharpening hone
- 1200 grit ceramic finishing hone
- Scientifically formulated honing oil that meets USDA standards for food contact
- Custom carrying case with instructions permanently affixed to the lid
The Gatco website states the following:
Sharpens all sizes and types of kitchen, sport, and utility cutlery
SPORT & UTILITY CUTLERY
• Serrated pocket
• Plain edge pocket
• Serrated sport
• Hunting
• Skinning
• Tactical
• Survival
• Razor
• Fillet
• Gut hook
• Hook bill carpet
• Swiss Army
• Multi-tool
KITCHEN CUTLERY
• Chef’s
• Paring
• Butchers
• Serrated
• Boning
• Meat slicing
• Serrated utility
The Reviews
The Gatco 10006 Ultimate diamond hone sharpening system reviews well with Amazon customers.
This is the sharpener that I own. My knives sharper than when I bought them.
I can agree that I actually got my knives sharper than when I bought them.
I am talking about some great Wusthof knives. The best is when I started buying used knives on eBay for a fraction of the original manufacturer’s cost and sharpened those knives up.
What a huge bargain for some very sharp knives.
Eric E. also said he like the Gatco System, “I love it. Hands down one of the best systems on the market. I bet I have sharpened 500 Blades on my set now with never a complaint once. Amazing design and quality. You just can’t go wrong…”
He went on to add “I suggest buying a Gatco 12001 Easy-Grip Clamp Mount to use with this Awesome Kit.”
Small Blades
The one downside that is common with clamp style sharpening devices is that they have a hard time holding small blades.
This is a pretty big impact if you plan on sharpening small pocket knives or many paring knives.
That said, you can get by if you don’t mind taking a little extra time on those small blades. I also found that if I sharpen a blade at 22º or greater then it was no problem to hold the smallest paring knife that I own.
The fact is that most of the clamp style sharpening systems are designed for medium to large-sized knives and can accommodate knives outside that range but it often is not ideal.
GATCO might be a shortened version of their name Great American Tool Company but, one thing that GATCO is not short on is value and quality.
LEARN MORE:
- Chef’s Choice 220 Hybrid Diamond Hone
- Kyocera Electric Diamond Knife Sharpener for Ceramic Knives
- KME Knife Sharpening System
- Chef’s Choice AngleSelect M1520 Sharpener
- Smith’s 50264 Adjustable Manual Sharpener
- Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Sharpener
- Chef’s Choice 15 Trizor XV Electric Sharpener
- The Lansky Diamond Sharpening System
- Wusthof Electric Knife Sharpener
- Work Sharp WSKTS-KT
- Wusthof Precision Edge 4 Stage Knife Sharpener
- Chef’s Choice Edge Select Pro Electric Sharpener M120
- Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker
- Smith’s PP1 Pocket Pal
