my first post here! The knife that's so hard to sharpen is made from "D2 tool steel". I've heard this will hold an edge better than just about anything. I have a Gatco sharpener - it's pretty simular to the lansky. It's not as good as sharpening freehand by someone with skill but it's the only way I can get a decent edge on anything but a mora.

My girlfriend gave me a set of Knives of Alaska as an early Christmas gift so that I could take them on a hunt a couple of weeks ago, and at the risk of sounding ignorant about quality knives(which I am), I have to say that this is an awesome set of knives. I made short work of a deer and 2 pigs with them. My set has the caper, guthook, and cleaver. They are surely not what one would consider beautiful, but they are VERY practical. She found the triple set for under $200, which is cheaper than any of the custom knives I've seen on this forum. I'm not knocking the customs, just thrilled with the performance of my KOA.

Got the same set. Also picked up the Bushcamp knife. I use that and the caper more than anything. Wait until you try to sharpen that caper. That metal is so hard. I worked and worked on it with a Lanski diamond stone. The rough one. The directions said its a 18 - 20 degree angle, but with my lanski, it was more like 24degrees from the factory, cause with my sharpen set to 20 degrees, it took me forever to get a 20degree edge. I had two distinct edges.