Review 

By Ted Springs 

The Warthog V‑Sharp A4 looks like something pinched from a machinist’s bench, but the moment you drag a dull knife through the diamond hones, the engineering makes perfect sense. Straight out of the box the A4 is ready to work; there are no screws to fit and no tripod of suction cups to fiddle with. Set it down, choose an angle, and start sharpening. 

There are only a few things you can adjust on the sharpener and doing so is easy. These are the angle of the blade guard, the angle of the hones, and the type of hones used – which doubles with the angle of the hones anyway. 

The sharpener comes set at 25° angle, which was perfect for my kitchen knives along with typical hunting and pocket knives. Other knives may require a slight adjustment up or down, like straight razors which would be best used at a 15° angle, or for machetes and survival knives which would need an angle of 30°. 

The V Sharp A4 is very simple and satisfying to use. For a dull kitchen knife, start by ‘sawing’ the blade up and down through the hones – heel at the top of the stroke, tip at the bottom, for about 30–40 passes to re-establish the edge. 

Next, switch to downward-only strokes to refine it; that’s the step you’ll jump straight to for touch-ups later. Finally, pop the hones out, flip them to expose the built-in finishing steels, and give the blade another 10–15 downward pull-throughs. You’ll finish with a clean, working edge that slices tomatoes and protein without drama. 

Part of the charm of the sharpener is the feel. Each stroke pushes the spring-mounted hones apart before they snap back, giving tactile and audible feedback that makes the process fun. I’m genuinely considering leaving mine out on the bench because it looks that cool. 

Warthog sells several siblings to the A4, for example the Elite is one that comes mounted on a wooden base, which is handy, and I put mine on a roughly A4-sized wooden chopping board anyway. A lot of the other models offer something a bit extra like that for slightly more cost. 

Replacement diamond hones are available in 270, 325 (default with this model), 600, and 1000 grit, and swapping them is dead simple. That default 325-grit set strikes a great balance for everyday utility knives and works well at 20°, 25°, or 30° settings. 

Overall, the V-Sharp A4 is a fast, confidence-building way to keep household knives in proper working shape, and it’s brilliant for showing off at a mate’s place when you restore their edge in minutes. It’s not the rig you’d throw in a pack for field sharpening, and it doesn’t replace specialist systems for ultra-precise bevel work, but it might be the sharpener you’ll actually use most often. 

To see how easy the Warthog V‑Sharp A4 is to use, go to warthogusa.com/how-it-works/ 

RRP: $139.00