Want to ensure that your EDC knife keeps its edge? Here we check out the DMT Glide-Pro pocket-size knife sharpener.
Knives are hazardous … and dull knives are particularly hazardous because you have to use more force to cut, and that means any error can lead to gashes.
The solution?
DMT, the maker of diamond-sharpening tools, has a pocket-sized sharpener so compact that you might lose it in your gear bag or toolbag: the Glide-Pro.
It has four angled pull-through sharpeners, a carbide and ceramic 20-degree, and a carbide and ceramic 30-degree sharpener. There are medium and coarse flat sharpeners, a carbide plate that lets you free-hand the angle you need, two stones on the bottom and the two ends feature one each of flat-blade and Phillips-head screwdriver.
So, if you have a pistol grip or such that is a tad loose, the Glide-Pro can tighten it for the next job. The flat-blade screwdriver end is also a lanyard loop, so you can keep it attached to the bag it rides in, and it won’t get lost. That could happen, as the Glide-Pro is only a bit over 5 inches long, and 0.5 inch by 1.25 inches in size. Yes, it fits into a pocket.
Now, if you’re resurrecting a dulled edge on a knife or an axe, this clearly isn’t the tool for the job. Oh, you can get it done, but DMT offers much better tools for those tasks. No, the Glide-Pro is the tool you have handy in your toolbag for when you realize the knife, axe or whatever you’re using is getting dull and needs a bit of tuning up.
While DMT makes a whole series of bench-mount and much larger tools, I can see the Glide-Pro being a lot more useful in the workshop. Yes, it’s a “hold with one hand, sharpen with the other” design, but it’s tough enough that you could gently clamp it in a bench vise and then use it to sharpen with.
A word about technique: pull.
You do not sharpen with a setup like this by sawing the knife blade back and forth across the V-gap. Set the cutting edge closest to the handle in the V. Draw it back in one smooth motion. As you do so, listen to the rasp of the cutting. (You can even use a Sharpie to darken the edge, and after the first pull, look at where the ink has been rubbed off.) You can hear the change in tone of the rasp as you cut more steel on each pass. When the tone doesn’t change, you have gotten to an equal edge along the blade.
You can also see sharpness. No, I’m not kidding. If you’re in good light (and have good eyesight), hold the blade point up with the edge pointing directly at you (not the point—the edge). You’ll then be able to see a flat on the edge where it’s dull. Where it’s still sharp (blades get dull where used and are still sharp where less used), you won’t see an edge. As you sharpen the blade, the flat will get shorter and shorter, or narrower and narrower.
To use the Glide-Pro, look at the edge before you start and then after each pull. With a bit of experience, you’ll be able to see the progression and know when it is sharp. None of this licking a thumb and rubbing it across the edge Hollywood nonsense. Use your eyes. Use the Glide-Pro.
And … you can get this for a list price of 18 bucks (and I’ve seen them online for $15). It’s inexpensive enough that when you lose the first one (or one of your buddies heists it), it isn’t a big deal to buy the replacement.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the July 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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