Before the Dual-Grit Diamond Sharpening Stone - OD55 Series had a name, we had a conversation. We sat down with Alex Garland of Outdoors55, mid-build, to talk about the details most sharpening setups get wrong.
Filmed during development. The stone and base in this conversation are early prototypes. The finished product arrives August 31, 2026.
Who Is Alex Garland?
Alex Garland is the creator of @Outdoors55, an outdoor YouTube channel that grew into one of the most trusted resources for knife sharpening and edge education anywhere online.
It happened almost by accident. Alex was filming backpacking and gear videos to modest numbers when he posted a single knife sharpening video. Overnight, it outperformed everything he had made before.
"I've got a niche here."
Years of hands-on testing followed, much of it under magnification most reviewers never bother with. What came out of it is a practical, no-hype approach to teaching that has made Alex one of the most trusted voices in freehand sharpening, and made @Outdoors55 the channel the entire industry points beginners to first.
Identifying the Problem
Ask Alex what most sharpening setups get wrong and he won't start with the stone, the clamps, the guides, nor the bells or whistles. He'll start with what's underneath it all.
"A big thing that's often overlooked in pretty much every other stone system out there is the base. It's always an afterthought."
Serious sharpeners know the workarounds, but they offer only a "good enough" alternative. Alex himself has been recommending a two-by-four and double-stick tape to get the stone up to working height.
Other options include a drawer full of plastic bases that each fit exactly one stone and nothing else. In a craft where, as Alex puts it, success comes down to "being consistent and finding exactly what works for your specific situation," the right tool simply did not exist.
For someone as passionate about freehand sharpening as Alex, that was a problem worth solving.
Creating the Solution
Pairing the true global authorities on freehand sharpening in Alex and knife sharpener manufacturing in Work Sharp, we set out to solve the issues no other sharpener addressed.
The goal wasn't to reinvent freehand sharpening, but to refine what you sharpen on.
The Dual-Grit Diamond Sharpening Stone - OD55 Series is a dual-grit diamond stone and adjustable cast aluminum base built as one system, shaped by the obstacles Alex perpetually encountered.
"It was about taking something you can already get that's pretty good and refining those little tiny details that most people overlook. Getting something that actually works well as a system."
Those "tiny details" are the pain points that the OD55 solved.
1. Improved Clearance & Working Height
"It needs to be up off the ground so you have clearance for your hands and for different knives."
There's a reason generations of sharpeners taped their stones to scrap lumber: height. Your knuckles need clearance to hold a consistent angle through the full pass. The OD55 base builds that height in, cast in aluminum instead of cut from a two-by-four, planted and stable from the first stroke to the last.
2. One Base for Every Stone You Own
"If you already have a collection of stones, you don't have to find the exact base that fits. You can kind of throw away all of those bases."
Most bases are molded to fit one stone. Buy a new stone, inherit a new base, repeat until the drawer won't close. The OD55 base is universal. It securely holds most 3" x 8" benchstones and adapts to 1" x 6" stones, so it works with the included dual-grit diamond stone and the collection you already have.
3. Detachable Angle Guides
"Once you become a little bit more advanced, you really don't need these. But that's not to say that I don't occasionally pull these out just to see where I'm at."
The removable guides are set at 15, 17, and 20 degrees, and the range is deliberate. Fifteen gives you a steep, slicey edge for kitchen work. Twenty holds up to hard use. Seventeen splits the difference. New sharpeners lean on the guides to build consistency and muscle memory. Then, as skill takes over, they come off.
The detachable part was also important. Whether it's the blade, technique, or preference, the ability to remove these guides provides valuable versatility.
4. Grit: 320 to Build the Edge. 1200 to Refine It.
"The fewer passes you do, the better you're going to be."
The stone pairs a 320-grit coarse side with a 1200-grit fine side. The coarse stone is where sharpening actually happens: coarse diamond raises a burr in fewer passes, which means faster feedback and less room for error while you learn.
The fine side is not your sharpening stone. It's your edge refinement stone. And both sides are diamond because modern super steels carry carbides that conventional abrasives struggle to cut.
Why Alex Loves Freehand Sharpening
Freehand sharpening has a reputation: slow, difficult, reserved for obsessives. Alex pushes back on all three. Learned properly, it's one of the fastest ways to sharpen there is. In the interview, he puts a number on it: stone on the table, completely dull to sharp in under a minute, before most powered systems are even plugged in.
All this speed and control, and all it asks of you is the willingness to learn.
"Somebody who is willing to take the time to do something that most people can't do."
That's who this is for. Sharp is the result. Skill is the point.
The OD55 Sharpening Stone
Freehand Sharpening, Refined.
The Dual-Grit Diamond Sharpening Stone - OD55 Series brings Alex Garland's approach to the craft into one complete system: a 320/1200 dual-grit diamond stone and an adjustable cast aluminum base that fits the stones you already own.
Available August 31, 2026.
