What does everyone us as an easy way to sharpen knives? I have an outdoor edge that had a great factory edge and after cleaning 5 or so deer it's getting dull. What's an easy way to get it back to factory edge?

Depends on your budget. The best sharpener I've ever used, other than the traditional whetstones, was a Wicked Edge sharpener. It was very easy to use. Just switch between different grits, increasing the grits to get the knife as sharp as possible. You can go all the way to leather with it and I was able to shave my arm with the knife after I was finished. It's expensive, but easy to use because it has the angle pre-set for the edge of your knife so all you have to do is run the different grits across the edge. Like I said though, it's entirely dependent on your budget.

Warthog or worksharp finished with strop

I use a Lanksy kit with their diamond stones along with a leather strop. For some reason I have never been able to get the hang of sharpening via other methods (wet stones, file, etc), but thankfully this system has worked well for me -- I even managed to rescue and repair various blades around our hunting camp that had been abused and were bound for the trash bin.

X2 BoBo

Ceramic rod.

Which one do you use?

Warthog X2

The basic Lanskey works for me.

2 warthogs 1 fine the other 1 course. Ron

I cut an edge on the Lansky Arkansas kit with the addition of the Coarse and Fine Diamond. Once the edge is formed I will Strop with a leather board and Red Rouge. Then for edge maintenance I use fine edge steel and a Smith's adjustable angle pull-thru knife sharpener. Between sharpenings I straighten the edge on the Fine steel with a couple back strokes, then pull the edge through the Smith's Ceramic groove, then strop the edge to bring back the hair splitting edge.

Smith's adjustable angle pull-thru knife sharpener

Lansky and wicked edge both use the same principle, and you should get equal results with either if you put the time in..that's what I use at home, then a Smith stone in the field for quick maintenance.

worksharp and in the field and around the house as well the worksharp field sharpener gets used a lot.

key to keeping a sharp knife i to not let it get dull. As the edge starts to go use a butchers steel and keep going.

Worksharp

I used to use an Edge Pro Apex and it worked great before I learned on my grinder... I've also heard good things about the Worksharp, just never used one myself.

Bench grinder for me.

I just use my broad head sharpener, works great.

I’ve come back around to using some good whetstones.
Medium, fine and extra fine. Finish on a strop. Unless the
edge gets abused or just neglected it should never need
more than a few passes on the strop or a steel to get the edge back.

The thing most people shy away from is eyeballing the angle of the
blade across the stone. It is very important but not that difficult with
some practice. No reason to type my particular method as there is
plenty online information. Again, it is not difficult but it is one of those
tasks that gives me a lot of personal satisfaction.

Man, I miss my Worksharp. Originally got it for keeping chisels sharp, then figured out how well it worked on so many other things. Now all the tools are in storage, waiting for another shop.

You need to be very careful with a worksharp. Especially on your custom knives or high end. It will put a razor edge but, but, if you’re not very careful—- you will knock off the tip or point. Take your time.

Worksharp

Was just using my Worksharp tonight and commenting on how awesome it is.