Recommendation? Commercial knife sharpener recommendations

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Weatherman239

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Sep 17, 2025
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I work for a knife store opening and was wondering what commercial knife sharpeners you guys would recommend. Current we have a Tru Hone, but have realized its not great so we are thinking of switching to what Sur la Table uses which is a Edgecraft Chef's Choice 2100 3 Stage Diamond Hone Professional Knife Sharpener. We have a professional sharpener that sharpens the knives that need more love and care in the sharpening process. But we want a general sharpener that is reliable and gets the best edge.

Do you have experience with the chefs choice 2100?
What would you recommend?
 
There are lots of good systems but few that require little to no skill. The Chef's Choice is not great, especially for commercial use. The discs/wheels load up pretty quickly and do a lot of knives before effectiveness is lost. The Tru Hone machines are expensive and have limitations but they're one of the few machines designed for commercial use that require very little knowledge or sharpening skill. Certainly a Tormkek is a great system but it's going to require a bit of training/sharpening skill. The grinding wheels need to be maintained (eg. grading and resurfacing). Are you looking for a revenue stream or a value-added service to build traffic? Maybe a partnership with the pro sharpener is the best option unless the store is willing to train someone.
 
Rob Babcock said:
There are lots of good systems but few that require little to no skill. The Chef's Choice is not great, especially for commercial use. The discs/wheels load up pretty quickly and do a lot of knives before effectiveness is lost. The Tru Hone machines are expensive and have limitations but they're one of the few machines designed for commercial use that require very little knowledge or sharpening skill. Certainly a Tormkek is a great system but it's going to require a bit of training/sharpening skill. The grinding wheels need to be maintained (eg. grading and resurfacing). Are you looking for a revenue stream or a value-added service to build traffic? Maybe a partnership with the pro sharpener is the best option unless the store is willing to train someone.
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We are planning on using it as a revenue stream. We have a pro sharpener that we partnered with. But we don’t want to send him $30 ikea knives because the cost of sharpening might be the same as replacing the knife. So that is why we want to do a cheaper sharpening for people who just come in and want their knives sharpened.

Based on your guys feed back we might get the tormec and train. The Kikuichi rep also recommended this system.
 
Rob Babcock said:
There are lots of good systems but few that require little to no skill. The Chef's Choice is not great, especially for commercial use. The discs/wheels load up pretty quickly and do a lot of knives before effectiveness is lost. The Tru Hone machines are expensive and have limitations but they're one of the few machines designed for commercial use that require very little knowledge or sharpening skill. Certainly a Tormkek is a great system but it's going to require a bit of training/sharpening skill. The grinding wheels need to be maintained (eg. grading and resurfacing). Are you looking for a revenue stream or a value-added service to build traffic? Maybe a partnership with the pro sharpener is the best option unless the store is willing to train someone.
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Steven65 said:
Many professionals have reported good results with the Tormek.

tormek.com

Sharpening Machines

We make sharpening machines with focus on results and ease of use. Whether you are a wood turner, hunter or a chef, we have a sharpening solution for you | Tormek
tormek.com tormek.com
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thank you!
 
Weatherman239 said:
We are planning on using it as a revenue stream. We have a pro sharpener that we partnered with. But we don’t want to send him $30 ikea knives because the cost of sharpening might be the same as replacing the knife. So that is why we want to do a cheaper sharpening for people who just come in and want their knives sharpened.

Based on your guys feed back we might get the tormec and train. The Kikuichi rep also recommended this system.
Click to expand...
Honestly, you would probably be better served by continuing your search for a "Farmer's Market" sharpener. They are accustomed to large volume sharpening.
Tormek's not only require training, they also require some degree of skill. It is not something you can setup and learn in a short time. Each knife is different and requires experience to grind the bevel correctly. The machine isn't terribly expensive but the accessories add up quickly. You will drop a grand in the initial setup.
There is a knife shop in Columbus, Ohio (River's Edge Cutlery) that does exactly what you want. They offer sharpening for their customers. Nothing fancy, just basic sharpening done on either a grinder or bench sander. You might give them a call and discuss you thoughts with the owner. Nice guy, I'm sure he would talk to you.

River's Edge Cutlery | Quality Knives, EDC, and Gear

Shop premium knives and everyday carry gear from Spyderco, Benchmade, Microtech, and more. Your trusted source for high-quality cutlery online.
riversedgecutlery.com riversedgecutlery.com
 
Keep in mind that ANY system you use (Tormek, Wicked Edge, EdgePro, etc.) will have a learning curve to it, but not all of them are going to be fast enough to make the time learning and using them profitable for a business.

If you are looking to add this to a business as a revenue stream, you are going to need speed since the customers that will be using this service are people with basic pocket knives, or the run of the mill, soft/crappy stainless kitchen knives, and you are probably going to be charging them about $1/inch to sharpen them.

That said I would recommend taking a serious look at the paper wheels. All you need is a cheap grinder, and something to lift it up so the wheels clear the work surface. Read the thread in the link and you'll see that these are not as hard as people make them out to be

Here are a few videos as well:

- Paper wheels for sharpening
- Razor-Sharp Knives with the Paper Wheel System
- How to Sharpen a Knife (Paper Wheel System)

​

I have a set and have used them with good results as well. Also, when I used them I did a back and forth (similar to the second video) as opposed to just going across, lifting, re-setting and going again like in the first video. It will take some time to get the placement of the knife set correctly (they mention that in the thread, as well as the 3rd video), but after practicing with some cheap goodwill type knives, you will get the hang of it.

Pros:
- This is a stupid fast way to put an edge on pretty much any knife. I can take an average kitchen knife from dull to razor sharp in less than 2 minutes.
- In terms of sharpness, the edges that you get off these wheels will rival any other system.
- Cost: if you have a grinder, getting the higher end wheel set (2 wheels/grit/wax/rouge) will set you back about $75.
- This is a great portable system, so if you ever plan on doing a vender show or farmers market, all you will need to pack is the grinder with wheels and an extension cord to your power supply.


Cons:
- A bit messy, so you want to do this in an area that you can sweep or vacuum easily, or outside.
- You can mess up a blade really fast by using too much pressure and/or the wrong angle so be careful!
- Freehand system, so you need somebody that has decent hand/eye coordination and patience.
- Push too hard and the blade will get HOT so BE PATIENT!


Finally here are a few tips that I've learned when working with these:

- Turn the grinder around so that it spins AWAY from you. This will prevent the accident of the blade catching and coming back at you as well as making it easier to see.
- Wear eye protection in case you get some grit flying up at you.
- Having a small, portable light shining down on the wheels allows you to actually *see* the burr coming off as you use these.
- Think "resting the knife on the wheel" instead of pushing it into the wheel. You are just letting the wheel do the work.
- Keep the blade moving. This keeps the heat down and helps to make sure the bevel stays even.
- Smooth and steady. Smooth and steady.

Pretty much any question you have will be answered in the Paper Wheel Sticky Thread, so be sure and take some time to read that.

Good luck, and I hope this works out for you!
 
If it's for revenue, I agree. You're gonna need a sharpening system that gets the job done fast. Paper Wheels with a bench grinder is one of those systems and gets really sharp edges. The only problem I had was after the original grit wheel that came with the kit wore down and I had to reapply grit (silicon carbide), I didn't get the same results. Maybe I was doing it wrong. Another system is a belt sander in a 1"x42" or 1"x30". There are so may different types of sanding belts available. I have a Kalamazoo 1SM 1"x42" that does an awesome job. It's also good for repairing/grinding new tips on a knife with a broken tip.
 
I'm personally a big fan of the fixed angle sharpeners. The TSProf K03 would probably be my choice if I was going to do it on a professional level. I use the smaller Kadet Pro for my own knives and it's fantastic. One of the big advantages to me is not getting locked into using proprietary stones, wheels, belts, etc. You can just throw any old 1"x 6" stone in there. There's a little bit of setup adjusting your stone thickness and setting your angle, but most other systems need fiddling around with too.
 
Training an employee to do the work is an option but carries some pitfalls to consider. IIRC, District Cutlery used to have some employees trained to sharpen for them but they tended to hone their craft on the store's dime, then quit to go out on their own. How many people on staff will be trained to do the work? Will there be a no-compete clause? Is such a contract enforceable where you are? I own a sharpening shop in Montana where I use belts for most of the work but I have bench stones, diamond wheels and guided systems for different situations as well. I'm a chef by trade and sharpened seriously for decades before I opened my shop, and even with a lot of experience I opted to fly to Hawaii to train with Cliff Curry. I spent $3,000 or so counting hotels, meals, travel expenses and the actual cost of training. There are probably more affordable options but training someone up to the level needed to do work on behalf of the business will require an outlay of money, and I don't know how many employees will require the training. This is certainly not to say it can't be done, just that it's not necessarily a simple endeavor.

I'm a little bit dubious of having tiers of sharpening. You say you have a professional sharpener for knives that need more work/attention/skill; where will the line be drawn in the store? Does the pro come in for expensive knives or maybe one with lots of chips or a broken tip? Maybe that will depend on the method you choose. If you train up some staff to a good skill level I'm not sure what the point is of retaining the pro. And if you still need a pro for some of the work I'm not sure if it's worth doing any of the "simple" stuff. You need a good bit of experience and skill to do the diagnosis!

I don't have a Tormek but I have a clone that uses the same wheels, and it would not be my choice for repairing broken tips. In the initial phases of planning my shop I had considered buying two or three Tormeks but when I was able to try one I decided it wasn't fast enough for me to be profitable (for what I intended to do, natch- I realize a lot of pros do use that machine). My machines include Bucktool 1x30s, Bucktool 1x42s, a 2x42 and a Kalmazoo SM1, and with those machines I can easily fix tips or badly damaged edges very quickly.

A fixed angle system will still have a learning curve but it will allow some extraordinarily sharp edges. I have an Edge Pro Professional and a TSProf Pioneer and both allow me to get better edges than I can freehand on stones. With one of those devices I can get a high quality knife sharper than I can on belts but we're talking a small difference for orders of magnitude slower work. I do offer hand sharpening for those willing to pay the price which starts at about 3.5x what I charge for standard work.

I surely don't mean to discourage or dissuade you, just point out some of the factors you'll need to consider.
 
+1 on Rob’s post. The Bucktool or similar setup would be a great choice for volume sharpening. You can really fly on a machine like that. I would opt for a variable speed unit.
If you are concerned with the heat generated from belts, Formax or Slick Sticks will help keep your grinding cooler.
Great comment on the guided sharpening. I can sharpen quality steel knives to 50 on a BESS tester but that super sharp edge is gone after two or three uses. It easily takes three or four times as long to get there…Not worth the time it takes to achieve it… unless it’s mine.
 
Is the K4 on the market in the USA? I know some influencers have been lent test machines but I was under the impression it wasn't for sale yet. It certainly looks amazing though!
 
Rob Babcock said:
Is the K4 on the market in the USA? I know some influencers have been lent test machines but I was under the impression it wasn't for sale yet. It certainly looks amazing though!
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I was told it was available for the US market, but it would have to ship from Russia. They don't have them in their stateside location yet. It's almost $1300 (yikes!).
 
I'll have to make due with my Pioneer! Probably worth the money given the quality of their products. I'd consider one for my shop if I didn't have an Edge Pro Professional, TSProf Pioneer and Xarilk Gen 3. Most of my work is on belts but a guided system is nice for "nerd polish" on folders.
 
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