Sharpener for Kitchen Knives

S

Stiletto Raggio

Joined
Jan 29, 2000
Messages
546
My dad, knowing my affinity for such things, asked me for an opinion on some sharpening systems. These will be primarily used for medium-high quality kitchen knives (Wusthof and Henckel). My prejudice against electric sharpeners seems to have been ratified by the opinions on others here, but what about manual sharpeners?

Although my reserach has me on the verge of buying a paper wheel/bench grinder system, my dad wants something less involved. He is not impressed with his current Henckel wheel sharpener.

Chef's Choice SteelPro http://www.kitchenkapers.com/chefs-choice-steel-pro-manual-knife-sharpener.html

Chef's Choice Manual Diamond http://www.kitchenkapers.com/450.html

And others like this. Does anyone have a recommendation along these lines?
 
The Spyderco Sharpmaker is versatile, easy to use, and produces excellent results. It would be my choice for a do-everything system.
 
i've used one of the kitchen sharpeners that uses a diamond paddle that rubs against the edge of the knife and wasn't impressed. it left a fairly coarse edge (not a bad thing in itself) and left a large burr. i had my pocket stone with me at the time, so was able to remove the burr before use...

i would say take a look at something like the sharpmaker or traditional ceramic sticks in a basic wood block (perhaps something you could put together yourself if you are handy with a drill press). you can leave it setup in a corner of the counter and just touch up the blades before you put them away. the mildly abrasive action of the rods will keep the edge in good shape with frequent touchups, and the burr it leaves is going to be very minimal, and it shouldn't really be any issue for a kitchen knife.

good luck finding a good solution!
 
Siguy/Richard J

What are your opinions on the Chefmate electric sharpeners? I have one that I got as a wedding gift almost 10 years ago and rarely use it.

In theory it should work pretty well right? It does get the knife "sharp", but at what expense to the knife? I'm only talking about kitchen knives.
 
i never was a fan of the electric sharpeners that are similar to the kind that were on can openers. thoes sharpeners tend to take too much metal off and leave a burr from what i have ever seen. the edge was less than desirable compared to what i was used to. they never seemed to sharpen the full length of the blade either. i only know 1 person who has any kind of electric sharpener and since he doesnt cook he doesnt worry about the knives. if he has a knife of his own he wants sharp, he gives it to me.
 
The electric sharpeners make good gifts. To the ex-wife. While she's in the tub. Other than that, I see no use for them.
 
I use the Gatco for everythig up to and including the 10" chef except the fillet knives. The fillet knives go to the Arkansas tri-hone.

The newer Chef's Choice three stage models are supposed to be pretty good. I will never use one but I have heard they are better than hacking with a dull knife.
 
SPXTrader said:
The electric sharpeners make good gifts. To the ex-wife. While she's in the tub. Other than that, I see no use for them.
Click to expand...


LMAO, just make sure it's not pluged into a GFI.


Sharpener for kitchen knives, Fine DMT.
 
myright said:
That's just a little expensive for a knife sharpener.. IMO
Click to expand...

That is why I use a cheaper rod guided system. Not as many options for stones and stropping or finishing tapes but it seems to work.

There are a lot of expensive hobbies. Sharpening with an Edge Pro is relatively inexpensive compared to some. I personally do not want to turn sharpening into a hobby. If I did I would probably look to the Edge Pro.
 
Garage Sale Grinder: $ 5
Paper Wheels: $ 50
Harbor Freight 1X30 Belt Sander: $ 50
Lee Valley Belts (assorted): $ 50

Learning to do it yourself and screwing up a $ 250 Shun? Expensive!
 
I recently tried the Chef'sChoice Pro Sharpening Station 130, recommended by "Chef's Illustrated" and America's Test Kitchen. Drawing the knife several times through either the 15 or 20 degree bevel, and the honing stage was quick, convenient and idiot-proof. The 130 is more accurate and didn’t leave grind marks as course as my ~7 year old one or others I’ve tried. It produced a cutting edge that could readily slice paper, but like every electric sharpener I’ve tried does so by grinding away quite a bit of metal, shortening the lifespan of the knife. I would avoid an electric- if not for knives like my cleavers that I can’t sharpen by hand.

I’ve owned Wusthof and Henckel. Their steels are somewhat soft, not difficult to sharpen, but do dull quickly and require frequent maintenance. Get your dad something like a ceramic hone that allows him to do the touch ups. When touch-ups stop working, you do the major sharpening on stones, etc.
 
A Spyderco SharpMaker works great on Henckels. I can set the thing up and sharpen a set of 4 big Henckels knives, and then put everything away in about 15 minutes. I just grind the blades hard on the corners till a new edge is formed, and then smooth that down on the flats. I only use the medium rods. These knives are too soft to bother with anything finer.

I have bench stones and an EdgePro, but that is too much trouble to set up every week or so. If you have a shop with space for belt sanders or other equipment, then that might be an option. If you just want a simple, clean, and respectable system then the SharpMaker is a good candidate. No oil or water mess to cleanup.

By the way, I find that the big, grooved sharpening steel that comes with Henckel sets will restore a sharp edge for a few days. I have a smooth steel, but it doesn't seem to be as effective in that regard.

I would assume that other crockstick systems would do about as well for these knives as a sharpmaker but I haven't tried them.
 
Last edited:
Stay away from the chef's choice electric sharpeners if you value the appearance of your knives. The circular stones will leave grind marks on your blades. The Spyderco Sharpmaker is a tried and true system that is practically idiot-proof, and pretty doggone hard to beat for the money. (it even comes with a video to show you how to use it)
 
The best tool I've found for keeping my knives sharp in the kitchen is a $15 DMT Dia-Sharp in the fine grain (600 grit equivalent, I think). A few quick passes and my knives are shaving sharp again.

Please, don't run a good knife thru a can opener style sharpener.
 
I use the EdgePro system for serious sharpening, but I keep a Spyderco SharpMaker set up on the kitchen counter with the find stones mounted. I steel my knives (actually I use a borosillicate glass rod rather than a steel one) with each use, but about once every 2-3 weeks with run them through 5-10 passes on the SharpMaker fine stones. We only have Wusthof and Henckels in the kitchen, for both large and small knives, and this system seems to work very well. Once a year or so I'll give them the full treatment with 20-30 strokes on the medium hones , then the same on the fine, but as I say, this is only about once a year. Using this method, my wife (who had no particular interest in knife sharpening, but prefers different blade shapes than I do ) can keep her knives in top shape without any difficulty too.

Stitchawl
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top