Sharpening

[jvan]

Is an electric sharpener such as the Chef's Choice 120 suitable for sharpening an EDC such as the Kershaw Leek?

 

[kennyj]

I know relatively little, but I believe the general consensus is that electric sharpeners in general are a bad idea. There are a few pull-through sharpeners that are OK; I've had fair results with the one that Henckels makes for kitchen knife touch-ups. If you care about the knife, though, you really need to sharpen it by hand.

General consensus seems to be that the Spyderco Sharpmaker is about as simple as it gets, and you can usually find one for $40-$50. CRK recommends it themselves, if I remember right, because of its usability - if you're capable of using a knife, you're capable of sharpening it on the Sharpmaker. Very easy to use. It does have a few caveats relative to other easy sharpening systems (it can take the point off a blade) but it also has a few advantages (it's easy to sharpen serrated blades, it's cheap, and you don't need to wet, lubricate, or charge the stones in any way.)

Stropping is supposedly relatively easy to learn, though I haven't tried yet. More involved, but debatedly a better procedure to use.

 

[MacTech]

Electric sharpeners are *horrible* for good knives, i'd only use one on knives i don't care about, the Leek is too nice of a knife to use an electric on

an electric sharpener is basically a low-end bench grinder in a small form factor, it scrapes metal off the blade in large amounts, destroying the primary edge and micro-bevel, there's no quicker way to ruin a good knife than by using an electric.....

the Sharpmaker is so well regarded here for one simple reason, it *WORKS*, as long as you can hold the knife straight up and down and draw it down the rods, you'll end up with an exceptionally sharp edge

why not try it yourself, get a couple inexpensive knives, lets say a Buck Stockman or a Victorinox Bantam Swiss Army Knife, get two of them, and a Sharpmaker (or borrow a Sharpmaker if you know someone that has one)

run one knife through the electric sharpener, the other down the Sharpmaker, then compare them side-by-side, perform cutting tasks with them both, you'll be able to see the difference, it'll be obvious.....

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Steve Bottorff does speak well of the Chefs Choice, I have never used it, but he has used almost every system on the market :

http://users.ameritech.net/knives/electric.htm#chefschoice

-Cliff

 

[tim8557]

I had a Chef's Choice years ago and it did an acceptable job based on my understanding, back then, as to what "sharp" is.

I much prefer the Edge Pro Apex (probably similar in price the the Chefs Choice) as it will give you a much better edge, certainly much sharper, plus you determine the final cutting angle.

 

[irabren]

chefs choice - takes off too much steel and scratches blade - use a spyderco sharpmaker to sharpen a leek

 

[tonybigthumbs]

The chefs choice is not needed for what you are trying to do.

I have both a spyderco sharpmaker and edge pro apex, and I'd recommend
the sharpmaker to do your pocket knives.

I'd recommend the apex as well but its a little expensive if all youll be doing with it is one knife.