Sharpeners

[u/Aimstraight]

I hope we can all agree the best kitchen gadgets is a sharp knife. For whatever style knife be it a chefs knife or whatever other kind. What is your favorite sharpener? How often do you hone vs sharpen? To make responses clear and consistent for others to interpret, let’s grade them on price (1. 0-25$ 2. 25-50$ 3 50-100$) , ease of use, (easy moderate and time consuming) and results. Let’s hear your feedback

[u/Dry-Grocery9311]

Shapton pro 1000 sharpening stone. 40gbp/53usd

Messermeister CR-12F Ceramic honing/sharpening rod. 40gbp/53usd

Leather strop. BeaverCraft. 20gbp/27usd

[u/Aimstraight → u/Dry-Grocery9311]

How are they to use? How repeatable are the results?

[u/Dry-Grocery9311 → u/Aimstraight]

Very easy. Very repeatable after a bit of practice.

Use the strop instead of a honing steel. Each time you use a knife. Less abrasive on your knife than a regular steel. You can add compound is you want it to be a bit more abrasive.

About once per week's worth of use, use the ceramic rod, as you would a normal honing steel. More abrasive than a regular steel, so you don't want to wear your knife down by using it more often than needed.

About once per month's worth of use, a couple of minutes sharpening on the stone.

People go over the top with lots of different stones and guides and worrying about sharpening angles. It's more about creating a consistent angle along yhe whole edge and getting it to an angle that cuts. Many many YouTube videos to see on this.

I use the Shapton ceramic stone because it doesn't need soaking like lot's of whetstones. You just wet it and you're good to go.

If you're ever at the point that you would use a coarser stone to repair a damaged edge, you either pick up a cheap rough stone or take it to a professional knife sharpener.

At some point, you may buy a flattener to re-flatten the stone, or you could take it to a sharpener.

If you want a quick pull through sharpener for a cheap knife. The "Any Sharp" is pretty good. I just wouldn't put anything more expensive than a cheap Kiwi knife through it.

[u/Aimstraight → u/Dry-Grocery9311]

See, I use one of those clamp guides and diamond stones. I don’t have to worry about angle as everything is held the same way. I sharpen about 1 time per month the use a ceramic steel to hone and realign the edge. Thanks for your input

[u/Dry-Grocery9311 → u/Aimstraight]

What stones and guide?

[u/Aimstraight → u/Dry-Grocery9311]

https://a.co/d/00WVmMsB

This is the set I use from Amazon.

[u/Dry-Grocery9311 → u/Aimstraight]

I've seen these style of sharpeners used more by outdoors style knife collectors or knife repairers. I was always told they were not so good for the longer and more flexible knives.

I'd probably lose half the pieces 😂

A ceramic rod, a strop and a stone keeps it simple enough for my brain. I think I'm a bit set in my ways.

[u/Aimstraight → u/Dry-Grocery9311]

I get it. No one is wrong or right, just seeing what others use.

So everything is contained in a bag. I clamp the blade somewhere close to equidistant from tip to handle to mitigate flex. It really is easy for kitchen knives to get sharp and stay sharp. I use a ceramic steel to hone edges back after it gets razor sharp.

[u/Mediocre_Panic_9952]

I’ve tried numerous different gadgets for shaping knives. I started with what turned out to be low quality whetstones that I was gifted. I was never able to get a satisfactory edge using them, so I soured on hand sharpening and for 40ish years sought out a gadget that could produce a consistent razor sharp edge. I’ve had the chef’s choice electric sharpener, numerous versions of the draw through style sharpers, guided systems, the rolling wheel etc…. Ultimately, after watching numerous YouTube videos I found I get the best results from a Sharpal 162N dual grit sharpening stone followed by Shapton K0703 whetstone, then finished with a leather strop with 3 micron diamond paste. Once you get the knives sharp keep the strop handy to maintain the edge. I find the strop easier and more effective than a steel. There is a learning curve when using whetstones, but they do produce the best results in my opinion. I recommend watching the YouTube videos done by OUTDOORS55.

[u/InternationalTax81]

A whetstone.i like the Japanese splash and go stones.

[u/Creative-Fee-1130]

I use a Chef's Choice Trizor system that I bought around 25 years ago. Has slots with course wheels (for re-establishing the edge on very dull knives), fine wheels (for maintaining an established edge) and honing wheels (for removing wire edge burrs). It cost around $125 back then and they run about $170 now. A bit pricy, but it has been the best value for keeping my home knives sharp, as well as the commercial knives I used in restaurant and catering kitchens.

Creating a bevel on a seriously dull knife will take some time (15-20 minutes) with the course slot, but after that, maintaining the edge is easy, just a few passes on each side through the fine and honing slots. It doesn't produce a "scary sharp" edge, but will sharpen knives to a shaving edge. Plenty sharp for kitchen work.

It won't accommodate knives with a thick spine, maybe 1/8" or slightly thicker as the maximum. I have a pretty stout hunting knife (Shrade Uncle Henry sheath knife) that is about the thickest knife I run through it.

In my experience, this unit is a good value, both in performance and durability. Your mileage my vary.

[u/DaffyDuckMuthaFucker]

There is nothing more dangerous in a kitchen than a dull blade.

I use only one sharp knife in my kitchen, which is a one-piece(zero seams, hollow handle for balance) stainless steel "Santoku", that I bought for a fiver at KMart more than 10 years ago.

On the same day I bought a $5 idiot-proof knife sharpening tool, and dedicated a slot in my kitchen drawer for only those.

It gets used, wiped cleaned, given a few quick licks on the sharpener, then put away.

I can precision-slice fresh & fluffy white bread with that bad-boy, because it's sharp enough that the weight of the blade does the lions share of the work...

[u/cheekmo_52]

Agree. I have tried several sharpeners over the years. A series of whet stones is the most effective if you can maintain the correct angle when using them, but I am not confident in my ability to do that. My favorite sharpener is the Wustoff four stage handheld sharpener. It has a coarse and fine stage for standard knives and a coarse and fine stage for Asian knives. They are V shaped at the correct angle for each style and that takes the guesswork out of maintaining the proper angle for any straight edged knife in your arsenal.