Knife Sharpener Recs?

[Cruiser]

Tipp's kitchen thread got me thinking. I have an older Lansky diamond sharpening set that is just getting to be too much work for me. I'm lazy and fat, ya know? So I'm thinking of getting a nice electric sharpener. All the info I've read online says that the Chef's Choice sharpeners are the tits. They're pricey, but so were the knives (Global). So the Chef's Choice #130 seems to be a purty nice machine. Anyone have any thoughts about it? Own one? Own something else that you like or dislike? I'm thinking of this one because it has the stropping discs that will keep me from having to actually re-sharpen the knives much since I only cut on my wood boards. Either way, thoughts?

[Shredhead]

I have one, it works good. I have a bunch of bud's that are chefs. They usually prefer to sharpen with something like the Lansky.
But for an electric, this is the one that they recommend.

It's so nice having sharp knives!

[Campo]

I have the Chef's Choice 130 and it is great...worked as a sous chef in a French resturant in college (part time) and we used it there with GREAT results! We all had Global steel and it sharpened them very well.

I now have Henkel's and it works just as well on them. Sharpened my 8" chef's blade six months ago and it is still sharp as it needs to be.

Ps. If you don't want to pull the trigger, let me know, and you can send your knives to me and I will sharpen them for you.

[pechelman]

no no no no no no!!!!

no electric sharpeners!

if you're lazy, truly lazy, you will do the routine steel work and then every 6months you will have the sharpener dude come out in his van and have them hand sharpen them for you

also, I dont care what anyone says, steels not only straighten the edge, but also SHARPEN them. Especially the Diamond grit coated ones...
The ridged ones also do the trick to sharpen, because when im done with it, and i wipe it and the knife down, it has removed material.

Removing material = sharpening

and really, one of my hobbies, or at least used to be, was sharpening knives. bring them over if you want one day and we can go at it
i have a dmt system (similar to the lansky) and we can knock them all out super fast.

[refried]

Do they still have guys in the truck driving around? They always did the best job.

[pechelman]

first thing i found
looks and sounds pricey though for whatever reason

http://www.theknifeguys.com/pages/about.html


hmm
you know....
if you bought 2 of these
then drilled 2 holes into a large block of wood, at say, 15-17*, and stuck these in there, youd have the most awesome rod sharpener for kitchen knives id ever have seen

[Cruiser]

P, you know I baby those blades so they really don't need sharpening often. I've had them professionally done recently, and usually go about once every year or so. But I'm not satisfied with the job my steel (not the diamond kind) does in between sharpenings. I want the edges to be perfectly sharp all the time, and the steel just won't keep 'em that way. It seems to de-burr them well, but the edge isn't perfect anymore after that. I'd use the Lansky but it's such a time consuming process that first time to set the edges on all the knives to the angle I want (15*). Not to mention, then I'm back to the steel and an imperfect edge or the xtra fine stone and removing metal. With the #130 I can get the 15* in a minute or 2 per knife and keep 'em that way all the time without removing any metal on a regular basis because of the stropping discs in the last stage.

That said I'm interested to see this DMT rig in action. My cleaver could use a good once over since I left it at home the last time I had the rest of them sharpened.

[pechelman]

real quick

ill say that people in general make a lot of mistakes with sharpening by
-sharpening too infrequently
-sharpening down to too fine a grit
-not stroping or at least using a steel right after sharpening

electric sharpeners worry me and always will
the stroping feature might be the redeemable aspect of this one though
really though, the best & cheapest stroper ive found is to take an old pair of jeans, like the leg, stick in a few pieces of cardboard in the leg, staple it at one end, step on the crotch, draw the leg tight, and go at it

(you can just use the pair you're wearing at the time, but its a bit more dangerous if you slip, and my jeans are generally dirty)

[Cruiser]

step on the crotch, draw the leg tight, and go at it

She's a lucky lady. No doubt about it...

[RootSkier]

Why does sharpening to too fine a grit hurt? It just means that keeping it sharp can be done on a finer grit, thus preserving material. Also, I am confused about the rationale for using a steel after sharpening.

[pechelman]

going down too fine is such a waste of time imo
i have a 1200 grit stone ive used once in 15 years

you use a steel after sharpening to remove the burr
then you strope to polish

[hutash]

This thread reminds me I need to sharpen my knives. I use a light touch on the steel regularly, so they don't need to be sharpened very often. I agree with pechelman for the most part, no electric. His routine is best for the perfect edge, but is a bit of overkill for most knives. But engineers are engineers

I use to use only natural Arkansas stones, but now use triangle ceramic stones. Probably not as good, but quick and easy.

[nachos supreme]

use this,cheap and effective



oil rougher side of the stone,sharpen blade in circular motion

turn stone over repeat

finish on steel

never let some other clown sharpen your knife.
If you're worried about dull edges go for a knife with a lower carbon content,they'll take you slightly longer to sharpen but will hold an edge longer.

[AbsolutStoli]

i work in the kitchen, so i need to keep my knives sharp or else it becomes dangerous. dull knives = cut fingers, etc. i thought manually sharpening my knives would be too much work/hassle, so i went and bought an electric sharpener. the kitchen i worked at before moving had a chefs choice something something, and it worked pretty good, so i went for it. got myself a 2-stage model (forget which one exactly), and was totally disappointed. its impossible to sharpen the full length of the blade because the tang doesnt allow the sharpening element to reach all the way, so i ended up kind of messing up my paring knife. maybe the 3 stage professional sharpener for $150 works better, but then youre spending $150 on it. also, i know they say that the sharpener only removes a small amount of metal...dont believe that. it removes enough metal to be noticed, so youre really shortening the lifespan of your knife.

i ended up returning the sharpener and got myself a 2-sided shun whetstone (http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=198400). 300/1000 grit. if you are just using this at home, you wont need to sharpen your knife more than once every few months. even then you would just need to hone it on the fine side and it will be good to go. i use my knives every day, and i use them a lot. i dont sharpen my knives more than once or twice a month, and ive been told by more than a few people that i have the sharpest knife in the kitchen. even the exec chef was pretty impressed. heh

anyway, my point is dont waste your money on an electric sharpener. i know youre lazy and all, but using a stone really isnt that much work, and it will save you money in the end.

[Cruiser]

Bizump! Bought the Chef's Choice 130 back in '08 against the recs of some very smart fellers and I can't tell you all how satisfied I am with it. I just touched up 4 of my Globals this afternoon (I do this fairly frequently cuz it's so quick and easy) in preparation for Thanksgiving and they are now blazingly sharp. Frighteningly sharp. Shaving sharp. And it took me like 7 or 8 minutes to do 4 of them. I know the purists have their stones but damn it all if those knives aren't sharp.

[SeatownSlackey]

timely bump, thx

any thoughts of going to 15 degree for your traditional blades? Chefs Choice now make this well reviewed sharpener for just that

[undertow2]

timely bump, thx

any thoughts of going to 15 degree for your traditional blades? Chefs Choice now make this well reviewed sharpener for just that

Completely agree... I was heading to the board and going to search for such a subject... Thanks to Cruiser I just ordered the Chefs Choice 130 to sharpen my mediocre Hanklemen knives... I hope to upgrade my knife set in the next couple of years and when I do and I will pay to have stone sharpened... Until than Chefs Choice will get it done...!

[Cruiser]

Awe shit, that trizor xv is hawt!

Fwiw, once I have my blades set to the angle of the sharpener, it's so stupid quick and easy to touch them up. 2 or 3 passes on each side through the diamond wheel and then 6 or 8 more on each side through the stropping discs is all it takes to bring the blades back to flawlessly sharp condition. Pechelman has some sick Japanese steel in his kitchen and he sharpens that shit with 12k grit stones until you can't see any imperfections in the edge under a jeweler's loop. His blades are sharp, really sharp. But, like I said, I'll be damned if mine aren't sharp too.

[old goat]

I use oil stones-- a fine India stone and a hard white Arkansas, then strop with jeweler's rouge or another sharpening compound. (I have a leather stropping disc that goes in my drill press and a paper wheel that goes on a bench grinder but a plain leather strop works fine). Never used an electric sharpener--with stones you can sharpen stuff besides knives. Oil stones are not fashionable but they are a lot more practical in a garage that freezes and has no convenient access to water; besides water stones require maintenance; oil stones don't. (I do have water stones for woodworking tools when I'm doing a serious project.
These might fill the bill at a very reasonable price--
http://www.woodcraft.com/product/144...t-3-piece.aspx

My friend is a professional chef--worked at Chez Panisse, started Zuni Cafe--and she has me sharpen her knives. I can get them to shave the hair on my arm in a few minutes for the whole set.

[LightRanger]

I use oil stones-- a fine India stone and a hard white Arkansas, then strop with jeweler's rouge or another sharpening compound. (I have a leather stropping disc that goes in my drill press and a paper wheel that goes on a bench grinder but a plain leather strop works fine). Never used an electric sharpener--with stones you can sharpen stuff besides knives. Oil stones are not fashionable but they are a lot more practical in a garage that freezes and has no convenient access to water; besides water stones require maintenance; oil stones don't. (I do have water stones for woodworking tools when I'm doing a serious project.
These might fill the bill at a very reasonable price--
http://www.woodcraft.com/product/144...t-3-piece.aspx

My friend is a professional chef--worked at Chez Panisse, started Zuni Cafe--and she has me sharpen her knives. I can get them to shave the hair on my arm in a few minutes for the whole set.

Thanks for that link. I was looking for an inexpensive option. Used to use whetstones in Scouts as a kid. My dad has had an EdgePro of some variety for many years, but I don't want to spend even close to that much.

[El Chupacabra]

Bump of old thread --

I've been looking awhile for a deal on a Chef's Choice, and saw this on Slickdeals today -- ordered it --

Trizor XV
https://www.bonton.com/sc1/chef-s-ch...html?cart=true

$50 off code (valid today only)
ZONLINEJL31

Free shipping code
FREESHIP75

Comes to $109 shipped. ebates has another 2% CB, FWIW.

[Cruiser]

That thing is the hotness. Will make your knives very sharp very quickly once you have the edge set. That said, be aware that 15* is a more acute angle than most knives come from the factory at. So it'll mean resharpening all your gear and then living with a somewhat less durable edge. But all that edge angle stuff is prolly just splitting hairs for most home cooks, ya know?

[Dantheman]

AccuSharp is pretty amazing for the price. Very well reviewed by Cook's Illustrated.

[GoldMember]

Bump of old thread --

I've been looking awhile for a deal on a Chef's Choice, and saw this on Slickdeals today -- ordered it --

Trizor XV
https://www.bonton.com/sc1/chef-s-ch...html?cart=true

$50 off code (valid today only)
ZONLINEJL31

Free shipping code
FREESHIP75

Comes to $109 shipped. ebates has another 2% CB, FWIW.

Awesome, thanks! I just ordered one, too. We've been looking at sharpeners for awhile and this is kind of top of the heap, from what I can tell. Great deal!

[El Chupacabra]

Awesome, thanks! I just ordered one, too. We've been looking at sharpeners for awhile and this is kind of top of the heap, from what I can tell. Great deal!

All the reviews I could find were positive. The only criticisms were from people who preferred a hand approach, like the Lansky type sharpeners. I've tried using diamond stones and whetstones, but am not very good at it, so a "foolproof" machine system seems right for me.