Choosing the Best Knife Sharpener That Works for You

by Juan Evail

Today I would like to talk about how to choose the best knife sharpener for you to use on your knives. Some knife sharpeners out there can be used on both your kitchen knives and your sporting and outdoor knife or other variety knives. But I prefer to have different sharpeners for different kinds of knives. I wouldn’t use a run of the mill draw sharpener with steel wheels on my Benchmade best tactical folding knife, would you? I didn’t think so! Keeping your knives sharp in my opinion is a knife owner #1 responsibility. The old saying goes: “A sharp knife means you never let it get dull!” If you keep your knives sharp, then they will always be in tip-top condition to perform the chores that they are intended for with ease and reliability.

There is a whole universe of knife sharpening tools and knife sharpening systems out there including electric knife sharpeners like the Chef’s Choice Electric Knife Sharpener line for the home, to bench stones/whetstones made in a wide array of sizes and abrasive types. It can be mind-boggling just trying to pick a knife sharpening system if you don’t have any or limited experience sharpening your knives. No matter what type of knife sharpening equipment you choose one thing is for sure that’s all good quality knife sharpening equipment and knife sharpening systems have been designed to revitalize the edge of your knives back to its original factory sharpness.

As I stated before most folks don’t have much experience if any at all with knife sharpening. Many also don’t know what they should look for in a knife sharpener or knife sharpening system. So having a way to sharpen your knives at home is a good thing and will save you money in the long run. It will also save you from having to pay someone else to sharpen your knives for you! Picking the best knife sharpening equipment for you can be hard if you don’t know how to compare the pros and cons of each system or method to find the right one for you.

The major distinction among knife sharpeners is whether they are electric or manual methods of knife sharpening. Electric knife sharpeners come in many sizes and make. For the general consumer who has lots of knives to sharpen electric knife sharpeners can be the ticket that you are looking for. An electric kitchen knife sharpener can have many advantages to them. They are time savers if you don’t have hours to sharpen knives and the blade angles are preset to 30 and 40-degree slots which make your angles a breeze to obtain. As I said, earlier electric kitchen knife sharpener can come in many sizes from mini countertop varieties that are about the size of a shoebox or less to bigger models with more slots for more angle variety.

Some of the larger electric knife sharpeners are meant for commercial sharpening applications such as a professional knife sharpening service. These are a bit more expensive than a consumer level model, but if you have the room and you are really, really into knives and knife sharpening, then you might want to consider a larger electric knife sharpener. When it comes to electric knife sharpeners, it all comes down to time, space, and money. So to restate the advantages of this type of sharpening system they are fast, and that means saving time. They wouldn’t take up much space in your home. The angles are preset for you so there is no guesswork. If used correctly they will last for years, and many of the better ones like the Chef’s Choice Electric Knife Sharpener will have a manufacturer’s warranty.

Now if you are limited in space in your kitchen and funds in the wallet and you can’t get an electric knife sharpener then you might want to consider purchasing some bench stone/whetstones or kitchen honing steels because these types of sharpeners take up less room and can be stored in a kitchen drawer or even under the kitchen sink and in many cases are much, much cheaper than an electric knife sharpener. These kinds of manually operated knife sharpening methods do however take much more time to sharpen your knives than an electric knife sharpener. Those who professionally works on a sushi restaurant and prepare delicious sushi with most expensive sushi knife, I use to recommend this type sharpener.

Many times when you purchase a knife block, the set will come with a hand-held knife sharpener and in many everyday kitchens one of these types of sharpeners, if used correctly and regularly, will be just fine. Like their electric knife sharpening counterparts, the handheld knife sharpener has either preset angle slots or angle guides to give you the correct edge and this type of sharpener are excellent for the beginner. With time you will find that when using angle guides on bench stones that with enough practice you will find that sharpening a knife on a stone without an angle guide and using a steel to tune up your knives is really easy to do.

Most quality knife sharpeners whether they are manual or electric will sharpen both plain edge and serrated edged knives and are generally built to last year’s if used correctly. No matter which sharpening method or system you use one thing is certain, you are grinding the blade of your knives one way or another. The grinding takes place on the surface of the medium that is used to sharpen the blade. With electric knife sharpeners, you are grinding the knife edge on a “diamond pad” and on a bench stone or whetstone; you are grinding metal on any number of surfaces from natural stone to diamond to ceramic or even steel.

The surfaces of the knife sharpeners will be measured by its grit. With diamond-surfaced knife sharpeners and natural and synthetic stones the lower the number of the grit the more aggressive the sharpening surface will be. In turn the higher the number of the grit the less aggressive the sharpening surface will be and will micro bevel the blade edge. When it comes to some of the knife sharpeners many of them whether manual or electric will have two sides. The electric knife sharpener will have an aggressive pre-sharpening slot and a polishing honing slot each of which will either be the same angle or two different angles and this depends on the maker of the unit. When it comes to the natural sharpening stones or bench stones they will come in one of two ways, either single or double-sided.

Many synthetic bench stones come in two grits, one on each side and the natural stones will mostly come in one grit and hence you will need more than one natural stone to do a complete sharpening on your knives. There are however many makers in recent years that are laminating two natural grit stones together, but it is not commonly known to most people. The same can also be said about the synthetic ceramic stones, many will be double-sided and many will not so in either case you will definitely need more than two stones whether natural or synthetic to completely sharpen your knives.

That being said about the bench stones/whetstones, there is also one other thing to consider when using this type of sharpening method. Ceramic water stones or Japanese ceramic stones (some people refer to these as “chalk stones”) can create a really, really sharp edge. This type of stone can be fragile though and if it ever drops on the floor or another hard surface, you can be guaranteed that it will chip or even break. On the other hand, the Diamond knife sharpener in the form of a Diamond whetstone or Diamond steel can create a really sharp edge that will rival the edge obtained by the Japanese ceramic stone as well.

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The kicker here is that the Diamond variety of knife sharpeners does not wear down very easily and have a very long life. Here is another thing to consider about Diamond whetstone: dollar for dollar a Diamond Whetstone is the best investment because of its inherent lifespan and the fact that they will not “gully” like the natural or ceramic stones will if improperly used. If you “gully” a natural or ceramic whetstone, you would actually use a Diamond whetstone to resurface the other two. It really pays off having Diamond sharpening gear. (See right pic)

There is another variety of manual knife sharpener and that is the Carbide knife sharpener. The principle behind the Carbide knife sharpener is that the Carbide is harder than the steel of the knife and hence it can cut the metal of your knife blade. Many Carbide sharpeners are equipped with predefined angles for sharpening. Most of the ones that I am familiar with is set at 40 degrees which is 20 degrees on each side of the blade. This is a good standard quality knife edge angle for most daily chores with kitchen knives and pocket knives alike. A Carbide knife sharpener is a great maintenance tool to use on knives that are not totally dull.

It does not take a lot of pressure to have Carbide cut steel, go gently and let the Carbide do the work. Even though a Carbide sharpener is quick, I would not use it on really “high end” kitchen knives or pocket knives unless you can be patient and let the Carbide do the work for you. It won’t take long and the results are good for quick touch ups of the edge.

If you a newbie and don’t have any idea about the quality knife sharpener, then apply this tip. You will find quality knife sharper from a reputed manufacturer. Some of my best knife sharpening brands:

Wüsthof
Fallkniven
Chef’s Choice
Warthog
Mooker
Lansky
DMT (Diamond Machine Technology)
Sharp Pebble
Utopia Kitchen
Smith’s

There is also the option of buying a honing steel for sharpening your knives. But remember that honing steel does not sharpen a well-used knife. It straightens and reshapes your edge and imparts some nice fine teeth on the primary cutting edge. This allows you can get back to work quickly.