Safe knife sharpener?

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
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Location
Finchley, London
I've got cheap knives that all need sharpening and I'm not fussed about removing metal, I'll just replace the knives if need be. The only sharpener I have is one of these and frankly, I don't feel safe using it. I usually wear kitchen gloves to hold it :p

knife_sharpener_taylors_eye_witness_sheffield_or.jpg



I don't think I'd be very happy using a regular long steel either, I value my fingers too much. And I don't think they're for sharpening anyway, more like for straightening blades. I did watch an interesting video of some guy using a diamond stone which looks very safe to me as it's slow and smooth with no risk, but I don't think they'll be cheap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIN6TGPC5fk


Is there a cheapish machine, manual or electric, I can stick knives into that would do a respectable job?
 
i dont know if they work on non japanese blades but minosharp sharpeners are very good for a simple before use sharpening that i use on my Global and Shun knives.
 
By the way if price is a thing you can get a stone with two sides for under £15.

Really is little more than a ceramic brick when you get right down to it, not at all necessary to get ones which claim fanciful things.
 
Unless you're very motivated and patient then stones aren't for you, I've had a go and given up. Requires an awful lot of time and practice to get it right, and diamond stones are so good at cutting that if your technique is wrong then you'll knacker the edge on the knife fairly quickly.
 
ganesh said:
Unless you're very motivated and patient then stones aren't for you, I've had a go and given up. Requires an awful lot of time and practice to get it right, and diamond stones are so good at cutting that if your technique is wrong then you'll knacker the edge on the knife fairly quickly.
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Yup. That's exactly my experience. To be honest I even find my Lansky kit a lot of effort so for my cheap knives I'm now using a rubbish "destroy the knife" sharpener.
 
Not sure where the effort is but I'm not sure what anyone else is doing either.

I have a broken fragment of a stone (not diamond, some grey thing from a chinese supermarket) about the size of a matchbox with only the fine side usable, stick it under the tap for a second to get it wet, hold in left hand and smoothly pull the blade across it at approximately 20 degrees about 3-4 times per side.

Dry blade, find some corrugated cardboard to drag the blade through to catch any burrs or bits, wash the blade again and sorted in less than 1 minute.

Not the most precise method but paper shaving afterwards is entirely doable.

I have one large chefs knife and a handful of small stuff. But the chefs knife gets sharpened and used more than the rest put together.

Have tried machine sharpeners, used a chefs choice diamond hone a fair bit which is more of a commercial thing but really can't be having with the noise or storing yet another gadget about the place.

I agree that sharpening should be effortless but that can mean anything depending on personal experiences.
 
+1 for the anysharp knife sharpener. Really no hassle at all and brought back a lot of dulled blades I've kept over the years.
 
I think it's well worth putting a bit of practise in to get used to using a diamond stone. You wont look back once you have mastered it. Puts a great edge on the blade in very little time at all. It's also very hard to knacker the blade if you take your time and do light strokes.

I watched a Youtube video and he put the knife at 45o, then half way between, which is an easy way to think about it. After a while your muscle memory will take over and you'll instinctively do it.

There are people that go way over the top, using like 10 different grades of diamond stone and finishing with 10,000g stones etc. IMO there is no need for that. 1000g and then if you really do need a super sharp edge you can strop it. A strip of rough leather glued to a piece of wood with some honing compound rubbed on it and you'll get a razor sharp edge.
 
Mark A said:
I think it's well worth putting a bit of practise in to get used to using a diamond stone. You wont look back once you have mastered it. Puts a great edge on the blade in very little time at all. It's also very hard to knacker the blade if you take your time and do light strokes.

I watched a Youtube video and he put the knife at 45o, then half way between, which is an easy way to think about it. After a while your muscle memory will take over and you'll instinctively do it.

There are people that go way over the top, using like 10 different grades of diamond stone and finishing with 10,000g stones etc. IMO there is no need for that. 1000g and then if you really do need a super sharp edge you can strop it. A strip of rough leather glued to a piece of wood with some honing compound rubbed on it and you'll get a razor sharp edge.
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Do you have any photos? What do you think of the 400/100 stone that Merlin5 linked to? Do you use water or oil, or do you use it dry?

I see on Amazon that this one is quite popular too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knife-Sharp..._cp_201_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TCWZ3VPCF27HJCVQ1KK

I do already have some kind of sharpening rod which came with my knife set, but have never understood how to use it.
 
I've been using a triple Minosharp designed for Global knives (they do one for normal knives as well) for a long time and was always unhappy with how long the edge kept, especially given the quality of the steel in the knives.
At Xmas i was given a Lansky system and a Wusthof steel, since then I have been using the steel for a couple of strokes before using each knife I have been really happy with their sharpness and have not even got round yet to using the Lansky sharpening system (not sure if I will as I have realised that I will have to change the angle on the Globals if I do so). Using a steel regularly with your knives will help them keep a nice edge on them whatever you use to initially sharpen them and is really not a hassle.
 
Rotty said:
I have one of those but only used it once as it seems to take one hell of an amount of metal off
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I do agree they take a fair wack off. However the blades I bought it for were years old and in poor state of neglect from my uni days. The edge was restored wonderfully and lasts quite a while now that I wash / store them better than I did years ago.
 
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