Recommend to Me a Good Kitchen Knife Sharpener

Hi gents. I need a good kitchen knife sharpener. What do you recommend?

What types of knives are they? How much effort are you willing to put into it?

They are nothing special. Just stainless steel straight edge knifes, not serrated. One of them is a Calphalon Katana series 6" chef's knife. The rest are just random knives. I'd just like to be able to keep them nice and sharp. Right now they are pretty dull, and the cheesy little sharpener I have doesn't work very well.

I guess I'd do what ever I had to get them sharp. So, I guess I need to get them sharp again and then keep them that way.

You options are pretty limited. There are some mechanical devices that will kinda work for a rough edge, but will do nothing for the thinning the blade and getting it really sharp.

A 1000 grit stone is a good place to start if you are willing to put the effort in. here is one to get started with, http://www.amazon.com/Shapton-Glass...524&sr=1-6&keywords=shapton+sharpening+stones

So, what you're saying is that I need to sharpen it like I would any other knife if I really want a nice edge.

I've got a hand-held Henckls sharpener that works surprisingly well for a quick kitchen touch-up.

Winchester38 said:

I've got a hand-held Henckls sharpener that works surprisingly well for a quick kitchen touch-up.

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I've got that one too. It's not working so well for me. Perhaps that's because they are quite dull now.

I used to spend a couple hours with diamond and Japanese waterstones sharpening my wife's fine kitchen knives until I found, quite by accident, a cutlery store that does a fantastic job. I drop off everything at once, usually about seven knives, and go shopping or out for sushi a couple hours. Done. $26. Not worth my time to do it myself. Many, many years ago, we would drop off our knives at the local butcher shop to have them sharpened. Not sure if he even charged my grandfather. I think it was kind of a service to local customers.

I hate to state the obvious, but it is a knife, so you can sharpen it like a knife.

Foyle said:

So, what you're saying is that I need to sharpen it like I would any other knife if I really want a nice edge.

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BSAGuy said:

I hate to state the obvious, but it is a knife, so you can sharpen it like a knife.

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Yeah, that makes sense.

If they're not really expensive knives and you don't want to mess with the stones just find a decent pull through sharpener for around the $25 to $35 mark. You might not want to spend $10 to gt a $7 knife sharpened either.

Using the stones will do a better job but the inexpensive sharpeners will get them plenty sharp for the average cook. I think I have a Wustof one and it works quite well on my inexpensive knives. The expensive ones I use stones for.

Once you get them sharp the best thing you can do to keep them from getting dull is to hand wash them. The dishwasher soaps are designed to remove food particles from dishware and these abrasives in the soap will dull a knife edge very quickly.

Get them professionally sharpened. Then, when you notice that the knives get dull, use a 4,000 or 5,000 grit stone to restore the edge. Restoring the edge takes all of fives minutes.

dfoulk said:

If they're not really expensive knives and you don't want to mess with the stones just find a decent pull through sharpener for around the $25 to $35 mark. You might not want to spend $10 to gt a $7 knife sharpened either...

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Very, very true. Get a ceramic rod, v-shape sharpener similar to this concept:

http://www.amazon.com/KitchenIQ-Santoku-Straight-Pull-Thru-Sharpener/dp/B001CQYYDK

It will do a stellar job. I use this on everything except the >$100 blades.