Kitchen knife sharpener de jour?

Get him this one Zwilling life 18cm Chinese Chef's knife. Very good price at ££31.20 (40% discount)

This is a small slicing cleaver (much larger than a Nakiri and more practical) currently on offer so get one or two if you can because I have 3. I have other models with straight handle and two slightly more expensive with fancy handles but I use the cheap one everyday. Don't worry about the plastic handle because it is very comfortable in the hand. The blade is surprisingly good and hold the edge very well (I am comparing to Japanese and Chinese carbon steel. I sharpen it using a construction site stone (fine grade I think) that was thrown away but I picked up from the site and use it to sharpen my knives.

Once he has used this one he will not use the Nakiri (Yes, I have 3 of them too) or any other knives. I am a cleaver person but I use this one all the time.

Sorry, is it a sharpener you want or a knife ?.

This is a small slicing cleaver

I'm not a fan of those. Took the end of my thumb off,(all the fleshy bit just above the nail) with one as a teenager.

Outwith Japanese water stones which take practise to get the correct angle, I've heard Lansky sharpening systems are good.

https://knifeinformer.com/lansky-deluxe-sharpening-kit-review/

ProCook will resharpen knives if there’s one handy to you. I use a couple of Lansky sharpeners, one is a little wooden box with a swivelling part at each end, and two pairs of ceramic croc-sticks in holes, one brown coarse pair, and a white fine pair. There’s a pair of holes on the top at each end, for different angles - the sticks are set in the holes and the knife held with the spine vertical, the blade run down the sticks in a slicing motion, each side in turn. There’s another similar set, but one pair of sticks are diamond coated, for a faster cut with blunt blades.

Lansky also do a similar, little sharpener, in plastic with tiny ceramic sticks set in a cross and slots to draw the blade through. That’s the one I use most, just for a quick touch-up. Those only cost a fiver, they’re designed to go on a keyring. The fancier ones are about twenty quid or so? Not sure without looking. Heinnie would be a good place to look. There’s really expensive, fancy kits around but the edge I get on my knives, and most are just cheap things I’ve bought from the likes of IKEA, but I get an edge that’s enough to make me wary about how I handle and use them.
Also, ProCook aren’t expensive, especially if you check out their online store, they often have offers - I have a Nakiri and a Santoku, I don’t think they cost much more than twenty quid or thereabouts. You’ve missed the Black Friday sales.

Here you go, currently £26:

https://www.procook.co.uk/product/professional-x50-chef-nakiri-knife-165cm-65in

Water stones and some YouTube videos.

It's like a hobby in itself 😃

tall_martin
Full Member
Water stones and some YouTube videos.

It’s like a hobby in itself 😃

Agreed....we have some Richardson Sabatier, im using the 1000 grit whetstone to sharpen them to a good edge, never as good as factory, but still finger chopper offer good enough

I used to use water stones to sharpen my knives. I now use mostly use one of these

Not sure about giving sharpening stones as a present (to someone not already into them) as it takes a fair bit of practice before you'd want to be using it on your best knives

A Lanksy type system takes a lot of the skill/muscle memory factor away but most of the good ones are the price of a decent knife anyway and the cheap Chinese knock-offs are mostly rubbish (at least going by r/sharpening - never tried one myself)

What was you budget - there's plenty of decent knives out there for not crazy money

I´ve got one of those Minosharps. Works really well for honing but ideally you still need to get them properly sharpened with a whetstone once every year under heavy use.

Also, they do a few different versions e.g. one designed for Global Knives and another one for generic brands. There´s also a 3 wheel version which appparently can get stuff really, really sharp.

Perfect timing this thread - I want one for Christmas, but nothing too technical - just want to keep a couple of knives fairly sharp - I don't like them too sharp as I usually end up chopping bits off my fingers.

That Minosharp looks ideal for me - no faffing.

Good reminder. Just sharpened mine on a whetstone. Had been on my mind to do for a few weeks now, so just got on and did it.
Not tried any of those branded/designed sharpeners though. Presume they are much quicker?

Works really well for honing

?
That’s what I use my ceramic ‘steel’ for. The differences between the results from two devices are distinct.

Your point is well taken though. Hence

I now use mostly use…

my trusty stones and clay bar are still there. Just used [edit] a lot [/edit] less often.

I am sure that I’ll get a lot of abuse for this, but I use an Andrew James electric knife sharpener available from Amazon for £27.

I do a lot of home cooking and find I need to sharpen my knives every month or so, when they can no longer slice raw tomatoes neatly or finely dice garlic to my satisfaction. For the first week or so I need to be careful not to cut my fingertips!

Yes I am sure there are plenty of more expensive or timeconsuming methods that are the “best”, but I am not a professional chef and sharpening knives is NOT my hobby.

I just sharpened one of mine on some cheap Lidl diamond sharpeners. Was a quick effort but worked well.

Brother wanted a HORL sharpener so got him the Horl 2 and premium sharpening kit for xmas, we'll see if it lives up to hype on xmas day.

Not tried any of those branded/designed sharpeners though. Presume they are much quicker?

Yes but not without a few drawbacks:

Usually remove much more metal (vs a whetstone)

Can put the wrong profile on the edge

Usually create micro-serrations on the edge, these actually help with cutting (most things anything) but wear off quickly so the knife needs sharpening much more often

I personally wouldn't use one on a really good knife but they can make sense for daily workhorse type knives that you don't mind wearing out more quickly or never getting really sharp (and don't have the patience for/interest in using whetstones). By wearing out I mean grinding so much of the edge away over time that the secondary bevel etc. gets messed up and you end up having to thin the knife (or replace it)

I am sure that I’ll get a lot of abuse for this, but I use an Andrew James electric knife sharpener available from Amazon for £27.

Nothing wrong with using electric knife sharpener as long as it get the knives sharp. I use honing and ceramic honing rods from time to time but not diamond honing steel. My construction site rock (those that come from quarry cut into square and with rather fine grind) is used for my heavy cleaver but occasionally on other knives too. I have many whetstones that I hardly used because what I have now is sufficient to maintain the edge.

If you are using honing steel make sure the HRC is higher than the knife you are sharpening otherwise it will not be effective at all. Japanese knives have HRC 60 or above so you need to find the right honing steel for them.

the cheap Chinese knock-offs are mostly rubbish

I'm struggling with this, sounds like the hifi directional cable people have moved obsession!

I have a couple of those ceramic wheel type sharpeners and a set of Japanese stones, but...

Doubtless get flamed a bit for this here, but even as a keen (and serious at times) home cook, I pretty much only ever use my old school steel to keep all my knives plenty usable...

30+ Years as a professional Chef . Using a steel regularly is all most chefs use to keep their knives sharp . I like to use a diamond steel it has always kept my knives sharp .

30/ years as a chef and most professional chefs just give their knives a sharpen with a steel virtually every time they use them and don't need anything else . I like to use a diamond steel which seems to do the job well .

Maybe I won't get flamed too badly then!

I use a Lansky system to get a razor sharp edge on all my knives. It helps to get a really dull blade back up to scratch. Once that’s done I use a chantry “sharpener” to steel them between jobs. Any knife can have the edge dulled in the kitchen and a quick swipe through the chantry will maintain them. They get a proper edge put back on them with the lansky every six months or so.

My skinning/gralloching knife gets the lansky treatment and a leather strop only. The chantry is great for kitchen knives, but leaves micro-serrations which I don’t want on my field knife.