knife sharpeners

I have the Work Sharp and I love it. I don't have the Ken Onion edition but this one works great. Couple passes on each side and my knives are ready to go.

https://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-K...TF8&qid=1524690813&sr=8-3&keywords=work+sharp

Jousting Pigs said:

I have the Work Sharp and I love it. I don't have the Ken Onion edition but this one works great. Couple passes on each side and my knives are ready to go.

https://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-K...TF8&qid=1524690813&sr=8-3&keywords=work+sharp

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I’ve tried a bunch of things and this works the best for me by far. I do have the ken Onion version

After years of experimenting, I along with others have discovered that Edge Pro is a leading maker of quality knife sharpening supplies.

I love mine!!!!!

+1 for the Worksharp. I have the regular version.

By the way. The rod that comes with your knife set is for honing, not sharpening. That will keep your edge sharp for a while but eventually you need a fresh edge.

If by a rod you mean a honing steel, that will not sharpen your knife. That only hones or straightens the edge but doesn't sharpen it. For minor touch ups, a spyderco sharpmaker will do fine unless you need to reprofile or repair edge damage. For something like that you can look into one of the guided systems (edge pro, wicked edge), stones, belt sanders like the work sharp or harbor freight 1X30.

I'll second the Edge Pro. I've had one for about 20 years now and I would never use anything else (well maybe a professional knife makers belt setup). My friends are afraid of my knives. I have the Apex.

I've been watching a ton of videos on sharpeners lately and I'm pretty interested in the Wicked Edge WE-120 or WE-130. They have designed that thing so well and I have to say it looks like a bit of fun to use. The price is outrageous but all the reviews I've seen describe it as pretty much a lifetime-grade piece of equipment.

Though looking at that EdgePro Apex it looks like a pretty decent piece of equipment.

Go with the CUT YOUR MAMA GUD japaneese water stones ... go up to 12000 grit!

A Friend told me about this one after I darn near cut my finger off at his lakehouse. About $5 at Harbor Freight. Throw it away and buy another when it wears out.

i have several of the rada cutlery ones around and like them.

Spiderco sharpmaker. All I use on my kitchen, edc, and hunting knives.
May have to re-edge some you have but once sharp it is so easy to keep sharp. Shaving sharp

SmoothBoarBBQ said:

I've been watching a ton of videos on sharpeners lately and I'm pretty interested in the Wicked Edge WE-120 or WE-130. They have designed that thing so well and I have to say it looks like a bit of fun to use. The price is outrageous but all the reviews I've seen describe it as pretty much a lifetime-grade piece of equipment.

Though looking at that EdgePro Apex it looks like a pretty decent piece of equipment.

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I have the wicked edge and I love it!

Got the work sharp Ken Onion for father's day, last year. It will sharpen everything from knives to scissors, heck put a way to sharp edge on my mower blades. It's a beast.

Ken Onion Workshop. It works and works very well. As a test I sharpened a cheap chef's knife close to six months ago and it's still holding up the edge with heavy use.

Pretty hard to beat a good Arkansas Whetstone IMHO.

Anthodavis said:

Spiderco sharpmaker. All I use on my kitchen, edc, and hunting knives.
May have to re-edge some you have but once sharp it is so easy to keep sharp. Shaving sharp

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Second vote for the Spyderco https://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Tri...524750660&sr=8-1&keywords=spyderco+sharpmaker Years ago I wanted to get one of those big oil stone sets for Christmas, which turned into my wife telling someone I wanted a knife sharpener, which turned into this as a gift. At the time, I was a little disappointed, but not now. 17 years later I still use it. It does a great job, is easy to clean, and packs up nice and compactly so I store it conveniently in my kitchen knife draw.

I even see now that you can buy additional and different sticks for use in the sharpener (e.g. diamond, superfine ceramic...)

So to answer your question more directly, "Yes" it is incredibly simple and it does work.

I am anal about sharp tools, when I am not smoking or grilling I am in my woodshop making sawdust. My father was a master carpenter and instilled in my that a dull tool is a useless tool. So whether it be a bench chisel, plane iron, lathe gouge or a kitchen knife, if I am using it I want it sharp. Over the years I have done a lot of reading and experimenting on how to get a good edge on whatever tool I am using dejour.

Lets talk kitchen knife. First, is it sharp? My working definition of sharp for a kitchen knife is, if it can easily make clean thin slices of a *ripe* tomato it is good to go. If it is a tool for crushing tomatoes, you have some work to do.

Japanese water stones, Arkansas whetstones, sandpaper and in a pinch the concrete curb at your driveway will all put a usable edge on a knife. The angle at which you are holding the edge against the abrasive is what is critical, more accurately the consistency of the angle. Most chef knives are ground at 18 degrees, a heavy cleaver 15 degrees. The angles can vary by several degrees and you will never notice, as long as you sharpen at the same angle each time.

It is that consistency that the various jigs provide, whether it is the Worksharp, the Wicked Edge or the EdgePro, they all put you back at the same grind angle each time you use them. That not only gives you a good consistent edge, but it removes the least amount of metal everytime you touch up your blade. If you are practiced with freehand sharpening on a stone, you have good muscle memory and just come back each time with the same angle, that just takes practice. I freehand my pocket knife and it is very sharp, I like the EdgePro for my kitchen blades, once I have it setup, I touch up all the knives in my block in one go around.

What about grit? For the tomato protocol, 220 - 320 is as far as you need go. Finer than that is getting into more of polishing and won't hurt anything, but I don't feel it buys you anything as far as making clean slices.

The Worksharp (I have two) is a good tool, but keep in mind it is a power sander and poor technique can really screw up a good blade. Watch the videos and mind the caveats and it will do you well. The wicked Edge (I had to google this one) looks like an excellent tool, but for the $$'s I don't see that it has anything over the EdgePro, other than, perhaps, a quicker setup time.

Good luck and remember, bandaids are not cool!

yeah, my FIL was a chef and could hone a blade on a metal drawer in the kitchen....so just like your curb example.

And you are right on poor technique screwing up a blade. IMHO the best solution is to use the honing rod to keep it sharp on a regular basis, and then use a worksharp or the like periodically to ensure you start with a fresh edge.

The other advantage of something like the worksharp is that it comes with guides for several different angles for scissors, lawn mower blades, and axes, in addition to standard knives and Japanese blades.

Of course you can always use it without the guide...but as bshoen says...you better have a steady hand or you can really mess up the edge!

I've tried Jap stones, Ark stones, Spyderco system, Wicked Edge, Worksharp Ken Onion, Edge Pro.

I keep going back to the Edge Pro.