Best Quality Knife Sharpeners
When your car breaks down, you don’t go out and buy a new one, right? And when your lawn is overgrown you don’t up and move to a new house, of course. So, when your kitchen cutting tools start to dull, why would you toss them out when you could just use a good knife sharpener? Knife sharpeners come in a few different forms with a wide variety of price ranges. Read on for some advice on how to pick the best knife sharpener for your budget to get your cutting implements in tip-top shape.
To sharpen a blade is, on its face, a very basic process that’s been used for thousands of years. To sharpen a knife, all you need to do is grind the knife against a stone or other rough surface. So you may be wondering, why not just go grab a stone from your yard and grind away? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, and in fact if you were to do something like that, you’d likely do more harm than good. While it’s important for a sharpening stone to have a rough surface (measured according to its “grit”), large bumps in natural stone could damage your knife, its important to only use stones manufactured for that purpose.
While it’s possible to grind a knife by hand against a whetstone, for the most consistent edges, you may want to consider more complex setups. For instance, the crock stick setup, wherein two brace sharpening stones in place to keep the angle consistent. This is important in order to achieve the exact level of sharpness you want for your blade. Other similar methods use an adaptable clamp configuration to hold the stones in place and maintain the angle.
One key point to remember when sharpening is that the angle of the blade controls its sharpness. Every knife has a specified sharpness determined by the angle of the blade. Grinding a blade at the incorrect angle may end up making the blade too blunt or too sharp for whatever purpose it was originally intended for. Furthermore, such changes may make the knife unsound, causing to break or bend more easily.
For chefs or people who just want the highest quality cutting tools, some of the most well respected manufacturers are J.A. Henckels and Wusthof. Blades from these companies can be tremendously expensive - up to $2,000 for a set - so you want to take extra good care of them. High quality knife sharpeners will help keep your investment safe, so you shouldn’t skimp.
Knife sharpeners come in two broad types: electric and manual knife sharpeners. As noted above, manual sharpeners involve using a whetstone and manually scraping the knife on it. Electric knife sharpeners do the bulk of the job for you. All that’s required from you is to keep the blade straight while pulling it through the machine. Both manual and electric knife sharpeners can give you a polished, sharp edge, but electric knife sharpeners trade convenience for an increased price tag
If you’re in the market for an electric sharpener, you can’t go wrong with Edgecraft’s Chef’s Choice 120 3 Stage Diamond Hone Knife sharpener. This sharpener is powerful and multipurpose. It will not only sharpen, but also hone and polish your edges with its three-stage process. This sharpener costs about $150.00, but if you’re using high-quality knives its well worth the price tag.
If manual sharpeners are more up your alley, try the Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker. This simple, easy to use sharpener is the perfect option for those who want to manually sharpen their blades.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tags: Products
