Customer Reviews

AccuSharp 001 Knife Sharpener

5 star:		(492)
4 star:		(84)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

This is a tremendous invention! I was a pro chef for about 15 years.
The customary way to sharpen knifes was a steel and or flat stone.
I have bought and used various "sharpening systems" and had ex-
pensive electric diamond sharpeners. However, this device is the
fastest, cheapest, and best one I have ever used. It puts a very
sharp edge on all knives (almost razor sharp), and sharper than any
$300 electric sharpener out there. And for the average 8" chefs knife,
takes about 20 seconds! Get one of these and you will be amazed
how something so simple works so well.

Do not, repeat, DO NOT buy some $100+ electric knife sharpener that may or may not be any good. I got a tip on this from Cook's magazine, which reviewed several products and rated this the top manual sharpener. (By the way, Cook's definitely did not recommend the dumb Rachael Ray-sponsored sharpener with the curvy blades and high price tag.) For about $10, this product honed my fancy German knives, and also the old knives I've had for 20 years (chicago cutlery/faberware kinds of knives) that have been dull for a decade. After 20-30 strokes with the tungsten sharpener, those knives were cutting paper like on a Ginsu infomercial (though I didn't try them on a beer can)! I can't say it loud enough--buy this, and you will not be sorry. In fact, buy it for yourself, and get one for anyone you know who appreciates a sharp edge when chopping vegetables.

This product will put a quick edge on any knife, large or small. Simply draw the angled (paired) sharpening stones over your blade, and presto - you have an edge, and a pretty good one too. Best of all, the sharpener is very portable, weighs less than nothing, and fits into backpacks, fishing tackle boxes, hunting fanny pack, etc. with no added weight or bulk.

The edge that this sharpener puts on a blade is a great starting point for further honing of the blade to razor sharpness if desired.

I have several of these sharpeners. The only drawback is that the sharpening stones wear out after perhaps 6 - 10 sharpenings. But under 10 bucks, this is a bargain.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

Looking for a sharpener to take with you anywhere? This is it. The best procedure I have foung for using it is to take a black sharpie marker and mark the edge. This is makes it very easy to see if you have worked the whole edge. Set the knife on the edgeof a table blade up. If it is the first time a fair amount of pressure will be needed and you will see steel being removed. Scrape the edge until all the black marker is gone. If there is a small wire edge it can be removed using lighter strokes and tipping the sharpener a very little to one side then the other. After this it will be hair shaving sharp.

I am sharpener impaired , and have bought lots of stones and sharpeners spending a bunch ($200 plus in all)
This thing puts a great edge on , simply. makes knives a happy, sharp experience.
However, It TAKES A LOT of metal off, so requires cautious use and acknowlegement of the fact that knives you use it on, ain't gonna last forever.
That, I can afford

I've been using this knife sharpener for years. In fact, after about 8 years, I wore out the sharpening blades and had to buy another one. A nice feature is that you can take out one screw and reverse the blades to get more life out of them. Supposedly the blades are replaceable, but for roughly $10 spread over 8 years of daily use, I figured I could afford a new one!

If you read reviews under knives at Amazon, you'll soon figure out that many people sharpen their knives with steels and diamond hones. I'm no good with those things, but I do lots of cooking and I like my knives sharp.

The Accusharp was the answer for me. You don't have to be good at sharpening knives. Just rest your knife on the counter sharp-side-of-blade up and run the Accusharp down it firmly 3 or 4 times. Be careful if you do the light finger test for sharpness because the Accusharp will leave the blade lethally sharp! (If your knives are really dull, you will have to do it more like 10x the first time to bring them back.)

I have used my Accusharp successfully on chef's knives, paring knives, pocket knives, etc. Be advised, it is not for use on serrated blades (of course)!

The thing I like best about my Accusharp is that it takes no more than a few seconds, so I tend to sharpen my chef's knives and paring knives every time I use them. Just a couple of swipes and I have a fresh, labor-saving blade that makes my cutting chores easier.

I like these so much that I give them to people for gifts and use them for stocking stuffers at Christmas. The recipients often tell me later, "I love that thing you gave me to sharpen knives!"

When I first got this item, I thought they are the greatest. But, after using it for a while, I see one minor problem. It lasts 5 or 6 years ONLY if you sharpen about 7 knives per year. After about 20 sharpenings, the carbide inserts had to be reversed. It lost it's sharp edge and wouldn't work any longer. So, one unit gives about 40 sharpenings before it needs to be replaced, or the carbide inserts replaced.

I've hand-sharpened knives for 25 or so years now, and have tried nearly every sharpening system and sharpening materials out there. In all of my considerable experience (sorry if that sounds a bit cocky), nothing beats hand-sharpening on flat whetstones that have a high grit, or using a leather strop with jeweler's rouge to polish up an edge to a glass smooth, super razor sharp edge.

I kept hearing such wonderful things from people about how good of a sharpener this AccuSharp 001 knife sharpener is, so I decided, since I really like to have very sharp knives, to give it a try. I own several other sharpeners like this, both in design and in material (tungsten carbide), and have never been satisfied with the edge they produce. Before purchasing this product, probably the best I had tried before were sharpeners like the Smith Abrasives, Inc. PP1 Pocket Pal Knife Sharpener, which has both a tungsten carbide sharpener to quickly get a semi-sharp edge, and also a ceramic bladed sharpener to finish, or "polish" the edge into sharpness.

This AccuSharp 001 sharpener is actually the best product of this kind I have tried. Despite only having the tungsten carbide blades, it actually gives a good knife a decent edge. I tried this product on cheap 440A stainless steel (no name Wally World type knives), 440HC stainless steel (typical Buck knife blade material, which is pretty decent steel), to high quality blade materials like high carbon 1095 steel (Ontario, SOG, some Cold Steel, Spyderco, and a few others) and VG-1 and VG-10 stainless steels (again, SOG, some Cold Steel, Spyderco, Benchmade, etc).

Even on high quality steel blades, this sharpener only delivers a decent edge. Not a razor edge, but a decent edge. No offense to the previous reviewer, I like to use a knife for its intended purpose...to cut through something with MINIMAL effort...which cannot be done without at LEAST a razor edge. Whether I'm preparing dinner, to woodworking, etc etc, I simply must have a razor's edge at the least to work with, to make my work go easier.

I have still found no better method that using high grit flat stones, followed by polishing with a leather strop and jeweler's rouge, to give me that super razor edge on good quality steel that I prefer to use.

SO, if you only want a pretty decent edge to work with, then this product is, hands down, the best one to use to give you that decent edge. Just make sure you follow the instructions and only use very, very slight pressure, or you'll never get that decent edge.

If what you want or need is a razor edge, or super razor edge, then this product will disappoint you. It all depends on what you want/need.

But, again, as far as this type of sharpener goes, this is by far the best one I've used.

I am a Chef, and have always scoffed at these types of sharpeners, but this one really works. Follow the instructions, use a soft touch, and keep the knives and sharpener clean, and you will be very happy the the results.

Even though it sharpens very well, it is not a professional edge. I don't recommend this if you have expensive knives. It puts a strange edge on your blade that can not be honed so all you can do is sharpen again and again which will eventually eat up the blade. Of course it will take years for this to happen. I recommend this for cheap knives.