Customer Reviews

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twinsharp Knife Sharpener

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I tried this sharpener (for practice) on the ...Farberware knives I hadn't touched since I tried Henckels 4-star and Pro-S knives. These knives had been beaten up from throwing them in the dishwasher, and the Twinsharp put a very serviceable edge on the Farberware slicing knife; while not as effective or well-balanced as the Henckels knives, it *would* once again, smoothly and without fuss, cut through an onion. Be careful about the downward pressure you apply - a little more may be required at first, but a light pressure and smooth motion is required for the final finishing strokes, and you want to tilt the knife to keep the EDGE parallel to the countertop at the point the sharpener touches.

I then ran my 6-month old Henckels chef's knife, which was still pretty effective, though the sharpener. The knife cuts much more smoothly, and the sharpener eliminated any "dead spots" in the cutting edge. In addition, this sharpener smoothed out the three nicks that resulted when the knife slipped while I was washing it, bouncing off the drain of my stainless sink... if you look close you can still tell where they were, but the edge is greatly improved; a bit more use and a sharpening or two, and it should be visually impossible to tell the difference.

Just for kicks (and probably disobeying a few common-sense safety rules) I sharpened a dollar-store stainless pizza cutter, holding the sharpener to the floor with my boot and holding the cutter handle with one hand and rotating the blade (to simulate pulling a knife through) with the other. The cutter, which had previously been a pain ...and required a bit of pressure, cut right through a Tombstone pizza on the first pass.

I don't know if it will work for serrated knives, but for smooth-edged knives this sharpener seems very effective and easy to use - just hold the handle solidly against the counter and pull the knife through, keeping the cutting edge in good contact. The sharpener design and knife guides make it easy to hold the knife square in relation to the sharpening elements, resulting in a clean edge. The lefties are correct in their comments; this sharpener IS designed for a right-handed person, and there is no left-handed alternative available, but I found it to work very well for me.

Most of todays kitchen knives are hard stainless steel. Therefore, they fail to properly take an edge when in need of sharpening. At the factory, the first edge is ground in and unlike the directions say, that edge sooner or later requires touching up. The Henckels Twinsharp Knife Sharpener does just that. A few quick "pull thru's" and the blade is dressed no matter the level of steel blade hardness. So, if you are not a master of the sharpening steel and want to do fast and easy food prep. Then by all means consider the Twinsharp. It really works, but sooner than later you will need to find a way to get get you kitchen knives fully sharpened.

I don't have the best knives in the world...and they're quite old. They've only been sharpened once in 10 years. They were barely able to cut anything anymore. I thought I would invest in a modest sharpener just to see if this would sharpen before I needed to purchase new knives. All I can tell you is that you just need to hold the knife over an onion and it seems to melt right through. I don't know whether that just meant it honed the knife like the Amazon reviewer noted, but all my knives now are as sharp as they can be.

.. be sure to practice on old knives first so you get the right touch. I'm sure glad I did, because a bit too much pressure on an old, inexpensive knife took a bite right out of the blade. The thing cuts better than ever before though. Go figure.

One needs to apply constant, medium to light pressure as you draw the blade through the sharpening wheels. You want to achieve a smooth stroke without allowing the blade to chatter as you draw it through. After some medium-firm strokes, test for sharpness. If it's enough, then draw the blade through lightly a few times to help hone the edge. Then follow with a few strokes on your steel to have a perfectly smooth finish.

Once you master the right strokes, this is a most wonderful kitchen addition. It's handy and easy to use. No more dull knives! I'd happily buy another when this one wears out.

I received this sharpener yesterday, and I can't believe how effective it is! Although the instructions on the box state that the unit is designed to sharpen the knives with the fine blade, all dullest knives that I tried became razor sharp just after a few pools through the sharpener.

This sharpener, unlike some others that I've seen before, has *two* sets of sharpening discs: hardened metal and fine stone. I assume that this design must be responsible for the strong sharpening effect.

I gave a bad review to the Oxo Good Grips paring knife because it never held an edge. This compact little thing not only put the edge back on my neglected Henckels, it put an edge on the Oxo knife like it had never had before. And it held through a good few hours of peeling and cutting.

Took me a while to realize it, but this sharpener has actually been destroying my JA Henckels knives. A few months ago, I ran the 6" utility knife through it. The knife was quite sharp afterwards, but I noticed the edge was notched (i.e. a small triangular piece was missing). I thought "What thoughtless person used my knife to cut something on a ceramic surface thereby putting notches in my knife??"

Last week, I ran the 6" chefs knife through the sharpener. Ahh, sharp as ever. But wait, somebody had put notches in this blade too! Today, I figured out what it must be. I took the chefs knife out and looked carefully at the edge. I then ran it through the sharpener again (medium pressure, smooth pull). Sure enough, there were more notches in the edge.

I threw the sharpener in the trash. Going back to my flat whetstone. Takes more time, but I've never taken divots out of the edge using the old-fashioned method of sharpening. I give this 2 stars because your knives will actually be _sharper_ after using this device, but you'll have a serrated edge instead of a smooth one.

Four years ago I gave my beloved wife a set of Henckels knives and gave myself one of these dandy sharpeners. The reason is obvious -- I wanted (needed) a way to maintain the knives that did not require skills and that did not threaten my physical safety. This little machine performed exactly as required! After four years of faithful service, it has just been replaced by another copy of the same superb design. And, I imagine I'll keep on using this little critter as long as we have Knives to sharpen.

I have a set of inexpensive, but good, well-balanced knives. I've never done well with a sharpening steel and figured if I wanted sharp knives, I'd have to have it done professionally. This sharpener made it so easy to sharpen my knives! The difference is amazing - it's like I have a new set of knives.

Knife no cut. Buy sharpener. Now knife cut'm good.