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331 of 343 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now this is sharp, May 5, 2006
When I bought my Henckels (not the el cheapo Henckels International, mind you) knives I was looking for a sharpening steel but ended up with the pull-through gadget they call a "sharpener". Someone's already pointed out the difference, that the device is a "honer" that merely sets the blade straight. It returns usability but doesn't actually SHARPEN, i.e, shave off metal and recreate the edge. After reality set in that I could keep running my knives in this honer until I was blue in the face and never increase the sharpness but merely prolong it, I decided to look for a way to really sharpen a knife.
Local and mail-order services didn't appeal to me because I didn't want the knives out of my hands or tested on stuff I wouldn't cut in my kitchen. So I went looking for sharpeners I could use in the home.
- As I read opinions, the whetstone seems to be the best possible way. The electrical sharpeners are about the only alternative that actually re-create an edge, so I thought if the best of them doesn't satisfy me I'll have to go with a whetstone. And I bought this machine.
- As one reviewer pointed out on a slightly different model, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. If you think you'll simply get an edge by running the blades through the six grooves in order, you will be sorely disappointed.
- The first and second pairs of grooves are for different knives and the third works with the first, maybe the second too. And that's not all.
- You have to run the knife, test for a good burr on the new edge, and polish the edge straight to get your razor sharpness.
- Don't forget to wash the knives, before and after the sharpening. You don't want food or moisture in the sharpener, or microscopic metal in your cut food.
- Big question: is it razor sharp? Yes, but under some conditions. I tried this with five knives: Four Henckels five-star blades, and one some-other brand blade. On one Henckels santoku, I made do with a minimum burr and got a sharp blade, but it wasn't razor sharp. This will be done over. The other brand blade got a nice burr and everything, but never got razor sharp, though it was sharper than it had ever been. The three other Henckels knives, they are as close to razor sharp as anything.
- What do I consider razor sharp? I ran an edge across a small part of my arm and it took off all the hair. THIS IS NOT SAFE - I have shaved with a straight razor so I didn't cut myself. DON'T DO THIS, read on: I used the same blade to cut a slice off a vine ripened ripe tomato without using a chopping board, and established this test: The slice comes off with no skin left on the end of the slice where the knife finishes the cut. That is razor sharp. Vine-ripened, ripe tomatoes tend to have a skin that is almost like plastic wrap - thin and very resilient to the sharpest blade.
- None of my newly bought knives were able to pass the hand-held ripe tomato or hair-on-arm test when they were new. So the sharpness is better than the factory blade.
- The second groove can put a microscopic serration on the edge for better cutting in some situations. Or sharpen a serrated edge. I haven't tried this yet, will update the review when I do. But I'm very happy with this product.
- Criticism that won't take away a star: Reading the manual in this age of short-attention can be painful because the text is small and the lines too long. Paragraph breaks are scant. More pictures, narrower columns and some white space couldn't hurt, especially here where reading the manual is a requirement (not just an overload of warnings or obvious, unnecessary direction)
- All this seems long and tedious the way I describe it, but once you've read the manual, you will have your knives sharp in minutes. So sharp you may be tempted to try to work on the factory edge of a newly bought knife. Just remember, it's important to start with a reasonably good quality knife whose metal can stand up to a fine edge.
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