Knife sharpening

Somebody sent this email to a food mailing list at work:

Anyone have recommendations for a good sharpener for Wusthof/Henckel (high-carbon steel blades) knives? I’m looking for either a reputable shop that does this or a tool for home.

I have both Wusthof and Henckels knives and I really like this sharpener that I have:

Chantry knife sharpener

I was told by a store clerk to stay away from the motorized ones, as they grind down your knives. What I like about this one is that it has two bars in a v-shaped configuration so it’s like a honing steel, except that you don’t have to guess the right angle to use – you just run your knife straight through it a couple of times before you put it back in the drawer and it is simultaneously sharpened on both sides at once. I don’t worry whether I got the 15 degree angle right or get out my protractor or any of that nonsense. I use this on a daily basis and then once a year or so I get them professionally sharpened.

3 thoughts on “Knife sharpening

  1. Hi, Marc,

    I have to disagree with the person in the store who said all motorized sharpeners are bad. I have used the Chef’s Choice for many years and it always tests well in Consumer Reports and in cooking magazine test (e.g. Cook’s Illustrated). I use the two finer stages every month or two on a range of Henckels blades and my superb Shun santoku. I even use it on my Swiss Army knife! I use the coarsest stage very rarely.

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