Are electric knife sharpeners any good?

grumpyoldman

grumpyoldman

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I have been sharpening all our knifes by hand for years , but thats time consuming so i started looking at electric knife sharpener but don't know if they are worth spending the money on . any one use them if so how well do they work ?
 
I sharpen by hand.
I figure there will be some good and bad ones out there. And I am trying hard to recall a brand that I heard good stories about.
 
From what I've read,the electric ones remove a lot of material from the blade and shorten the life of the blade.
 
Electric knife sharpeners are a no no for knives that have bolsters. You will end up with a curvy edge. They are brutal on non bolstered knives because they remove more steel than necessary. Also the bevel angle isn't adjustable. Someone above recommended the Lansky. The Lansky system is one of many manual guided systems and is less expensive than an electric. There are better and more expensive ones but the Lansky will allow you to get a knife as sharp as you need it to be.

Successful sharpening requires you to maintain a consistent angle while working through the grits. The guided systems make that easy. I use one myself. Even though I can do it with bench stones, it is faster and more accurate with a guided system. The one I use is this one.

There are guided electric systems as well but they are pricey. This is an example, also not good for bolstered knives but better than the cheaper ones that use a slot to hold the blade and they grid away a lot of steel in short order. If you have quality knives you should sharpen them with a manual guided system.
 
Last edited:
badjak said:
Yes you are right as they are not electric.

Do you just want to be able to sharpen quicker or does it need to be electric.

I found a decent article here
Anything you want to learn about sharpening knives, scissors, chisels, axes and more.
Scroll down (as you already know how to sharpen :) ) and it has a section "sharpeners put to the test".
Click to expand...
He said sharpening by hand is time consuming, and it is, which is why I'm not the one doing it! My DH does it. But I'm the one who cooks so its a fair trade.

For good knives it might be worth it to take them to a professional grumpyoldman.
 
i have been sharpening knives by hand since i was a young boy so i know how to get a goodd edge on them but it is time consuming so i started looking at some electrics that have 4 grits from very course to 1000 grit ( don't see how that could remove to much metal ) it would just seem like it would polish the edge ...or am i missing somthing ?
 
badjak said:
Yes you are right as they are not electric.

Do you just want to be able to sharpen quicker or does it need to be electric.

I found a decent article here
Anything you want to learn about sharpening knives, scissors, chisels, axes and more.
Scroll down (as you already know how to sharpen :) ) and it has a section "sharpeners put to the test".
Click to expand...
This is the part I was referring to...
Maybe easier this way, but obviously the links won't work
Screenshot_20240724-185945.jpg
 
all my kitchen knifes are non bolstered NFS rated knifes and are very good at holding an edge but by the same token it takes a while to get that edge back when they do get dull , i have had these knifes for around 30 years and they show very little signs of wear so i am thinking that i'm 68 now so by using the 1000 grit setting , i still won't outlive the dang things so i think i have made my decision ...thanks for your input
 
1000 grit should be fine for all knives...
You can always smoothen more by hand on a 2 or 3000 stone if you feel the urge.
I'm just interested to see what you are going to buy and if it works to your satisfaction.
I try to sharpen in time, so I don't have to go lower than 1000 grit, but sometimes life gets in the way
 
i'll buy it sometime between now and the time we make sausage again , i'll let you know how it works
 
grumpyoldman said:
i have been sharpening knives by hand since i was a young boy so i know how to get a goodd edge on them but it is time consuming so i started looking at some electrics that have 4 grits from very course to 1000 grit ( don't see how that could remove to much metal ) it would just seem like it would polish the edge ...or am i missing somthing ?
Click to expand...
Trust me it will remove more steel than you ever removed with the time consuming approach.
 
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