What is a Knife Sharpener?

A knife sharpener is used for sharpening the blades of a knife by grinding them down to even out the blade’s surface. There are different kinds of sharpeners for knives, ranging from the simple whetstones to the more modern electric grinders. Knife sharpeners are useful and important tools especially for people who keep different kinds of knives in their kitchen.

Importance of a Knife Sharpener

Everybody needs a sharp knife – this is a fact. To use a dull knife in the kitchen is the same as bringing a gun to war but without the bullets. Everybody from the stay-at-home-mom to professional chefs need sharp knives, but it could be expensive bringing the knives to professional knife sharpeners often. When you have a knife sharpener at home, you can easily sharpen the knives whenever needed.

Different Types of Knife Sharpeners

Knife sharpeners come in different types. It’s important knowing our options in order for us to choose the best type to cater to our needs.

Whetstone

Also called a sharpening stone, a whetstone can either be rectangular or star-shaped and measures around half an inch to several inches in thickness. A whetstone has two sides – one coarse and the other fine. The coarse side is first used for the sharpening, while the fine side is used for finishing.

Sharpening Steel

The sharpening steel is an example of a manual sharpener. This is simply an elliptical or round steel shaft with a fine texture grinding surface. Depending on the brand, a sharpening steel contains an abrasive surface that is diamond coated or it could also be made of tungsten carbide. To use a sharpening steel, simply draw the knife through it using a preset angle. Commonly, a knife is honed after four to six passes through the sharpening steel.

Electric Sharpeners

A lot of people prefer electric sharpeners over other knife sharpener types. Although it takes time getting used to it, it can sharpen knives just after a few seconds which is why it’s best for knives used frequently. Another great thing about electric sharpeners is that it can sharpen both serrated and straight knife blades. Serrated blades are not easy to sharpen manually, but they are useful for cutting and slicing certain types of food.

Choosing an Electric Knife Sharpener

There are several factors we need to consider in order to choose the best electric knife sharpener for our needs.

Durability

A knife sharpener is an investment especially when you’re in the food business, and this is the main reason why we need to make sure that the product we buy was made to last. The material used for the sharpener also says a lot about how durable the machine is. Diamonds, steel and stone are the most commonly used materials in electric knife sharpeners. Those made of diamonds are of course the best, but they are also the most expensive.

Safety

The safety of using a sharpener is of utmost important. Handling knives is dangerous enough, much more when you have to sharpen them using a machine. Look for a knife sharpener that’s designed with a guarding system to prevent cutting yourself while using it.

Slots and Stages

If you’ve noticed, most sharpeners come with a number of slots. These are used for different purposes such as removing burrs and sharpening. Some sharpeners also come with different stages which allow users to properly take the knife through the sharpening process.

Compatibility

Not all machines are compatible with all kinds of knives. If you’re planning to use the sharpener with different knife types, you need to check what kind of knives could be used with the machine. To get the most out of your dollar, look for a knife sharpener that’s versatile enough to be used with different kinds of blade.