Knife Sharpeners.....do you have one?

[astrid]

How do you keep your kitchen knives sharp? Mine are abyssmal right now. I'm debating between having them done somewhere ($$$$! which I'd rather not spend) and buying some sort of knife sharpener. I cannot take it anymore. What do you do? :confused:

[Janet in WA]

 

How do you keep your kitchen knives sharp? Mine are abyssmal right now. I'm debating between having them done somewhere ($$$$! which I'd rather not spend) and buying some sort of knife sharpener. I cannot take it anymore. What do you do? :confused:

I have a Chef's Choice knife sharpener. I couldn't stand having to live with dull knives. I need to be able to sharpen them whenever they need it -- taking them somewhere to have them sharpened when I got the opportunity wouldn't satisfy me.

[Jean in Wisc]

He can sharpen then so well that they can cut the hair off your forearm. He does it for a hobby. I specify that I do not want mine sharpened "all the way", because if the knife slips, I still want to have a finger. He obliges.

 

If you don't have one of these knife sharpeners, the link below will take you to a popular type of sharpener for the kitchen. You can store it in the drawer with your other utensils. I have one made by Chicago Cutlery. They take a while to use if the knife is very dull, but if you just run your knives over them periodically, they do the job.

 

http://www.amazon.com/J-Henckels-Poly-Sharpening-Steel/dp/B00004RFMA/

 

Or you can be more "professional" and get a whetstone, but when you use this, you will want to use a honing oil (3in1 oil works) to put on the stone while sharpening. This really is for the person who wants to learn the "art" of sharpening, imo.

 

You can buy one that you pull the knife through:

 

http://www.amazon.com/J-A-Henckels-Twinsharp-Knife-Sharpener/dp/B00004RFMD/

 

But my son says this one has the disadvantage of not being able to choose which angle you want on the blade--he also said it is probably not a problem with most folks. LOL!

 

What you do NOT want to do is to get something that sharpens the knife really fast--some electric ones would do this. The steel that is used in a knife can lose its "hardness" if it gets over-heated, and after that it will never keep its edge.

 

More than you wanted, right?

[Brigitte]

I recommend the Chef's Choice electric. It puts the proper angles on the knife edge. When I worked in a kitchen shop, we used the Chef's Choice when our professional machine was down (we sharpened knives for customers).

 

Brigitte

[Deidre in GA]

this one is on my Amazon wish list:

 

Presto Pro Eversharp

 

it is well reviewed as are other, more expensive, models by Chef's Choice.

[Jane in NC]

Our fishmonger suggested to my husband that he buy one of the spendy diamond dust sharpening blocks which he did. It works well, but we still have our knives sharpened professionally on an annual basis, right before Thanksgiving in fact. There is a man who comes to our local kitchen shop and sets up his equipment on a table outside. He only charges us $15 for five knives. My husband's carving of the Thanksgiving turket takes on a professional appearance because of the well sharpened knife that he uses!

 

My parents gave us a set of really good knives after we married. I figure that $15 a year is a minimal investment in keeping them going for our lifetime and then some.

[Peek a Boo]

mine too :-)