Manual Knife Sharpeners - Cooks Illustrated http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment/print/results.asp?docid=14677
MANUALKNIFESHARPENERS
Published November 1, 2006.
When your kitchen knives go dull, is there a quick, cheap, and easy way to restore their cutting edge and get back to cooking?
PRODUCTNAMEDESCRIPTIONPERFORMANCENOTCH EASEOF PRICE REMOVAL USE
Recommended AccuSharp Knife and Tool Sharpener $10.99 Establishes a sharp edge quickly and easily. This compact sharpener must be drawn over the exposed knife blade, which gave users some pause, at least initially.
Recommended Anolon Universal Knife Sharpener 3-Stage Whetstone $29.95 Smooth, easy motion yields very sharp, polished blade. Handle is especially comfortable. Must fill with water before each use.
Recommended Chantry Knife Sharpener $47.95 Heavy metal casing on this fast, simple sharpener is durable and stays put. Instructions are vague.
Recommended with Reservations Chef's Choice 460 Multi-Edge Diamond Hone Sharpener $29.99 This lightweight model must be held down, but it did yield a sharp edge. Wheels indicating correct blade angle never turned as described, and knives didn’t move smoothly.
Recommended with Reservations Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker $45.00 Although overly complex (the instruction booklet has 28 pages!), slow to operate, and difficult to control, this model did produce a sharp edge—eventually.
Recommended with Reservations Wüsthof Knife-Life 3-Stage Knife and Scissor Sharpener $19.99 Quick to operate, but performance is a notch below the better options. Knives sharpened with this tool tore, rather than sliced, tomatoes.
Not Recommended
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Furi Tech Edge Professional Sharpening System $89.95 Although this model put a fairly sharp edge on knives, the jumpy, jerky motion of the tungsten tool damaged the blade edge. The gripper in the handle broke in several test samples.
Not Recommended Global MinoSharp Plus Knife Sharpener, Model 440 $51.95 Uncomplicated, but sharpening motion is jerky and produces blade that’s not sharp enough. Must fill with water before each use.
Not Recommended Henckels TwinSharp Select Knife Sharpener $19.99 Knife squeaks unpleasantly as it goes through steel slot. Easy to use, but results are so-so.
Not Recommended Meyerco Sharpen-It $21.65 This pocket-size sharpener was hard to manipulate, and instructions were poorly written. Blade drags in tungsten slot.
Not Recommended Lansky Crock Stick Two-Stage Professional Knife Sharpener $30.96 Complicated hand motion feels unnatural. Sharpening rods quickly became smooth, and cleaning as instructed didn’t restore abrasive feel.
Not Recommended Chicago Cutlery MagnaSharp Mouse Knife Sharpener $7.99 Compact unit emits terrible squeaking noise. Felt like knife was being dragged over plastic housing, not sharpening tool. One sample didn’t work; others were not much better.
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