What does the Ken Onion Edition do that the basic Work Sharp doesn’t?
Have been using whetstones ever since I bought a good quality knife three years ago. Have watched several YouTube videos and done my best to duplicate the techniques I’ve seen, but never been able to get as good an edge as what that knife had when I first took it out of the box.
The original has a 1/2 inch wide belt. The KO 3/4 inch wide belt. With the KO series you have much more control over the angle.
Unfortunately, it costs a lot more, too.
Years ago there was a thread here, and from that I bought one of the Chef’s Choice models. Can’t remember which one but it’s very handy. I use it mostly on my kitchen knives but also sometimes on my daily carry SAK.
I also have diamond honing stones and I like that one a lot. I used it to put a new edge on a very old Kabar I’ve had for decades, and it did a great job.
And I have some others I’ve used over the years but those two are my main ones.
I remember those positive comments about it, and I’m glad it’s working for you. My concern was whether it would be wise to use it with high-end knives like Zwilling or Wusthof (mine are all Zwilling). I thought about adding to an Amazon order I just placed today anyway but I was further put off by a review (not that I automatically believe internet reviews!) that claimed that it works great for cheap knives, but would ruin the edge on the high-end ones.
Instead I’ve been using one of these Zwilling sharpeners.
Wusthof makes one that looks identical.
The Zwilling one appears to have been discontinued in favour of one that has only a single sharpening angle instead of 20º for standard knives and 15º for Asian. Anyway, I have one of the older ones with the coarse and fine honing elements for both angles.
I’m not sure what to think, TBH. It definitely sharpens the knives; the coarse element produces visible fine metal filings, the honing element doesn’t produce much of anything. The blade subsequently feels sharp and cuts well but I wouldn’t rave about it being “super sharp” or anything extraordinary. I’d say it works well enough and certainly produces better and longer-lasting results than a honing steel alone.
You can also add their Blade Grinder to the Ken Onion edition. It allows freehand sharpening. While the other edition does not require quite as much skill.
Bumping to see if anyone has any new information on the knife sharpening marketplace. I just realized that I haven’t had my knifes sharpened since we moved - it’s much less convient from our new location. So I should get a home setup and give all our knives a new edge.
I’m planning to get a pull through type sharpener but I could be convinced to go electric if people really think they are better. I have a whetstone and never use it, so I don’t think that’s in the cards for me.
I am currently using a Shapton ceramic whetstone. I get very good results in terms of sharpening but it is very difficult to get the right angle manually. It would be nice to have a device that set up and controlled the angle.
So, THAT is what that thingy is for!! Thanks for the lesson.
I have a couple of Wusthof knives, which are (to me) pretty expensive, so I care for them.
I also bought a Wusthof diamond* covered sharpening steel, and was taught by a professional chef how to sharpen them.
So I do it by hand every time. I get great results, I sharpen each every time before I use them. Obvious this is going to eventually erode the blade, but… those knives end up scarily sharp.
* tiny, tiny industrial diamonds.
I bought a super cheap one and was very dissatisfied.
Has anybody mentioned those yet? (Link to German Amazon, picture should make clear what it is).
I have a similar one and it works fine. I am happy. Not cheap though.
ETA: Link to the English Amazon.
You can probably just use a steel on them for each use, and sharpen them occasionally. Sharpening with a diamond-dust rod will remove too much material if you do it for every use. A professional chef is using a knife a lot more each day than I am (and you too, I’m guessing).
Another vote for the Chef’s Choice sharpeners.
Yeah, I am very much an amateur chef. I don’t spend time with with the steel, just a brief touch up. They are very, very sharp though, probably due to the steel metal used in the actual knife rather than my amateur efforts. They are, after all, German engineering!
I have used the steel to sharpen knives at AirBnBs, because those are the greatest cause of my frustration with blunt knives. I mean, if the knife cannot cut a tomato effectively, what can it cut?
So I sharpen it. Purely for selfish reasons, but I suppose other guests benefit.
Those things are super controversial in the knife sharpening world. I got ads for those on social media and I was intrigued and did some research. Enough people hated them that I didn’t pull the trigger.
Our foodie and amateur chef son bought us a Horl sharpener for Christmas.
We haven’t tried it yet. Frankly, I’m a bit intimidated by it. I certainly won’t use it until I can track down our kitchen cut-protective gloves.
Yeah, the consensus seems to be that they hit a sharpness ceiling much lower than what you could do yourself with a significantly cheaper diamond stone, as long as you’ve worked on your technique. But of course, the Horl is marketed to people not in the knife sharpening world, who don’t have the time/energy/skill/interest to hone their sharpening technique. It’s marketed to home chefs who want to keep their sharp knives without having to learn a whole new non-cooking skillset.
< cutting wit >
My understanding (not an expert) from perusing various videos and online chatter is that the original kinda expensive Horl sharpener works reasonably well on full-size chefs knives for what it is (not so well for little paring knives), but the numerous less expensive knockoffs uniformly suck. I haven’t pulled the trigger on them myself, but I have considered it.
Yeah, this exactly. I will never, ever train myself to properly use a whetstone. I fiddled around with one once and found it too…fiddly. I’m not the sort of patient person with steady hands that will maintain a steady angle. It’s basically a hobby unto itself and I have enough hobbies. I just want decently sharp, good-enough-for-government-work kitchen knives, not effortless gliding perfection. But I do wince at the mass shavings you see coming off blades with cheap angled pull-through ceramic sharpeners and those edges seem to dull faster.
So I’m “always” (actually very, very occasionally) considering a simpler to use middle options like the Horl system as a solution.
You don’t need to, don’t look dangerous at all to me. Check a video on how to use them, you’ll see it is simple.
I use them and they work: the knives are sharp enough afterwards for an amateur chef like me. And they will not ruin your knives if you use the thingy wrong, because you can’t. That is all I can say.
Ah, yes: and they are not cheap.