Electric Knife Sharpener

An electric knife sharpener has a reputation of a fast and easy to use tool. You don't have to use your strength and skills like you do with manual knife sharpener. The electricity will do all the work for you, you only have to position the knife in the right place, and you will have an extra sharp blade. When it comes to speed and safety, electric knife sharpener is the No 1.

For example, Chef’s Choice 110 is an electric sharpener that received Cook’s Illustrated’s highest rating for being a high quality sharpening tool. There are some experts that think a bit different. They say that you have to be really careful with electric knife sharpeners or you will have a lot of metal loss. But there are also others who claim that this Chef's Choice sharpener has a tendency to scratch blades and ruin them.



Lets say a word or two about this cool electric knife sharpener, shall we. Chef's Choice 110 owns three sets of diamond hones, and they all sharpen your knives at a different angles. First set of hones is a very aggressive one. We use him to pre shape the bevel only. The second one we use for knife sharpening and honing. The third one also comes in this category. You have to know that you will need another type of sharpener for scissors, because model 110 will not sharpen them. On the other side, it will sharpen all knives that can fit in its sharpening slots (pocket and hunting knives included).

Another interesting electric knife sharpener comes from Chef's Choice again. Model 120 costs about 130 dollars and represents an upgraded version of model described above. It has spring guides along with the rotating conical hones in place of magnetic guides and orbital motion hones. 120 will sharpen your knives faster than the model 110, which means that fewer passes are needed. Again, there are some who say that this model can wear your knives quickly if you are not sharpening them correctly. But it is a fact that the third stage in model 120 hones edges better than the model 110 does. Chef's Choice 120 electric knife sharpener is built to sharpen straight edged and serrated knives.

You can read many reviews on Chef Choice knife sharpeners, on this blog but on other sites also. Amazon has good reviews and Epinions.com too.

There are some more good electric knife sharpeners by Chef's Choice but most popular ones are models 110 and 120. They are a bit pricey, but this is because they rule the market right now. There aren't many manufacturers that produce electric sharpening tools. One of them is Presto 08800 EverSharp, small and affordable electric sharpener that people are satisfied with. Reviewers said that this cheap sharpener produces a sharp edge, but doesn't work so good on shorter knives.

There are a few guidelines you need to know about electric sharpeners.

First, consider what you want to sharpen with your tool. You know that serrated knives degrade more slowly than straight-edged knives, but they will still need sharpening. If your serrated knives are heavily used, purchase a knife sharpener that can handle them.

Second, try to find a suitable electric knife sharpener, one that can sit on your kitchen counter with ease. The reason for this is simple, if your sharpener is close to you, you will tend to keep all your knives razor sharp and ready to cut. Electric sharpeners do not need to be assembled, but they do require counter space.

And third, try to see how much time you can put into knives sharpening and how much control you really want. There are some great water stones that deliver beautifully polished blades, but to use them takes a steady hand, practice and patience.