For maintaining you knives in top-notch condition all the time you should have a knife sharpener. Basically these knife sharpeners can be classified into two: small hand-held blocks or large electric sharpeners. There are quite a few options available in each category. The purpose of employing knife sharpeners is to refurbish the blade of a knife back to its original sharpness. As most of the householders are not professional chefs who are experienced in sharpening knives, they remain ignorant of the technicalities involved while choosing the product, which is so desirable an item to have around the house. Here's a brief introduction to this product and some hints to enable you to decide what to look for when buying one.
First you have to decide if you would have a manual version or an electrically operated machine for sharpening your knives. You would certainly need an electric version if you have too many knives or they need to be sharpened too frequently. The electric sharpeners work very fast and are not tiring for your arms. Various models are available that start from a small countertop model to larger models needed for industrial applications. If you have ample of space, it'll be desirable to go for an electric model, else go for sharpening stones or sharpening steels, as they are easier to store in a kitchen. Of course manual sharpeners would need additional labor on your part and are a bit tiring.
A small tabletop model or a handheld sharpener would generally suffice for most domestic kitchens. Beginners should buy models that are provided with an angle guide that holds the knife at a constant angle against the sharpener. Unless you have had some experience in sharpening knives, you may find it very difficult to maintain the required angle. However, with some practice you'll find it easy to use a sharpening stone or steel.
A knife sharpener may sharpen either plain or serrated blades. Some are provided with an extra slot to sharpen scissors. In case you want to sharpen large blades, like axe blades or gardening tools, you require a big sharpener for handling such blades. A tabletop grinder will be ideal for such applications. But a skilled and careful person can sharpen large blades with a manual sharpening stone or steel. Grinding wheels, made of aluminum oxide, can sharpen a wide range of tools and materials, whereas knife sharpeners are meant for kitchen knives only.
Depending upon the frequency of use, a knife sharpener lasts for a couple of years. The principle of working is to grind the blade against a tough and harder surface. The surface hardness is measured in terms of grit. Generally a sharpener is provided with two sides: one is a rougher side with low grit for pre-sharpening and the other side has finer grit for honing the blade. Some stones are provided with the same grit on both the sides. In such a case you need to buy two stones for getting the desired sharpness of your knife.
Many materials are used for sharpeners. These include stone, ceramic, diamond, and steel. Ceramic stones are rather fragile and may break if dropped on a hard surface but they offer very sharp edges. Diamond sharpeners last longer as they don't wear so fast and provide a sharp edge. Carbide sharpeners would suffice to sharpen a knife that is not too dull. Steel sharpener has the capacity to quickly reshape, but not enough for sharpening frequently used knives. Natural stone is probably the cheapest choice, but on being used frequently it wears down along the middle of the stone.
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