The 7 Best Knife Sharpeners of | Tested by The Spruce Eats.
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Manual knife sharpeners. The Best Knife Sharpener
Manual knife sharpeners. The 6 Best Knife Sharpeners of 2023, Tested and Reviewed
So to level the field, we looked for sharpeners that could consistently produce knives capable of slicing a ripe tomato in one swift stroke, without sawing, tearing the skin or flesh, or having to press down hard on the blade. We also looked for sharpeners that created a consistently sharp edge from one end of the blade to the other. We looked for sharpeners that could handle all of them, and for ones that, more broadly, would work equally well on thin, thick, long, and short blades.
This distinction no longer holds: The modern alloys now used by knife makers worldwide are generally tough enough to support acute edges, regardless of how hard they are. These criteria narrowed our list of contenders considerably. Then we spoke with representatives for several of the remaining contenders to get a better understanding of their technologies. We arrived at a final group of seven to test in To test knife sharpeners, you need dull knives.
Then we destroyed their razor-sharp factory edges. First we chipped and bent the edges by chopping and sawing on grit sandpaper for two minutes; then we rounded and dulled whatever edge was left by sawing, scraping, and twisting the blades on grit sandpaper for another two minutes. We repeated this process after every test, to ensure that all of our sharpener contenders faced an equal challenge. Both of our knives arrived sharp enough to cleanly slice the tomatoes with virtually no downward pressure on the blade—their weight alone was enough.
Dull knives will squish them rather than slicing them, and coarse or uneven edges can tear the skin. This gave us a sense of how versatile each sharpener was in terms of knife type, and it also forced the sharpeners to work intensively, potentially revealing inadequate motors or other weaknesses. In a separate test, we looked at nine honing rods.
Our methodology for picking, test protocols, and results are combined in the honing rod section of this guide. And it did so more quickly and reliably than any other sharpener.
Its comprehensive instruction manual explains each step clearly, and its notably sturdy construction suggests that you can expect many years of performance. Above all, the Trizor XV is our pick because of its ability to dependably return badly dulled knives to an extremely sharp edge. Also important, the Trizor XV sharpened the blades evenly from heel to tip, leaving no dull spots. And the Trizor XV sharpens knives fast. From start to finish, it took us a maximum of 4 minutes to bring an 8-inch knife from a sandpaper-dulled state to a like-new edge.
By contrast, on the Work Sharp E3, it took at least 5 minutes to sharpen an 8-inch knife, and often longer. The total number of pulls sometimes topped out lower, at around 20, but because every pull took about 8 seconds, when going by the instructions, the total time was greater.
And on badly dulled knives, we sometimes ran to 30 pulls on the Work Sharp E3, which took about 8 minutes. One reason the Trizor XV produces consistently sharp knives is its design, which makes it virtually impossible to mess up the sharpening process. Like most electric sharpeners, the Trizor XV uses rigid, angled slots to help orient the blade.
But it adds a feature that others lack: spring-loaded guides inside the slots that grip the blade at the correct angle and keep it from shifting around during the sharpening process. In our testing, despite taking great care, we found it easy to slip up by starting the blade at the wrong angle or shifting it midstream because the slot provides wiggle room , or having the blade snag in the slot and skid sideways into the belt.
Details on the E3 appear below, in the Competition section. By contrast, the manuals from Work Sharp Culinary for all four models we tested are more basic and would benefit from additional detail.
Finally, the build quality of the Trizor XV stands out. The Work Sharp E3 feels lightweight in comparison, at 1 pound, 10 ounces, with an 8. But because of the weaker motor, sharpening with the E2 took a long time, almost 10 minutes—versus about 4 with the Trizor XV.
Thereafter, if you take reasonable care of your knife, a quick touch-up every few months will be enough. That sort of edge works quite well for coarsely slicing up food, just as the teeth on a wood saw are good at ripping through wood. We were even able to easily peel an apple with a paring knife sharpened by the E2—something only a very sharp knife with a smooth edge can do.
The E2 suffers from one irritating shortcoming. And so you wind up repeatedly turning the machine back on, cycle after cycle, until your knife is sharp. For a blade that was dulled by normal kitchen use, we found 10 to 14 pulls, or a total of 3 to 5 minutes, to be sufficient. After testing nine honing rods, both steel and ceramic, we think the Idahone Fine Ceramic Sharpening Rod 12 inches is the best for most kitchens.
It rapidly restored the edges of all the knives we tested, yet it was gentler on blades than the other rods we tested. We gravitated toward the ceramic rods. By contrast, the steel hones felt slick—the blade wanted to slip over instead of slide against the hone—and tended to chip hard, modern blades. But the Idahone was noticeably finer than the other ceramic rods, and it achieved the same or better honing with less abrasion. It further distinguished itself with a couple of fine details: Its ergonomic maple handle is more comfortable than the synthetic handles on the rest of the competitors, and its hanging ring is amply sized and made of sturdy steel.
The other ceramic rods we tested had smaller hanging rings, plastic rings, or no hanging ring at all. We recommend hanging any ceramic rod, because the material is somewhat brittle and can chip or break if it gets jostled around in a drawer or utensil holder.
Note that ceramic hones need occasional cleaning to remove knife metal particles that build up on their surface they form a gray layer. Melamine foam sponges like the Mr. There are many different ways to sharpen with water stones, and you can find them all on YouTube. It gets bewildering. Placing the stone sideways lets you see the blade edge as you go, which helps you maintain a consistent angle.
And using your hips rather than your arms to sweep the blade over the stone makes for a stable, consistent stroke. Finally, be ready for a learning curve.
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