Since I got this knife sharpener, all of my knives are really sharp all the time (and some of my neighbor's, too)!
One day I looked at my dull and chipped knives and decided enough's enough. I had been using a Wusthof pull-through knife sharpener for years. Even though it had both steel blades and ceramic slots, with angles for both western and Asian-style knives, it seemed that the more I used it, the worse the chips got. So I educated myself on knife sharpening. I got some Japanese style water stones and a diamond sharpening stone and learned to use them. It was fun and interesting and relaxing in a meditative sort of way. But it took quite a bit of time to set up and use and a lot of practice to really get good at it. Browsing the knife aficionado forums, I found that many experts prefer a guided sharpening tool. Among the favorites, and one of the less expensive ones, was the Spyderco Sharpmaker. So when Prime Day came around, I went for it.
The tool is lightweight, compact, and safe to use with sharp knives. It is set up to put a sharp edge (with a 20 degree setting for western knives or 15 degrees for Asian knives) on practically any bladed tool, including scissors and most serrated knives. It's really easy to use, and just about any adult can have good results with it. I won't try putting into words how to use it -- just watch one of the many videos already out there. It doesn't take much room in the drawer, and it's ready to go in under a minute. You can use it to relatively quickly get a knife edge that will slice through paper, with no special expertise. If you want to go further, to get to a "scary sharp" level, a few more strokes on a leather strop or a very fine ceramic honing rod (not included) will get you there. There are also optional ultrafine Sharpmaker rods available that are said to do the same thing, but I haven't used them, so I can't say from personal experience.
Generally speaking, if your knife is in decent shape to begin with, this tool will hone it to a sharp edge for you and keep it there. If your knife is badly chipped or needs to be reprofiled, you have some options. 1) You could work on it with the standard Sharpmaker rods, but it could take a very long time. 2) You could use bench sharpening stones to fix the edge and then maintain it with the Sharpmaker. 3) You could get it professionally sharpened and then maintain it with the Sharpmaker. If you only have a few knives, this could be a good option. 4) You could buy the optional diamond or cubic boron nitride Sharpmaker sharpening rods. These do a great job (I have used the diamond rods), but unfortunately they aren't cheap. Depending on prices (kit prices fluctuate a lot), they can cost nearly as much as the Sharpmaker kit itself.
The Sharpmaker is a great tool for sharpening almost all knives. The basic rods may not be optimal for the hardest super steels / powder steels (though some say they work just fine) -- if you have that kind of steel, you know who you are. For the rest of us, I couldn't recommend it highly enough. I've read of people using these for 20 or 30 years. The rods can break if they're dropped on a hard surface, but they can be replaced for a reasonable price.
There's only one problem with it. Sooner or later, you're going to run out of blades to sharpen!
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Reviews with images
Great Tool For Beginners and Veterans Alike
Let me start off by saying, I thought I was doing something wrong for the longest time. The video and booklet recommends 20 strokes on each side. For lower grade steel, I'm sure this is the case but for a little harder steel (S30V) I'm sure I did roughly 60-70 strokes at least, but once I finally figured it out, life became very easy. I love the portability of it and I find myself just sharpening my knives because it's easy and I can. One of the best purchases I ever made without a doubt.
Top reviews from other countries
BC gadget guy
Best sharpener i own out of many. I bought 3 of them.
Reviewed in Canada on April 28, 2024
Fred
Enfin un affuteur efficace et utilisable
Reviewed in France on December 23, 2020
Rudolf
Does a proper job even with a fairly incompetent user.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2020
