My new toy

[Warpy]

Most of you on this board heard my nonstop kvetching about being in a kitchen with no cooking equipment to speak of and a drawer full of knives that were too dull to chop lettuce. Well, I've overcompensated:



Holy smokes! Does this thing WORK! I'd thought I'd been getting decent edges with a sharpening steel and resorting to an oilstone when the steel didn't do the trick, but I was wrong. This thing got an old knife so sharp it just drifted through a tomato with absolutely no movement or pressure applied to it.

If you're looking for an expensive toy some day, this is it. Nothing makes cooking more of a joy than an exquisitely sharp knife, and this delivers that very quickly.

Just watch your fingers after.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Yup, that's quite the toy.

Sharpening knives can be like polishing copper pots or burnishing your silver. Mindless yet amazingly theraputic and a way to 'connect' with the tools you value.

Then there's the pure practical result. Sharp knives!

[NJCher]

3. that's funny

About the therapeutic.

I recently went to a cooking school and the chef/insructor made remarks throughout the presentation, "This is very therapeutic." Or "I do this for therapy," etc. It was amusing because one had to wonder about the hectic qualities of the chef's life.

Nevertheless, "therapeutic" is how she described sharpening knives, which she says she does on Sunday nights, watching television.




Cher

[anitar1]

2. I bought that model recently and it is great. . I tried other

methods also, and finally bit the bullet. I love the toy. Have fun.

[Warpy]

5. It was either this or a bench grinder

and Black & Decker simply hasn't paid attention to their design enough to allow a bench grinder to fit into the average kitchen.

[babylonsister]

4. An excellent Christmas idea for the person who has everything!

Thanks!

[wryter2000]

6. I have one of those

It does work really well.

Oh, hey...on edit, mine has a third set of griding stones on the other end of the thingy. It's the very first one you use on the knife -- the coarsest grinder. I think you only use it on knives that are really, really dull and just use the two finer grinders on most knives.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. That's correct ......

I have the same one you do .... three grinders. They say to use the first one to initiate the sharpening on dull knives and as the start to any knife so as to set the bevels for the second and third grinders. That said, if you only have the two grinders (I happen to have a two grinder model, too ... got it at a yard sale.) you just need to go through the first grinder a few more times for ordinary knives and a lot more for really bad knives.

[Tab]

8. I've got one of those

Have had it for a few years now - it's great. Mine has 3 ports - one's usually covered but yours looks like it has two (the first is just for the knives from hell anyway). Just a little practice on how to let the weight of the knife do the dragging, and you're off.

I've heard professional chefs say the ONLY way to sharpen is with a sharpening steel, because otherwise you don't get the perfect angle, but if it's not bullshit then it's in a more rarified atmosphere than I usually cook in. For me, the chef's choice is great.

As far as being an "expensive toy", I don't recall that it was that much. I think $35. $50 at the very most. Given that my knives cost more than that, it's a good investment.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Actually, I think the three holer is about a hunnert bux. And as for steel

sharpening ... steels don't actually sharpen. All they do is straighten and align the burr that is, in fact, the microscopic cutting edge. The only metal it removes is the fine chips that eventually come off the burr. To truly sharpen, you need to remove metal (as these gizmos or a stone do).

A steel is best used, literally, once a day (or more) in commercial environments, and each time you use a knife at home. A few passes makes a world of difference.