I am starting this thread here instead of using the Sharpening thread. The knife sharpening thread is more specific to the bushcraft, hunting style knives. This is for your kitchen knife set. This is not a review but rather just an informational thread that I think might be beneficial to some of the fat guys like me that really enjoy cooking and food prep. Feel free to chime in or offer other opinions besides my perspective. To begin, I purchased the Chef's Choice Professional 130 electric knife sharpener about 4 or 5 years ago. I had not yet found this forum and to be blunt my sharpening skills were crap. Well this sharpener was a godsend at that time. It allowed me to restore and keep a great edge on my kitchen knife set, something which had previously eluded me. This device was a 3 step process. The first stage is a diamond wheel set to a 20 degree bevel (per side). I estimated this angle using some paper templates that I made up. These are easily made and a very effective measuring device. The second stage is a polishing strop which for some inexplicable reason is set to about 22 degrees, thereby putting a micro bevel on the already ground edge. I rarely used that wheel. The third stage is a hardened steel which very effectively removes any burrs and offers a great finished edge. The steel is in the middle and numbered stage 2. Leap ahead now to joining the forum where I have heartily embraced learning everything you guys have to offer on knife sharpening. Over the course of the last two years my hand sharpening skills have developed immensely. I do not use any system sharpening sets. One of the best tips that I incorporate faithfully, is using a Sharpie to mark the beveled edge. This is how it looks before I start. If a I am holding a flat consistent angle then the marker will uniformly grind out. If I am holding a bad angle the marker will show you are grinding high or low. I purposely ground this same knife with too shallow of an angle (in the picture below). So what it has done is removed the markings away from the edge and left the red on the edge immediately telling me to steepen up on my subsequent passes. The second noteworthy tip is start with slow passes and light pressure. This allows me to "feel" the edge as I visually check that I am getting my bevel at a proper angle. As I gain confidence and feel for the edge I will increase pressure and quicken my pace. So for the last two years that I've been a member here I've all but quit using my electric sharpener. Instead it is DMT diamond stones and Flexxx strops. And I consider myself a very good sharpener at this point. (No apologies to Bravo, Slade, ESEE6&3, etc, because I'm not at that level of their skill.) Well my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to see just how good the Chef's Choice is versus The Man (that would be me for those of you keeping score). My test specimens are a 30 year Henckels 7" chef's knife and a 60 year old Case 5" small chef's knife. Since I have been sharpening both these knives by hand for the past couple of years I really just had to pass them through the machine and see how well they came out compared to my free handed efforts. Here is the Case edge after two passes per side. As you can see it is spot on my 20 degree edge. The residual red you still see is from me coloring outside the lines of the bevel. These will come off with the stropping step. Here is the Henckels edge after two passes. Pretty much the same difference. So this tells me a couple of things and I've drawn the following conclusions. The machined edges are obviously consistent and uniform on both sides as it holds the same angle. Therefore, my free handed edges must be consistent or they would have displayed uneven red markings after passing through the sharpener. So I've found a good bevel angle using my free handed method and I have stayed consistent in using it. The machine is faster but I prefer the therapy of working on the stones and strops and taking my time. The steel on the sharpener is very good for touch up with a couple of quick passes. But when I finish a knife edge by hand with a black/green Flexxx strop the edge is definitely sharper. I would offer these further comments. The Chef's Choice does a nice job for those of you who are reluctant to sharpen by hand. Just follow the system and you will get very good results. Don't overdo the number of passes. It can remove material quickly. Skip the stropping wheel as it will create a micro bevel that is unnecessary. I will continue to sharpen by hand.
This is an addendum to my above comments and tips. I learn more quickly when I visually see a concept. To that end I've purchased the following two pieces of equipment to help with my visualization. The first item is jeweler's loupe at 20x magnification. This was about $30 on Amazon. The other item is a microscope made by Amscope. It is the M150C with 40x, 100x, 250x, 400x, and 1000x magnifications. This cost me about $85. Yeah, I admit I am a little anal when it comes to my stuff. But there is nothing like seeing a blade edge at 40x magnification to show you what you are doing both right and wrong.
My folks gave me a Work Sharp system for Christmas. I gotta say, I like it better than the Lansky system that I used for years. Makes a wicked edge. The 6000 grit belts seem to wear a little quick, but you can load a worn out belt with some strop paste for straight razors and make a kitchen knife really insane.
