I never liked using a sharpening steel (the metal rod that comes with many knife sets) to keep my knives sharp. I did get a whestone (a sharpening stone) which many professionals use, and used it – once. It was too time consuming to be practical. If I need to prepare dinner for three cranky kids, the last thing I want to think about is sharpening my knife. But maintaining your knives makes food prep smoother and easier. Knives can go dull quickly and if you spend any time in the kitchen keeping your knife sharp is essential.
A chef friend of mine introduced me to the AccuSharp Knife Sharpener
My most used knives are a chef’s knife, a serrated knife, and a pairing knife. You can easily get by with just these three in your kitchen and are worth investing in- I’ve had mine almost ten years. Take care of your knives: always use a cutting board, keep them out of the dishwasher, and keep them sharp. Now go chop some veggies!!
How do you sharpen your knives? What other tips can you share?
What a find! I think I will get one of these knife sharpeners. I appreciate word of mouth recommendations, and to also have “Cooks” give it high marks makes it all the more appealing. Our usual way of sharpening knives is to send them to the manufacturer (life time knife sharpening from them), but that is a hassle, and it leaves me without my favorite knives for about 2 weeks.
If you do get one of these please let us know what you think!
can you also tell us the brand of knives you’ve been using for almost ten years? I love all of your suggestions and trust that these are great knives! Thanks
also do you keep all these knives pareve? do you have other knives that you use for meat? do you think a carving knife is important?
When I got married we registered for a set of Wusthof knives (now I realize I didn’t need a full set). Since 90% of my food prep is vegetables and fruit – I keep my chef’s knife and some pairing knives pareve (and I use a pareve wooden cutting board for the vegetable prep), the smaller size serrated knife (for cheeses) and the rest of the set for dairy, I also got a Santoku Wusthof knife later on that I really like. I bought Henckels knives for meat to make it easier to keep them separate- a chef’s knife, bread knife, pairing knife. I prefer the Wusthof chef’s knife than the Henckels – it’s lighter. I also bought a Wusthof classic carving knife with “hollow edge” which I find useful cutting thin slices of brisket or turkey breast – but you could really do fine with a good chef’s knife for that.
I haven’t tried other brands so I can’t say if these are the best out there and I know much of this has to do with how they feel in your hands.
David Lebovitz has a post on his blog on which knives he likes; http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/05/how-to-take-care-of-your-knives/ that you may find useful – or confuse you more…
Anthony Bourdain in “Kitchen Confidential” recommends the Global chef’s knife, you can read an excerpt of his knife picks on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Confidential-Adventures-Culinary-Underbelly/dp/product-description/0060934913 – I’ve never tried them but it’s worth looking into
Lisa, I truly appreciate your thorough answers. I employ a similar system in my kitchen re knife/cutting board status. I do need new knives and I am going to check out all of your suggestions. Thanks again!
Let us know what you end up deciding on!
Thanks for the information, Lisa. I haven’t used this tool before. How is it holding up over time? It is very affordable, which makes me wonder how long it will last. I use a Gatco sharpening system that has been working well for me.
I’m still using it. And it’s easy to change the blades when the time comes.
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One small nitpick, and that is that a honing steel doesn’t actually “sharpen” your knives. It just straightens the bur on the cutting edge of the blade, which helps hold your edge longer. You still do occasionally have to use a sharpener in addition to a honing steel to maintain a truly sharp edge.
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I appreciate that feedback Matt!
I had clarified that on a later post so appreciate you bringing that up here!
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Thanks for the tips. Just like anything, it requires practice. And I think everyone has a couple crappy knives lying around to practice on before they take a swing at sharpening their best one(s).
Thank you very much for sharing this article.
The accusharp knife sharpeners is fine. It is the best. It will work better.
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I’m always confused with sharpening knives especially with all different types of knives and materials used to make kitchen knives. But, the one I find hard to sharpen is ceramic knives. Any tips on how to deal with this specific type of knives?
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Hey El Mehdi, true that, ceramic knives can be really difficult to sharpen. But one advantage to having ceramic knives is that they need to be sharpen less frequently. It’s best to use a diamond wheel sharpener.
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I agree, there is not match between the knife sharpening rod and the whetstone. If you are serious about cooking, you should go for something that professionals use. i.e. whetstone. 🙂
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As a chef of a restaurant, I used to perform various cutting operations like vegetables, meats, fish, butter, and many more. So, no doubt my knife should remain sharp all the time. Note that- I like to use only one knife for all these tasks. Changing knives for different purposes is boring to me. That’s why I depend on an electric knife sharpener. The model I’m using is the Presto Professional Electric Knife Sharpener. I had to invest about $55 for this model. But now it seems like I’ve invested much cash for a sharpener. For the very next time, I’ll definitely try the model you’ve shared. If this can fulfill my needs, I will never go for an overrated one. Thanks!
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I’m a knife maker, I make custom kitchen knifes for a number of chefs in the USA. The pull through ceramic sharpeners (like the one you linked) are not bad at all, generally they get you 80% of the way there but I would not use them on a knife you really care about or spent a lot of money on…
If you want a low effort sharpener that will look after your blade you cannot beat the water stones. They take a little skill, some of them are annoying as you have to soak them and keep them wet but they are without a doubt the best thing for the job.
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