I own a set of Henckels knives that are several years old. They are used every day and despite regular honing they were becoming dull. Keeping knives razor sharp is a skill that requires some practice and the right kind of sharpener, and so I was skeptical that one of these quick sharpeners would do a good job at sharpening them, but I decided to give it a try. Does the sharpener make dull knives sharper? It certainly does, in just a few minutes. Does it make them sharp enough for routine use? I would say yes; I am not a professional chef, but I find that I am much happier with the performance of my knives after sharpening. Does it return them to their factory degree of razor sharpness? Unfortunatley, no. I think there is no question that my knives were sharper out of the box than I can achieve with this hand sharpener. But that does not mean that this was a bad purchase. It has restored my knives from being a bit dull to being perfectly adequate for the use they get in my kitchen.If you want to achieve like-brand-new razor sharpness, this sharpener will not do that for you. If you want to bring your dull knives back to a degree of sharpness that will be adequate for 99% of home cooks, this would be a good item to have.
I am the proud owner of 25 Henckels knives, largely due to a consolidation of two households. I was never able to get a truly sharp edge on these knives, regardless of the sharpeners used and I tried many different gizmos using different sharpening techniques. The latest was the motorized "Chef's Choice" using diamond encrusted wheels and magnetized knife guides for the proper sharpening angle. Doing 25 knives took about two hours at least and the result was usually unremarkable. Actually, the knives remained remarkably dull regardless of the effort expended with this noisy gadget. And then I stumbled across the Twin Sharp Duo Knife Sharpener. Somewhat encouraged by the largely positive customer feedback, I bought one and have never looked back. The process is silent, it takes less than one third of the time compared with the "Chef's Choice" and the results are remarkable. The knives slice through the edge of a sheet of paper with no difficulty, tomato skin is no longer a challenge and carving a side of beef or a turkey is a joy. Pulling the knives through the sharpening ports of the Sharpener at first seems to yield nothing, but after the third or fourth pass the steel or ceramic plates engage the knife and impart an amazing edge. Maybe I am over-reacting because all my previous efforts with other sharpeners were overly time consuming and did not yield good results. This one, however, is different. It actually works! Some have said that the gadget does not impart the same edge as a professional sharpening would and that may be true. However, I don't intend to shave with my knives and for demanding kitchen work they are about as sharp as one would need. I think Henckels has done it this time. This is a great sharpener!
This was a gift for my wife who is going to Culinary School and uses Henckel Four Star knives. The two step sharpener works great and is very easy to use. A few strokes in slot 1, then about the same amount of strokes in slot II and the knife is new sharp again. The body of the sharpener is easy to grasp and really feels secure on the table with its rubber feet holding it steady as you run the knife in each of the slots. This sharpener not only works great but also looks great with its stainless steel body and frame.
While I have a great set of Henckels for home use, I bought this more to use on my work knives as a bartender. At work we have cheap generic knives that are highly abused.It took some time with the steel wheels to clean up the edge on the cheap knives, much more than "5 passes", but once I got the edge down and nicks out, the ceramics gave them terrific edge. Almost a month later the edges are holding up great despite heavy abuse and constant runs through the dishwasher (dishwashers take the edge off of knives - hand wash), since I have no control over the abuse my coworkers dish out.I am really looking forward to using these to clean up my personal knives out home, as soon as I get them out of storage.Highly recommended.
I give this thing an A+. I have a set of 14 year old Henkle four stars that I have never sharpened with anything other than the steel. I needed something more. This thing worked very, very well for me and the price is not bad at all. Needless to say my knives are now as sharp as when they were new. I'm pleased with my purchase.
This sharpener worked fine for touching up the edges on my knives (4 star Henckels and some random no-names). For edges that have a correct existing bevel and are dull but not abused, restores a fine edge fast. If the existing bevel is too steep or otherwise messed up this may not work (it's not a grinder). Takes some attention to get a smooth pass without chattering.'
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