Knife sharpeners
Knife sharpeners
EXPERT KNOWLEDGE KNIFE SHARPENERS
Pull-through Knife sharpeners are practical kitchen aids that are particularly suitable for the quick and uncomplicated resharpening of knives. They are easy to use and also offer beginners the opportunity to bring knives back to a sharpness suitable for everyday use in a short space of time.
Types of pull-through knife sharpeners
Knife sharpeners for pull-through sharpening are available in various versions, which differ in their sharpening technique and the sharpening materials used.
The main types are
- Simple V-sharpeners: these usually have a V-shaped sharpening groove and use fixed or rotating grinding wheels sanding discs to sharpen the blade. They are particularly easy to use.
- Knife sharpeners without stock removal: These sharpeners do not remove any stock from the knife, but only straighten the burr (similar to a sharpening steel). They are suitable for chrome vanadium steels with a hardness of around 55 HRC.
- Knife sharpeners with replaceable grinding stones: Here, replaceable diamond or ceramic particles are used on carrier plates to enable multi-stage sharpening.
Functionality
Knife sharpeners for pull-through sharpening work very simply: the blunt knife is pulled through the sharpening slot or past a contact surface several times at a fixed angle. The sharpener's grinding wheels or grinding stones are set in such a way that they remove material evenly from the cutting edge as they are pulled through, thus forming a new, sharp cutting edge. (Except Knife sharpeners without material removal).
Angle adjustment and function of the knife sharpeners
Compared to free-guided sharpening methods, where the user has to hold the sharpening angle themselves, pull-through sharpeners offer the advantage that the cutting edge angle is already preset. This ensures precision and enables even inexperienced users to achieve a quick and even sharpening result. Unfortunately, not every knife has the same cutting edge angle, which is why more material may need to be removed in the first step in order to adapt the knife to the sharpener's angle.
Care and cleaning
Knife sharpeners should be cleaned regularly to ensure the service life of the Grinding stones or Grinding wheels sanding discs. Most models can be easily cleaned with water and a soft cloth.
Limits and possibilities
Pull-through Knife sharpeners are ideal for resharpening and maintaining everyday knives, e.g. made from chrome vanadium steel. Their ease of use and compact size make them a practical kitchen aid. However, they generally do not offer a precise finish and are sometimes not suitable for blades made from multi-layer steels with high hardness. For professional results or sharpening delicate knives, classic grinding stones or other sharpening tools such as abrasive-guided knife sharpeners are recommended. A pull-through knife sharpener is also not the right choice for damaged or heavily worn blades.
Tokico Knife sharpeners
Sharpening with the Tokico Knife sharpener
Most manual knife sharpeners are not suitable for Japanese chef's knives as they are too coarse and can damage the fine, delicate cutting edges. However, the Tokico knife sharpener (no. 705373) is an exception and is designed to meet the requirements of both Japanese and Western knives. The knife blade is moistened beforehand and then drawn through the sharpener's slots three to ten times. The sharpening quality is limited by the 400 Grit of the stones, which provides a coarse but effective sharpness for everyday use.
The rotating grinding wheels sanding discs in the Tokico sharpener provide constant material removal through their movement and adapt slightly to the blade, resulting in a consistent and clean sharpening result.
DC Fasttrack Knife sharpeners
The DC Fasttrack Knife sharpeners are the ideal solution for quick and easy sharpening of Kitchen knives and cutter knives. It is small and handy, which makes it very mobile and flexible to use.
Unlike the Tokico, the DC Fasttrack Knife sharpeners use a system with attachable and replaceable Sharpening stones, which are also preset to a Grinding angle. The Diamond Cross diamond stones used in the Fasttrack are mounted on the base at a fixed angle so that the user guides the knife blade at exactly this angle. Unlike rotating Grinding wheels sanding discs, the Sharpening stones in the DC Fasttrack do not move, so the user guides the blade in a gliding motion over the Abrasive surface size. This has the advantage that there are no moving parts that need to be cleaned.
The Diamond Cross (DC) Sharpening stones developed by M. Power Tools are characterised by their high manufacturing quality. They are interchangeable and are available in five gradations from extra coarse to extra fine grit. The monocrystalline diamond particles of these Sharpening stones not only guarantee a long service life, but also uniform material removal.
For Use, it is recommended that the diamond-tipped Sharpening devices are lightly moistened with water and only slight pressure is applied in order to achieve optimum sharpening performance.
Why we advise against electric knife sharpeners
Electric knife sharpeners often work with rotating grinding wheels sanding discs or belts that rotate quickly and have a relatively coarse grit. Although this can sharpen the cutting edge quickly, it often removes too much Material. In addition, electric sharpeners do not always guide the blade at the optimum Angle, which changes the geometry of the blade with repeated use and can shorten its service life enormously.
Another disadvantage is the heat generated by the rapid sharpening process. Straight from inferior electric sharpeners, the cutting edge often gets too hot, which can affect the metal structure. This heat can lead to microfractures, which weaken the cutting edge and make the blades more susceptible to damage overall. Especially with high-quality knives, such as Japanese chef's knives with thinner and harder edges, these knife sharpeners can irreparably damage the blade.
