Global Ceramic Water Sharpener GS-440SS

Product Information

We calculate the difference between the dulled and sharpened knife to see how effective the knife sharpener has been. German company Wüsthof has been making world-famous knives for more than 200 years, so it makes sense that its sharpening tools are also high-quality. The Easy Edge features a spinning belt that runs at three separate speeds for coarse honing up to final polishing, along with a one-touch program with indicator lights for each stage. An integrated suction fan also keeps dust out of the way.

A honing steel, sometimes also called a honing rod or a sharpening steel, doesn't exactly sharpen your knife. Instead, it realigns the cutting edge to smooth out microscopic bumps and jagged edges.Design: We highlighted sharpeners that featured multiple stages for maximum efficiency or different slots for different blade sizes. Knife sharpeners can be bulky, so we also focused on compact sizes that you could store easily in your kitchen. The flexible belt helps accommodate knives of all different sizes, though we found that it also leaves a lot of wiggle room for the blade, making it somewhat difficult to keep knives at the exact correct angle through the entire sharpening process. The Easy Edge theoretically can sharpen a serrated knife, but it only sharpens the flat edge and not the serrations themselves, so we recommend against it. This knife sharpener is simple to use and sharpens very well, but with its high price, it's probably best for someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen or is a professional chef. How easy or difficult the sharpeners were to operate: We tested both manual and electric sharpeners, noting their learning curve and ease of control. We also appreciated the models that came with easy-to-follow directions and video instructions. If your sharpener has more than one setting, select 'coarse' for very blunt knives. The fine or honing setting is for everyday knife maintenance. Keep knives in a covered, safe environment when not in use," says Hartley. "Do a weekly light hone with steel or stone, always wiping away particles with a clean dry towel. Don't feel like you have to work fast—with a process like this, form is everything. Work out the proper form first, and then the speed will come." Can you sharpen kitchen shears with a knife sharpener?

Repeat this action three to six times. You can go for three if your blade is just a bit dull, and more if it's blunter. Hold the knife at about a 22-degree angle to the stone. 90 degrees is your knife placed on the stone as if you were going to cut through it. Tilt the knife halfway between that and the whetstone and you'll be at 45 degrees. Then tilt it halfway between that and the stone, and you'll be at around the correct angle you need. A whetstone is much harder to use. To get a good result, you need skill and practice, plus considerable patience. We rate each knife sharpener on how easy it is to set up and use, plus how easy the instructions are to follow. Things we learnt testing knife sharpeners Keeping it at that angle, pull the knife down the honing steel while pulling the handle towards you.A brand-new knife has (in theory) a perfectly straight blade, ground down to a precise cutting edge at a specific angle. As you use it, the metal on the edge gets damaged on a microscopic level, causing uneven spots that can get caught on foods and create a ragged tear rather than a clean cut. A sharpener does for a metal knife basically the same thing that sandpaper does for a wooden board: It shaves off a layer of uneven material to make the surface smooth and even again. Different models of sharpener use different materials and methods to remove metal, along with different methods of holding the knife in the correct position while doing so. We love Global Knives as the quality of the steel (CROMOVA 18) is fantastic. The steel has the great property of being hard but malleable and sharpens up really well to create a razor-sharp edge. As we work on Global Knives so often, we have sharpened and repaired pretty much every model and type of Global Knife including the Classic, Ni, UKON, and Sai ranges as well as the limited-edition models they produce. We can safely say our Global knife sharpening service is the best and most comprehensive in the UK. One of the most common questions we get asked here at Knife Sharp is ‘ Do we sharpen Global Knives?’ The answer is most certainly yes! In fact, we see more Global Knives pass through our knife sharpening workshop than any other brand of knife. This process is essentially the same with both a manual and electric sharpener, but the motorized abrasives in an electric model will do more of the work for you. The most important thing is to try to use the same amount of pressure and the same angle with each pull through the slot—different models of sharpener make this easier or harder, depending on their design. Unless the directions specify otherwise, it should take three to five pulls through the coarse slot, and then just a couple through each finer slot, to sharpen the knife. If it's not as sharp as you like, try a few more pulls through the finest grit slot, and if that doesn't work, try the whole process over again.

According to Blake Hartley, Executive Chef at Lapeer Seafood Market, a sharpening steel removes material from your knife by moving the edge alongside the steel to restore the V-shape of a blunt edge. A honing steel is not used to sharpen but to restore the bent edge so that it's straight again. Each knife sharpener will have its own specific directions, and you should always follow those, but in general, you insert the blade into the slot and pull it through with even pressure several times. It's important to make sure the full blade passes over the abrasive, all the way from heel to tip. Then, you repeat the process on the other side of the blade (though some sharpeners work on both sides at once), first using the coarsest slot and then each of the finer ones.It doesn’t matter which knives you buy—they'll all need to be sharpened periodically. Besides making it easier to cut and chop, keeping knives sharp is also safer for your fingers: Dull knives can drag or skip while cutting, which can increase your chance of injury. How often you need to use a knife sharpener depends on exactly how often you use the knife, what you cut, and what surface you cut on, but professionals typically recommend sharpening once or twice a year.