Farberware Knife Sharpener: What the Bargain Bin Tool Actually Does

The chef’s knife is skating off a tomato skin again. Next to the register at the grocery store sits a black plastic Farberware knife sharpener for ten dollars. It promises two slots, a nonslip base, and a sharp knife in a few pulls.

Here is the straight answer. A Farberware sharpener will make a dull, cheap knife cut again in under a minute. It does that by scraping steel off the edge with a carbide slot, and the edge it leaves is coarse and short lived.

For a $20 knife block, that trade is fine. For anything you care about, it is the wrong tool, and the peers at the same price are only a step sideways.

The four things Farberware calls a knife sharpener

Farberware, a division of Lifetime Brands, sells several different products under the sharpener label. Retail listings blur them together. They are not the same tool.

• Tabletop EdgeKeeper sharpener (SKU FULST11). The manufacturer lists it at $9.99 with ceramic rods, dual slots, a nonslip base, and a 7.5 inch footprint. Hand wash only.
• Two stage EdgeKeeper. Brand store and dealer copy describe tungsten and ceramic slots. One version adds a serrated slot.
• SmartSharp two stage. Same slot layout with a color changing LED indicator. What the light actually measures is not documented anywhere we could verify.
• Electric EdgeKeeper. Spinning abrasive wheels behind a guide, coarse stage then fine stage. No wattage, wheel material, or angle is published.

There is also the EdgeKeeper self sharpening knife set, covered below. One discrepancy worth flagging: the $9.99 tabletop page says ceramic rods only, while the two stage copy says tungsten plus ceramic. Treat them as different SKUs, ceramic only on the cheapest unit and carbide plus ceramic on the two stage models.

What the slots actually do to an edge

A carbide slot is two hardened blocks set in a V. Dragging a knife through them shaves a curl of steel off each side of the edge. That is why the knife feels sharp at once, and why owners say it eats metal.

The ceramic slot is gentler. It burnishes the fresh edge and knocks down the burr the carbide left behind. It removes little steel, so the ceramic only tabletop unit is closer to a hone than a sharpener.

The result on any two stage Farberware knife sharpener is a coarse, toothy edge. It bites a tomato today and dulls within days, the most repeated retailer complaint. Our page on what a carbide V does to steel compared with a stone goes deeper.

How to use it without wrecking the knife

Farberware’s instructions say to insert the blade at a 90 degree angle to the slot. That confuses people. It does not mean a 90 degree edge; it means hold the blade vertical, straight up and down in the slot, not tilted left or right.

The slot sets the edge angle for you, and Farberware publishes no number for it. Use moderate pressure and pull from heel to tip toward you. Three or four pulls in the coarse slot is plenty; more just removes more steel.

Finish with a few light pulls in the ceramic slot, then wipe the blade. Our page on when the coarse slot is the wrong choice explains the split.

The self sharpening sheath sets: maintenance, not sharpening

The EdgeKeeper sets put a ceramic strip inside each sheath or block slot. Every time you draw or return the knife, the strip hones the edge. Independent owner write ups describe it as working within limits.

The limit is simple. Honing realigns and polishes an edge that still exists. It cannot rebuild an edge that is gone, so once the knife is truly dull, the sheath stops helping and you need a real sharpener.

The electric one

The electric EdgeKeeper uses spinning abrasive wheels behind a guide, coarse then fine. On paper that is the layout of a $150 electric. In practice it is a different class of machine.

The recurring owner report is blunt: a unit quit after a few days, it removed a lot of steel, and the abrasive felt subpar. There is no heat control and no published angle. It is mediocre, and the same money buys a better manual peer.

Who it suits and who should skip it

Buy it if your knives cost less than the sharpener and you do not care about edge life. The nonslip base and enclosed slots feel safe for a nervous first timer. That is a fair use.

Skip it if you own a forged German or Japanese knife, a thin slicer, or anything you plan to keep. Skip it for bread knives too unless you have the serrated slot model. Our guide to the pull through units that do the least damage explains where the line sits.

The real upgrade is not another slot tool. It is a stone or a guided system, and our ranked list of sharpeners that keep a good knife good starts there, or four quick questions can match your knives to a sharpener.

Three alternatives at the same money

None of these beat a Farberware knife sharpener by a wide margin. They are the same carbide and ceramic concept with better details. If you want a Farberware unit anyway, it is not a disaster for cheap knives.

Mistakes that turn a cheap fix into a ruined knife

• Ten pulls when three would do. Every extra pass removes steel for no gain.
• Tilting the blade in the slot. That is the 90 degree instruction: keep it vertical.
• Running serrated knives through plain slots. The teeth get flattened and the scallops stay dull.
• Using it on a $100 knife. The chips owners report are the cost of a ten dollar habit.

Farberware knife sharpener FAQ

Does the Farberware sharpener work on serrated knives?

Only the EdgeKeeper model with a serrated slot does anything for scallops. The standard two slot units flatten the teeth.

What does the 90 degree angle instruction mean?

It means hold the blade straight up and down in the slot. The slot itself sets the edge angle, and Farberware does not publish that number.

Will it ruin a good knife?

Repeated carbide pulls remove a lot of steel and can chip harder blades. Keep quality knives out of it.

Is the electric Farberware sharpener worth it?

Owner reports describe heavy steel removal, weak abrasive, and at least one unit failing within days. A manual two stage unit at half the price does the same job with less risk.

Do the EdgeKeeper self sharpening sheaths really sharpen?

They hone with a ceramic strip on every draw, which keeps a working edge aligned. They cannot restore an edge that has gone dull.

What should I buy instead for the same money?

The Sharpal 101N adds a diamond rod for serrations. It leaves the same coarse edge, so a stone is the real upgrade.