Hapstone Sharpener: R2, V8, M3, and Which Module Actually Fits You
The box lands on the bench and you slice the tape. Inside sits a steel base, a rotating clamp head, a guide rod with a wooden handle, and a marker. No stones. That is the first thing to understand about a Hapstone sharpener. The Standard kit is a barebone platform. The abrasives are a separate […]
Brod and Taylor Knife Sharpener: How the Spring Loaded Carbide Design Works
Shoppers tend to file the Brod and Taylor knife sharpener as a different animal from a pull through slot. It looks different, it costs more, and the springs move. Under the polished base, though, it is still two tungsten carbide edges scraping steel off your blade. That confusion matters because the marketing and the mechanism […]
Work Sharp E2 Electric Kitchen Knife Sharpener: Two Stage Electric, Honest Verdict
About 100 sharpenings per disc side. That is the figure Work Sharp lists for the P120 ceramic disc inside the Work Sharp E2 electric kitchen knife sharpener, and it frames everything else about this unit. Roughly 200 sharpenings per disc, and a replacement disc costs about $13, so the running cost is close to nothing. […]
How to Use a Lansky Knife Sharpener: Clamp, Angle, and Stroke Step by Step
A Lansky knife sharpener is a clamp that grips the blade spine, with numbered holes that hold a guide rod at a set angle. It is not a pull through slot and not a freehand stone. Learning how to use a Lansky knife sharpener comes down to three decisions: where to clamp, which hole to […]
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, […]
Antique Knife Sharpener: Identifying Old Sharpeners and Whether to Use Them
An antique knife sharpener is almost always one of four things: a crank grinding wheel, a twin wheel rotary, a carborundum hone, or a steel with a patent gadget. Most of what sells under that label dates from the 1920s to the 1960s. That makes it vintage rather than true antique, and the stamp on […]
How to Use a Wusthof Knife Sharpener: Pull Through, Steel, and Electric
A Wusthof knife sharpener is one of three different tools sold under one name. The two stage and four stage hand held units are pull throughs with fixed carbide and ceramic slots. The honing steel is a rod that straightens the edge, and the Easy Edge is a belt driven electric that grinds it. The […]
How to Use an Electric Knife Sharpener Without Eating Your Knives
Use the coarse slot only when the edge is truly dull. Alternate left and right slots on every pass, press lightly, and pull at about one inch per second from heel to tip. That is the whole method behind how to use a electric knife sharpener without grinding away steel you did not need to […]
Sharpening Broadheads: Fixed Blade Edges That Hunt Sharp Again
A three blade fixed head carries six cutting surfaces. That one number explains why sharpening broadheads frustrates so many bowhunters. You are not sharpening one edge, you are sharpening three pairs that must finish at the same height. The good news is that a solid one piece head sharpens itself into alignment if you let […]
Sharpening Station: How to Set Up a Bench That Makes Sharpening Easy
A pile of sharpening gear is not a sharpening station. Most people own the first and think they have the second. The stones live in a drawer, the strop is in a different drawer, and every session starts with ten minutes of hunting and setting up on a counter that is too high. A real […]