Sharp knives vs. my old electric sharpener, night and day difference

I spent 8 years using one of those plug-in electric sharpeners on my chef knives, thinking it was fine. Last month a line cook at a pop-up in Portland let me use his whetstone for a quick touch-up on my daily driver. The edge that stone put on it was scary good, the tomatoes basically fell apart by themselves. I went home and tried the stone on my old knife, the one I thought was beyond saving from years of the electric grinder. That blade cuts through onion paper thin now with zero effort, and I'm honestly embarrassed about all the bruised produce I had before. The electric one was convenient but it was basically beating the edge flat, not actually sharpening it. Anyone else switch from a machine to a stone and notice how much less force you need for everything?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantw321mo ago

Wait, did your electric sharpener also promise to do your taxes and walk your dog while it was at it, @jasonf17? Because mine never did anything but grind my blades down like they owed it money and leave burrs that vanished after one tomato. Yeah, it took me 15 minutes with a stone last weekend, but now my knife glides through a pepper like it's a suggestion, not a challenge, and I don't need to push with my whole body weight anymore. Honestly, if you got a more consistent edge with your electric machine, maybe your stone technique was just "aggressive scraping and hoping," which is practically a hobby in itself.

jasonf171mo ago

My 2015 Chef's Choice took 30 seconds to get a working edge every morning before service, and I never once cut myself or struggled with anything in a pro kitchen. Stones are great for hobbyists who have time to sit there for 15 minutes building up a slurry and chasing a perfect angle, but most of us just need a blade that's sharp enough for prep, not a razor for a YouTube video. I tried the stone route for two weeks and honestly my electric sharpener gave me a more consistent edge with way less effort, so maybe the issue wasn't the machine but the technique.