Chef's Choice 100W Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener, White

Good product and value with some caveats
While this product works well for household use and is a good value, there are a few caveats that should be recognized when using it. Although it greatly aids in sharpening, some degree of skill is required to sharpen a blade across its full length. It can take quite a bit of practice to evenly sharpen any curved portion of a blade and near both ends (the near the tip and bolster).

The bolster side of the blade can be difficult or impossible to sharpen for many knives because the case of the sharpener will hit the handle or bolster of the knife before grinding the full edge, leaving a significant portion of the blade unsharpened. For example, this unsharpened area may alter the straight edge of a chefs knife to prevent it from completely cutting through food.

Knives that have a lot of clearance between the blade and the handle such as butcher knives and large chefs knives can be sharpened through the bolster, but keeping a straight edge can remain a challenge because the...

If you have good knives and are clumsy, you need this!
I've been using the Chef's Choice for years now. I still use the one I bought in 1992 almost daily. My knives are still in wonderful shape and hold their edges beautifully.

The guesswork has been taken out of knife sharpening with this machine. I'm only so-so with a steel and in any case, a steel can't do the three stage sharpening that the Chef's Choice does. Since it holds the knife at the perfect angle for each step, it makes it easy for the fumble-fingered (like me) to create a perfect edge every time!

I'm buying one for my daughter now, mine is in perfect condition after more than 10 years and I imagine it will be for years to come yet!

I paid over 100 dollars for this very sharpener back then, which was a LOT of money at the time. They've come down so far in price that you haven't any excuse not to get one now!

Not For Your REAL Knives
I've had one of these sharpeners for several years, and I have to echo another reviewer's comments: This tool is fine for average household knives, but if you know the difference between a sharp knife and a SHARP knife, you won't want to use this on your good cutlery.

I was raised by a knife afficianado, and learned knife sharpening the old-fashioned way (with natural and diamond stones, steels and careful technique). The results with this unit don't hold a candle to a knife sharpened the "right" way. As mentioned by others here, the edge left by the Chef's Choice is pretty rough when compared to a razor-sharp edge, although it IS useful for utility knives or re-setting the edge angles on an abused knife.

I've used this tool to good results "fixing" other peoples' knives -- you know the kind -- the ones that have been loose in the gadget drawer for 20 years, used for everything from hacking through frozen meat to tightening screws, and have never been...

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