A PRIMER ON KNIFE SHARPENING - Chapter 5
by Steve Bottorff
CONTENTS
PROFESSIONAL KNIFE SHARPENERS
Although I think the Chef'sChoice 130
is as far upscale as I think any household would need, here is a listing
of the professional knife sharpeners and their features:
Hantover - really just a
grinder with flap wheel sander on one end and felt honing on the other.
Creates convex bevel, requires skill and safety glasses. $225
Ekland - stainless steel
knife guides, slow running wheels to avoid overheating, single angle,
looks like the Chef'sChoice but works differently. $241
Chef'sChoice 2000 Commercial -
this machine produces a double bevel edge, unlike the triple bevel
produced by their home machines. $340
Hook-Eye Belt grinder -
aluminum oxide belt similar to a knifemaker's belt grinder creates a flat
bevel, requires skill and safety glasses. $429
Tru-Hone - 3" 220 grit
counter-rotating wheels create a toothy hollow grind edge.
Adjustable angle allows a three angle bevel that offsets the fragility of
the small wheel hollow grind. $625 Heavy Duty $810
I now have a Tru-Hone, and while I do not like it as a major sharpener
because of the dry grind and the small wheels, it does a great job of
giving a toothy slicing edge to knives that have been sharpened on my
wet grinder.
Friedr. Dick SM-110 - special
shaped water cooled wheels, one for each side, create flat bevel. Variable
angles. Counter-rotating honing wheels to remove burr. $1493 SM-111 adds
adjustable honing wheels and a buffing wheel for a more refined edge.
$1624
I have a SM-111, and it is the closest I have ever seen to a complete
sharpening system in one unit - wet grinding, honing and
polishing. It is only for knives - the scissor attachment has
limited use - but can do 400 a day. Great for a big shop or knife
rental service.
Manabo - wet honing on the
inside surface of specially shaped wheels creates a strong convex edge,
variable angle, should provide the best edge holding and knife life. $1965
Let's see, $1965 would buy almost 20
$100 chef's knives. If I could charge $5 per sharpening I would have
to sharpen 393 knives to break even.... No, I don't think so.
Miscellaneous Technical
information
Chef'sChoice
The angles and grits on the
Chef'sChoice 110 and 301 machines are as follows:
Stage 1 20 degrees 100 grit
Stage 2 22.5 degrees 200-300 grit
Stage 3 25 degrees 500-700 grit
Thanks to Sam Weiner of EdgeCraft for
information and support.
Some other sharpener angles
Normark 20 degrees
Hunter Honer 21 degrees
Byers #1 20 degrees
Company and product names are trademarks of their respective
companies.