Pull Through Sharpeners

S

sodak

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
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I wanted to show what kind of damage these things can do. I stupidly used one on a Victorinox 12 in carving knife, it left shards of metal and I ripped the edge up badly. I thought I'd take pictures this time, but not with a knife I care about. This is a Victorinox pull through device.

This is a cheap filet knife I bought back in the early 80's. It was around $6, IIRC. The heat treat is actually pretty good, the steel is fairly hard and holds a pretty good edge. I've used it from everything from fishing, kitchen work, and cutting sod while putting in my lawn. It suffered significantly less damage than my Vic, but if you enlarge, you can see the shards left behind. The edge is jagged and trashed, I'll sharpen that out properly.

The pics aren't great, best I could do with my cell phone.

knife and sharpener.jpg
damage1.jpgdamage2.jpg
 
It's funny, because I sharpen our kitchen knives with DMT diafolds by hand. My wife is always after me to wash them after sharpening so we don't get shavings in our food. I do, but tell her the most she'll see is "dust", no shavings. Well, with these things, she definitely has a point.
 
sodak said:
It's funny, because I sharpen our kitchen knives with DMT diafolds by hand. My wife is always after me to wash them after sharpening so we don't get shavings in our food. I do, but tell her the most she'll see is "dust", no shavings. Well, with these things, she definitely has a point.
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Very true, I'd be quite surprised if most people who used these implements of knife torture cleaned the blade after, before using it to cut food.
 
Good Demonstration. The edge looks awful. Victorinox sells two versions of this sharpener. A small one (7.8714) and a larger one (7.8715) for kitchen knives. Both are not really cheap. It is quite expensive to ruin your edge. I love Victorinox knives. But what I don't understand: Why don't they make a proper sharpener?
The Dual Knife Sharpener (4.3323) is better because it is a fine ceramic (the edge is not that bad). Those carbide sharpeners are a really bad choice. Way too aggressive.
The Victorinox sharpeners have tons of positive reviews all over the net. Why?
 
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Almost every single pull through sharpener has the same design flaw. Because the rods are staggered one in front of the other, it will always leave a small portion of your knife edge unsharpened on one side. Over time the difference builds up between the unsharpened part and the rest of the edge.

It doesn't matter whether it's tungsten carbide or ceramic. The more times you pass the blade through that v-notch, the worse that little section gets. I don't understand why I've never seen anyone point this problem out.

Oh and by the way, with tungsten carbide you want to use a very light touch. You should not be pushing so hard that you shred your edge.
 
Guy McVer said:
[...]
Oh and by the way, with tungsten carbide you want to use a very light touch. You should not be pushing so hard that you shred your edge.
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I sure learned that the hard way. I used a much lighter pull with my Vic knife, and got even worse results. One and done for sure.
 
i caht see anything in the photos (poor picture quality)

anyway, the pull thru sharpeners with tiny ceramic rods are quite decent, for deburring purposes
 
I've used them before and don't like them, it's kind of a better then nothing device. I think a crock stick V sharpener is much better if looking for a sharpener that anyone can use.
 
I gave my brother a pocket diamond rod, and taught him how to use it in about five minutes. Anyone can sharpen, they just need to be shown the way.
 
David Mary said:
Caring about their customers?
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Not every company feels that affects their bottom line for the better. There is cold blooded capitalism vs pride in product/service.
Workers do get yelled at for taking the time and resources to help customers you know.

As for your other point, unfortunately sharpening is a very niche skill. Not a lot of people to pass it down.
 
A company who puts customer and staff happiness as the bottom line is a company deserving of loyalty, and one that I believe will profit financially as well.
 
I wouldn't use a pull-through sharpener on my enemy's knife. I can sharpen knives by hand but not nearly as nice as I can sharpen them with my Wicked Edge WE130. Laziness and ignorance has nothing to do with it, it just saves time and does a more perfect job than any human being on earth can. Plain and simple.
The best time I am glad to have my WE130 is reprofiling blades, and especially chisels. People talk about sharpening, sharpening, but the toughest part is reprofiling.
 
UncleBoots said:
If you are in the business of selling knives, why would you want to sell a sharpener that could let the knife last for years?
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David Mary said:
Caring about their customers?
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Today I got an email from Victorinox (I must have subscribed to a newsletter). It was an advertising. Alox Soldier + a watch. Victorinox said: "This is a lifetime investment". They advertise their products as being high quality. So why do they want to sell a sharpener that destroys your knife in short time? Meaning destroying your reputation as a company manufacturing long lasting products?
The Victorinox customer service is really good. They care about their customers. This is called CRM.
As we all know: There are a lot of Victorinox enthusiasts out there. They do not buy just one knife. I don't think that Victorinox has problems selling their products. At that point quality can be more important than expanding the market share.
 
As a chef, I've seen hundreds of chefs use a honing rod and go straight to cutting food! Cringe

I'll take a paper towel, wipe their blade and show it to them. The look on their faces.

I wonder how much steel I've eaten over the years just by going to restaurants.

I clean all my knives after sharpening, no matter what I'm using.
 
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