Would you sharpen your 3" folder to 15° on a Chef's Choice electric sharpener?

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csnack

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Mar 29, 2017
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Hey everyone, I'm Christian. I'm not exactly new here; I posted here in the past, but can't remember who I was or how to get back in.
I have a Benchmade mini barrage edc, nothing special but that's what I got. I'm not sure what the stock bevel is, maybe 40 or 60 incl. My fiance got me this Chef's Choice electric sharpener https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01L2L9I1M/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ADSC7EIWQ1RB8&psc=1

It only does a 15° angle. It works great for my Chef's knife. I'm here requesting permission to run my barrage through it. Seriously though, I know sharpening stones et al are way cooler, and maybe every man should know how to manually sharpen his own blade just like every guitar player should be able to change his own strings. But I'm sans skills in the manual sharpening dept. and I've got this electric deal here. Any blade that gets run through this appliance will be converted to the 15° angle, which I'm fine with. My blade doesn't see heavy use; mainly to cut packaging tape here and there and for protection, so I'm down for the sharper/more delicate 15° edge. There's also a good 1/4" clearance between the top of the hilt and where the edge actually begins, so theoretically this sharpener should be able to accommodate the full edge length of the blade. What do you guys think? Would you think twice about running your edc through it for any particular reason other than a preference for manual sharpening? Well many thanks for any input.
 
Don't do it! Electric sharpeners (for the most part) are hell on knives. Also, 15 degrees is good for a chef's knife, not an EDC, imo.
 
I recommend not sharpening electric and learning how to sharpen manually - either freehand or guided system. Both are fun. You'll enjoy it, and you'll appreciate your knives more after you sharpen them. I DO recommend getting the nicest sharpening equipment you can afford, because no matter what the steel, reprofiling with weak abrasive takes forever and makes for a confusing, frustrating learning curve. Also, practice on blades that you like less before you sharpen the blades that you like more. Might even be worth picking up a few gas station knives to practice.

Each steel has it's own personality, although there are some that are chemically similar or identical that will behave the same. Either way, sharpening ain't as big of a deal as it seems like it would be, so faith in yourself makes the results much better than fear.
 
Armadew said:
Don't do it! Electric sharpeners (for the most part) are hell on knives. Also, 15 degrees is good for a chef's knife, not an EDC, imo.
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Agreed. Electric sharpeners are too aggressive.

That said, here's what you do. Go get yourself a cheapo kitchen knife at the grocery store or cheapo folder (just NOT a clone!!).

Tell the fiance that it is expensive and please don't mess with it.

Run that knife through the electric sharpener when your fiance is around and watching.

Win. Win. Win.
 
csnack said:
Hey everyone, I'm Christian. I'm not exactly new here; I posted here in the past, but can't remember who I was or how to get back in.
I have a Benchmade mini barrage edc, nothing special but that's what I got. I'm not sure what the stock bevel is, maybe 40 or 60 incl. My fiance got me this Chef's Choice electric sharpener https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01L2L9I1M/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ADSC7EIWQ1RB8&psc=1

It only does a 15° angle. It works great for my Chef's knife. I'm here requesting permission to run my barrage through it. Seriously though, I know sharpening stones et al are way cooler, and maybe every man should know how to manually sharpen his own blade just like every guitar player should be able to change his own strings. But I'm sans skills in the manual sharpening dept. and I've got this electric deal here. Any blade that gets run through this appliance will be converted to the 15° angle, which I'm fine with. My blade doesn't see heavy use; mainly to cut packaging tape here and there and for protection, so I'm down for the sharper/more delicate 15° edge. There's also a good 1/4" clearance between the top of the hilt and where the edge actually begins, so theoretically this sharpener should be able to accommodate the full edge length of the blade. What do you guys think? Would you think twice about running your edc through it for any particular reason other than a preference for manual sharpening? Well many thanks for any input.
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Are you sure that thing doesn't do fifteen degrees per side? The description says fifteen is better than the European norm of twenty, but the Euros I've owned (e.g. clunky Wusthof type knives) were way more than ten degree per side, much more like forty degrees inclusive.

Also, don't do it! Never put anything you like through one of those machines unless you have no other choice! Everyone will tell you this here, and unlike some other common wisdom we'll throw at you, this one is completely true.
 
I would not use that for sharpening anything. Get rid of it and get a Norton stone to practice on. Or some silicon carbide 220, 400, 1k and 2k sandpaper and a mousepad.
 
Nope. The only "electric sharpener" I use on any of my knives is my Work Sharp Ken Onion. The ones made for chefs/kitchens are pretty atrocious.
 
Wow that was quick! It's as if you guys wanted to rescue me (or my blade) or something lol. My fiance and I watch America's Test Kitchen sometimes and they highly recommended this sharpener so she bought it for me for my Chef's knife. I had the bright idea of running my blade through it. Yeah, it does 15° on each side, is what I meant. I'll put a cheapo though it because I'm really curious to see what happens. Anyone using that Sharpmaker and a strop? Idk, this appliace did a decent job on my Chef's knife. Perhaps I'll just have to break down and learn it manually. I'm perfectly capable. I just thought it'd be cool if this electric thing could do it and be done with it. Thanks for the input.
 
The angle sounds just fine to me as long as it isn't for hard use. The sharpener... not so much. My father in law was a butcher and most butchers honestly use the cheapest stainless blades money can buy because they use electric sharpeners daily to put a new edge on. The blades may last a few months and then they go in the trash. THOSE are the types of knives that you should be sharpening with your new toy.
 
Seriously, if you got decent chefs knife dont run it through that thing. I mean I got a Henckels (its good but I'm sure the Japanese knfe guys are all laughing at me and my "gas station chef's knife :)), and have used a Sharpmaker on it, and, after about 25 years the thing is finally worn down enough to SLIGHTLY affect its cutting performance.

Good knife, non aggressive hand sharpening, and your knife will last darn near a lifetime.
 
No, I would not. But I have bench stones and strops of several types and know how to use them.
 
Lets just sum it up as those types of electric sharpeners and pull through sharpeners will destroy your blade quick (literally destroy the edge, while making it "sharp"). And that majority of people, including chefs and people reviewing these things don't know what an actual sharp knife or will consider factory sharp as the epitome of sharpness which is far from the truth.

If you want a electric sharpener look into the Work Sharp Ken Onion edition, practice on a few cheap knives (trust me on this) and you be proficient enough to be slicing through phone book paper in no time at all.
 
But... But.. But America's Test Kitchen said... Yeah I was looking at stones by Naniwa amd it looks like around $400 will get me a good 3 stone set lol. I may start smaller, Idk, maybe look into it more. I AM gonna have to do like marcinek said though and have my fiance see me run some more blades through it. That's just something I'm gonna have to do 😕

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk
 
csnack said:
But... But.. But America's Test Kitchen said... Yeah I was looking at stones by Naniwa amd it looks like around $400 will get me a good 3 stone set lol. I may start smaller, Idk, maybe look into it more. I AM gonna have to do like marcinek said though and have my fiance see me run some more blades through it. That's just something I'm gonna have to do 😕

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk
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I got you covered my friend. This will be sweet. I watch that show, and they recommend a Victorinox chefs knife that runs about 40-50 bucks. Buy THAT! And use that sharpener on it.

Now you are using the gift that the was inspired by the show, using the knife from the show, and dont have to run your nice folder through that monstrosity.

The gift inspired you to buy the knife. See? Guaranteed stone cold solid home run.
 
marcinek said:
I got you covered my friend. This will be sweet. I watch that show, and they recommend a Victorinox chefs knife that runs about 40-50 bucks. Buy THAT! And use that sharpener on it.

Now you are using the gift that the was inspired by the show, using the knife from the show, and dont have to run your nice folder through that monstrosity.

The gift inspired you to buy the knife. See? Guaranteed stone cold solid home run.
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LOL that's the knife I already got and ran through it. It was like $30 at the time. Sounds like I'm all set then. That Work Sharp Ken Onion looks pretty cool.. Is that something worth considering if I just had to have an electric type deal?
 
csnack said:
LOL that's the knife I already got and ran through it. It was like $30 at the time. Sounds like I'm all set then. That Work Sharp Ken Onion looks pretty cool.. Is that something worth considering if I just had to have an electric type deal?
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Then pick up one of their paring knives or something! "I love the sharpener so much I bought a new knife for it!" ;)

People like that WorkSharp. I dunno, I love my Sharpmaker for V grinds and wet/dry sandpaper on a leather strop for convex grinds.

And dont use one of those butcher's steels! Unless you got a thin, pro type butcher knife, they don't do anything other than make you look cool doing doing the "shing shing shing" sharpening routine. It does nothing.
 
And then get a bigass sword, the latent desire for which was rekindled by the awesome sharpener gift, of course! :] Then all forms of yard work and maintenance will be way more fun, with every unruly shrub and obtuse tree limb transformed into a stalking ninja which you will skillfully dispatch with your stoic sword skills. Just don't run the sword blade through the electric sharpener. :O
 
Agreed with the consensus, that electric sharpener is hell on knives, especially blades that are thicker than kitchen knives.

But I will say that 15° per side is perfectly fine for my edc, properly sharpened, on good steel. I often run shallower than that with a microbevel between 15° and 20°.
 
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