Electric knife sharpener...

[OkKeith]

Sometimes I take my deer to a processsor if I want something special done with it, but most of the time I butcher them myself. I am thinking about getting an electric knife sharpener for my big kinves. Extra benefit is I can keep the wife's kitchen knives sharp.

Was looking at the Smith brand electric sharpener from Cabela's.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

OkKeith

[Gundog68]

I tried some. But never get really good edges with them (tests also "chefschoice" for > 200 Euro).

I just use a beltsander with speed adjustment and a high grid (600) belt. Slow sanding to let the edge stay cold. Then i use a polishing wheel to  polish the edge from both sides (attention, always polish from your body away).
So i get a razor sharp edge in 2 Minutes.

[Barney]

Never used an electric sharpener.......never will.

[emac396]

Worksharp 3000 with knife sharpening adapter, they also make a hand held one does not over heat or remove to much metal.

[Tom Leemans]

I personally don't like the electrics. Gotta hold the knife just so to get a good edge. You can take two swipes with an inexpensive carbide hand held sharpener to freshen up the edge if speed is your thing. I like to swipe the edge a couple times on ceramic sticks afterwards.

[Scott Teaschner]

I think you will be disapointed with the fool proof sharpeners. If you dont have a belt sander you could just get wet/dry sandpaper and glue them to a piece of floor tile and get a assortment of grits. I would recomend the paper wheels on the grinder deal one with rouge the other with grit. Its not the total answer but it will work better than the store bought sharpener. You can also do broadheads on them.

[emac396]

The worksharp is a belt sander with grits as fine as 1200 and a leather belt also

[BradLantz]

we have a Chef's Choice incredible tool, takes 20 seconds to make knives razor scalpel sharp

I've tried every way in the world to get a broadhead to work in it though ... and failed. its not designed for them

but on knives? oh heck yeah !

[oldbohntr]

I think you will be very disappointed with those cheaper abrasive wheel machines.  Poor edges, no way to accurately true the wheels, or replace them, etc.

We do culinary knives, and others, in my sharpening business.  All those draw-through abrasive wheel machines are junk. When I tooled up my business,I started with the most expensive abrasive wheel machine(Fredrich Dick)and gave up on it completely in a short while.  I use a 1 x 30 belt sander with 600-800 grit to establish a two-angle edge(see John Juranich's book, The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening.) Then I hone on a paper wheel with pumice, available from ABS, Woodcraft Supply, etc.  That is not an inexpensive system, but costs less than a Tormek(which I also use and will do knives wonderfully.)  

Or, take the easy way, and buy a Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker. I recommend it to customers and friends who just want to do a good job on a few edges at home. About $60 on the net, including a dvd, it's pretty foolproof.  Versatile, offering the two-angle edge, and two grits on the sticks, it is not just another crock stick sharpener.

Tom Baldwin
Edge Wise, LLC

[cbCrow]

Go to Ace archery and look at the easy edge. Been using it a few yrs. now and it works for heads and knives real well.

[NotThe10thMan]

Originally posted by oldbohntr:
I think you will be very disappointed with those cheaper abrasive wheel machines.  Poor edges, no way to accurately true the wheels, or replace them, etc.

We do culinary knives, and others, in my sharpening business.  All those draw-through abrasive wheel machines are junk. When I tooled up my business,I started with the most expensive abrasive wheel machine(Fredrich Dick)and gave up on it completely in a short while.  I use a 1 x 30 belt sander with 600-800 grit to establish a two-angle edge(see John Juranich's book, The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening.) Then I hone on a paper wheel with pumice, available from ABS, Woodcraft Supply, etc.  That is not an inexpensive system, but costs less than a Tormek(which I also use and will do knives wonderfully.)  

Or, take the easy way, and buy a Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker. I recommend it to customers and friends who just want to do a good job on a few edges at home. About $60 on the net, including a dvd, it's pretty foolproof.  Versatile, offering the two-angle edge, and two grits on the sticks, it is not just another crock stick sharpener.

Tom Baldwin
Edge Wise, LLC

Exactly what he said.  I'm a....hobbyist knife maker and enthusiast myself, and I've seen MUCH more harm than good wrought by the "Electric Handy Matic No Skill Required"  Styled sharpeners than I've ever seen good.  Not implying that you're unskilled or lazy, just that there's no real easy way out- Or at least not to the extent exaggerated by the manufacturers of such devices.

A Spyderco Sharpmaker will take care of you about 90% of the time.  If you can afford it, the diamond sticks are worth the extra money, and the ultra fines are sometimes good too.  

The main times that I'll use the belt sander is mainly for heavy stuff, tomahawks, machetes, khukuri, bowies and the like, and then only after they've been working hard for a living and heavily abused.  My wife has a couple friends that drop thier kitchen knives off to me once a year- I use it on those too.

I did ruin a few knives on the belt sander before I got the hang of it.  My suggestion is to dig up crappy knives around the house, or scoop some out of the thrift store .50 cent bin to practice with.

The convex edge you can get with a belt sander aint a bad thing at all.  Also...even though you haven't mentioned it, I gotta say..watch yerself if you use a buffing wheel.  There's been many feet, legs, hands, and testicles damaged by them things grabbing hold of a blade.

Many apologies if I'm coming off as a pontificating windbag here.  I can't help getting a bit passionate about blades.  I'm working real hard to leave it be at this level even....  :D  

Best of luck to you, and I hope your successful in what ever you pursue there.  If you do happen to find a good quality electric sharpener, I'd love to hear about it and be proven wrong.

[Lefty]

I tried them in the past, but never did get very good results.  A couple friends of mine got one from ChefsChoice, the Edgeselect 120 and really raved about them.  I couldn't believe how well they claimed it worked.  Ended up letting one of them sharpen one of my knives.  After seeing how well it worked and reading all the reviews online, I ordered one and really love it.  Now it isn't cheap, but in just a very short time, it will sharpen a knife to easily shave hair from my arm.  Now I may not run a $500 Randall through it, but for my everyday carry knives and kitchen and butchering knives, it works great.

[Rob W.]

Rada is simple and works well. I use mine for for every knife I own. Also works on broadheads.


Rob

[Canyon]

Originally posted by Rob W.:
Rada is simple and works well. I use mine for for every knife I own. Also works on broadheads.


Rob

x2

[Outwest]

I have an expensive chefs choice and it is not all it is cracked up to be.
If I had known how poorly this thing worked I would never bought it.
Now I use the KME system or an acusharp carbide tool.

John

[Kentucky Jeff]

The electric knife sharpeners will almost always result in a severe overgrind in your knives making nearly useless for many tasks.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

KME Sharping system, Way better then any electrical sharpener.