Fixed Angle Knife Sharpener

I am a total dork when it comes to knife sharpening. I always feel like the knife that I have sharpened is no better than before I started, if not worse.

In the old days, there is this knife sharpening peddler that cycles by my neighbourhood on his bicycle peddling his trade. We get him to sharpen our knives and he does quite a good job. But I don't see him any more these days. Last sighting of him was something like 15 years ago.

I think my problem all along was in keeping my sharpening angle consistent. The very old worn out concave surface of the sharpening stone just made things more difficult for me, if not impossible, I think.

So to aid me in sharpening the dull knives in my house, I got myself one of these fixed angle knife sharpening device (DISCLOSURE: this is a Lazada Malaysia affiliate link) last week. There are a lot of different fixed angle knife sharpener designs out there in the market. But I settled on one that is easy to set up where no additional tools, like an Allen key or screw drivers, is required.

Included in the box are the device itself (the body, the pivot rod and the arm), the 4 sharpening stone (180, 400, 800 and 1,500 grit), a permanent marker pen, an instruction manual (in English) and a micro-fibre cloth. All kept together nicely in a bag.

Setting it up is easy. All I need to do was to just open up the legs of the main body itself, plug in the pivot rod at one end, fix the sharpening stone onto the arm then this arm to the pivot rod, work out the sharpening angle of the knife and I am ready to go.

First Attempt

This is embarrassing. My first attempt was a failure. This is not surprising since I don't actually know what I was doing (get a burr first boy before sharpening the other side). Deja vu. The sharpness of my knife is no better than when I started.

I did tried doing a 'paper cut test' with this 'sharpen' knife. It failed - no surprises there. I was disappointed.

Second Attempt

"Time to get myself educated in knife sharpening techniques", I thought to myself.

After numerous Youtube knife sharpening videos, I tried again.

I persevered and luckily, my second attempt was a success. Hooray!! My 'paper cut test' went well this time.

Yes, this little inexpensive contraption actually works.

Getting that first burr though was not easy. Since I don't actually know what a burr actually feels like during this attempt, I decided to sharpen only a small section of the knife to speed things up in satisfying my curiosity (on hind side, a bad idea actually as I may over-grind one section compared to another section; so don't use your favourite knife initially during your learning phase). Slowly but surely, that burr appeared. I then proceeded to burr-up the remaining section of the knife. Things just when smooth sailing from then on.

Notable Points

• My sharpening technique with this kit was adapted from this video by Ethan Chlebowski - thanks Ethan. He move his knife, while I move my stone.

• Remember to mark the rating of the sharpening stones on its reverse side before starting. What's written on the stone will be all grinded off once you start sharpening your knife.

• It is not such a bad idea to start with your least favourite knives in the first couple of tries. As we are grinding off metal during the sharpening process, once a mistake is made it is not reversible.

• I find using a piece of rag to detect the burr on the knife's edge to be easier than using my thumb. Running the rag from heel to tip, there should be some drag on the rag at places where a burr has emerged.

• Some cheaper knifes may not be symmetrical. So don't be surprise to find unsymmetrical grinding on one side of the knife. It happened to me.

• It took me roughly about 40 minutes to sharpen a 4" kitchen knife. Getting that first burr is the hardest step and it takes up the most time and effort. So be patient.

• There is no knife clamp with this kit that I bought. Instead the knife must be pinned down to the guide with my hand. It takes some getting used to, especially when flipping the knife over and using the other hand.

• The kit that I got looks very similar to other branded kits that sell at higher prices. So do shop around if you are out for a bargain. There is no brand name on the one I bought. There's not even an outer cardboard packaging. Looks like it is one of those mass produced product from China. I am not complaining.