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How to Sharpen Electric Knife Blades
It’s a known fact that all blades dull over time. Some will dull slower than others while some will dull faster, all of which depends on intensity of usage as well as other factors such as knife storage. The best electric blade knife sharpener is an electric knife sharpener. Luckily, nowadays there are lots of such products available to make you knife sharpening experience a whole lot easier.
Today we’ll look at how to sharpen electric knife blades as well as which electric knife sharpeners to use. Note, electric knife sharpeners are recommended since they are fast and also guarantee that your knives are protected from damage and excessive wear.
How to Sharpen
The first step is to clean your knife blade if you have been using it or if it has some/any residue. Such dirt can interfere with the sharpening process so make sure the blade is clean.
As mentioned earlier, sharpening using an electric sharpener such as the Chef’s Choice M120 is the best way to go.
Note: Most electric knife blades are serrated therefore make sure that the electric knife sharpener is able to sharpen such a blade.
However, this is not the only way to sharpen blade. You can always use the traditional sharpening rod which is slower and more strenuous. Nevertheless, it gets the job done. To sharpen with a rod, place the rod within the first serration – this is the first serration on the blunt end you are holding it from.
Next, begin sliding the electric knife blade gently back and forth on the sharpening rod. Remember to have the sharpening rod placed in the same direction as the serration on the blade. Slowly work your way to the outermost serration at the tip of the electric blade.
All that’s left is to sharpen the opposite edge of the blade remembering to place the rod in the same direction as the serrations. That’s all it takes to sharpen an electric knife blade using a sharpening rod.
Best Electric Knife Sharpeners
Note: Sharpening electric knife blades is more or less the same when using different sharpeners from different manufacturers. However, there are some variations when it comes to features and angle sharpening. Ensure that you check the manufacturer information on things like angle sharpening. Some of the best electric knife sharpeners and their key features include;
Chef’s Choice M120
- 3-stage high precision sharpening
- 100 percent diamond sharpening rods (first 2 stages)
- Blade polishing in final stage
- Sharpens both serrated and plain electric knife blades
- Works on all-purpose sharpeners i.e., kitchen knives, utility-type knives and garage knives
- Stage 2 recommended for regular/normal sharpening while stage 3 is for extremely blunt knives
Wusthof 3 Stage
- 3-stage protective sharpening
- 14º angle sharpening
- 100 percent diamond abrasives for stage 1 sharpening
- Second stage smoothens and evens out the edge which is now sharper that factory-standard
- Works on all-purpose sharpeners i.e., kitchen knives, utility-type knives and garage knives
- Stage 2 recommended for regular/normal sharpening while stage 3 is for extremely blunt knives
Note: This sharpener is able to sharpen knives which may be too sharp for camping, pocket or hunting knives.
Chef’s Choice M320
- 2-stage sharpening
- 100 % sharpening diamond abrasives
- Not recommended for sharpening extremely dull knives – it takes longer even with the solid-diamond abrasives
- Recommended for sharpening pocket knives, kitchen knives and hunting knives
- Stage 2 recommended for sharpening serrated blades
- 20º angle sharpening perfect for use as mentioned above
- Less pricey compared to similar electric blade sharpeners
Chef’s Choice M220
- 2-stage high precision sharpening
- High quality sharpening electric motor in the first stage
- Manual sharpening in 2nd stage
- Fixed 20º angle making it the perfect multi-purpose sharpener
- Manual sharpening can be a bit strenuous especially for extremely dull knives
- Pull-through functionality in 2nd stage
- Affordable
Presto 08800
- 2-stage sharpening
- Initial stage for shaping the blade, especially for dull knives
- 2nd stage is for achieving a smooth finish
- 20º angle sharpening recommended for kitchen knives
- Not suitable for Asian-type knives which require 15º angle sharpening
Conclusion
Choice on whether to sharpen your blade using the tradition sharpening rod or using an electric knife sharpener is entirely up to you. However, we do recommend that you use the above mentioned electric sharpeners if you want to achieve a perfect finish in less time. Nonetheless, both are methods of how to sharpen electric knife blades.