Knowing how to sharpen a knife properly is important for the blade to last a long time. There are many easy knife sharpening tricks to help you get there. Our Apex and Professional sharpening systems do exactly the same sharpening job on any knife. The Professional Edge Pro knife sharpener model is adjustable to work height, allowing you to stand straight and sharpen. This makes sharpening for long hours more comfortable. It is recommended that commercial sharpeners purchase the Professional model.
The Apex is smaller, lighter, and more portable. It is a great machine for home kitchen use, hunting, and fishing. Both machines have a lifetime guarantee. Learn how to sharpen a blade with a stone by utilizing our knife sharpening tips below.
When you re-profile to a very low angle you wind up with a very wide bevel that is very difficult to get sharp, and it leaves you with a very weak edge. Instead, keep your primary bevel up at 19 degrees or higher and put on a second bevel between 10 and 15 degrees. You can make you primary bevel very small, like 25 or 30 thousandths wide. Now the knife will re-sharpen in seconds with only a very fine stone or even a tape. This will make the knife cut with such little effort it will amaze you. Also note, this is not a micro bevel. A micro bevel is achieved with the ceramic hone.
Second Note to customers: If you are sharpening a flexible blade, move the knife across the machine as you sharpen. If you are sharpening a stiff blade, put the knife across the machine and sharpen the whole blade without moving the knife. This will give you perfect tracking and a slight angle gain at the tip, which helps minimize the wide bevel that develops at the end of the knife. The wide bevel develops because as you get closer to the tip, the edge of the knife moves in to a thicker part of the blade. Learn more specific knife sharpening techniques below.
Ceramics are recommended to finish the edge and to bring the edge back between sharpening. The Edge Pro is much stronger than a free hand sharpening edge. Therefore, using the ceramic hone will re-sharpen in seconds, up to 15 times, because it removes so little metal. The ceramic puts a micro-bevel on the edge of the knife, creating a very strong and sharp edge. Many customers wonder why we don't mount the ceramic hone in the machine. The reason is it must be used at a slightly increased angle, and with no pressure. This is very easy, and fast to do free hand. We do not recommend regular sharpening steels, as even the finest one will damage the edge. We used to recommend smooth steels to restaurants only because they kept breaking the ceramics. The smooth steel removes the micro-serrations. This creates a smooth edge, but is not as efficient.
Crossover chart for Chosera and Shapton Stones to Edge Pro.