There are various ways to sharpen your knives - some good, some bad and some downright UGLY!  We offer one manual and 3 electric knife sharpening solutions to restore your blades to former glory. 

There are general rules to knife sharpening and it doesn't matter what brand of knife you are working with - these rules apply to all.

The harder the steel - the longer the knife will stay sharp for but once you have lost the edge, using traditional methods - it has been incredibly hard to achieve factory sharpness once again.  Similarly, softer (and generally cheaper) steel will blunt very quickly but it's easier to put a working edge on this grade of metal.

The KE198 knife sharpening machine is our best selling electric knife sharpener.  It has two alu-oxide grinding wheels (1 coarse and 1 fine) which are loaded onto springs.  Rather than being static - they move and react to the thickness of the blade being sharpened i.e. if you have a cleaver for a thicker knife, the wheels will move over alot more than if you were sharpening a filleting or paring knife.  Equally - many knives have a thick heal and a finer tip.  The wheels will follow the contour of the blade being sharpened. 

Each wheel has 2 slots set at a 15° angle.  The left hand slot sharpens the right side of the blade and vice versa.  Not all knives have double bevels.  Sashimi knives for example have one flat and one bevelled edge.  In this instance, you would only want to sharpen the bevelled side.  If you use a sharpening system which sharpens both sides at the same time - you are taking away from the functionality of the blade and turning it into a chefs knife.  Bread knives also have a flat edge but in this instance, you would sharpen the bevelled edge so that you don't reduce the scallops.

The coarse wheel will re-profile your knife edges and the fine wheel is where you sharpen up that new profile.  Generally speaking - about a minute in each section will restore your blades (softer steel knives will take less time and hard steel knives a little longer).

Priced at £64.95 and available from good cook shops (please look at our stockists page) and widely available from Lakeland - this machine is an absolute gem! The wheels (under normal domestic use) will never wear down so we have given them a lifetime guarantee.  All the dust is sucked out by the brushless motor into a 'toaster like tray' at the bottom of the machine.  Being a grinding system, it will leave very slight machining marks on the last 1mm of your knife edge.  Most people don't notice or if they do - they don't care!!  They have their knife back in full working order.  However, if you have a collection of high end knives, you will want to have a manufacturer's finish to your knife edges and this is where the KE3000 and KE280 come in!

These machines use a system which is completely unique and produces a polished finish to your knives.  Instead of using grinding wheels, they use soft cloth abrasive belts with Alu-Oxide added to them and these belts are loaded onto wheels which have a special patented cushion.  If you take the top cover off the machine (which you will do the replace the belts eventually), you can place your hand around these wheels and squeeze the cushions that allow you to polish your knives sharp.

Whereas the KE198 gives you a 15° sharpening angle, the KE3000 and the KE280 will minic the angle of the knife being sharpened.  Therefore, if you have a European blade which has a more fanned out angle than the Japanese knives on the market, it will maintain the angle set by the manufacturer.

What's the difference between the two?  The KE280 came first but because it has an extremely powerful motor and a gear reduction system, the price tag of £249.95 plus VAT was too hefty for an individual to purchase.  The KE280 is aimed at the Butcher and Restaurant market and this is the model which is used by about 60% of UK butchers and all Tesco Stores which have fresh food counters.  In order to market a 'younger brother' version of the KE280, we stripped it of the motor and replaced it with one with less power, which also meant that we didn't need the gear reduction system.  The results are the same but it will take slightly longer on the KE3000.  Perfect for an individual such as a chef or a keen amateur, it is not suitable for commercial application. RRP £169.95

Both machines come ready to sharpen with fine abrasive belts, however medium and coarse ones are available too.  Coarse are good for cleavers, restoring knives with chips and for some stubborn steel German knives.  Medium belts are great for knocking knives into shape which have really lost their profile with sharpening methods such as a butchers steel.  Fine grade abrasives are the most used belt that we sell.  RRP £7.49

The belts will last for about 50 knife sharpenings on one side of the belt and then you can turn them round so that you use both widths.  The sharpening results on these machines is amazing and if you have high quality steel and finish off your sharpening on a pair of worn belts - this is like using the old fashioned strap and leather to produce razor edges.

Finally - we stock an I.O.Shen whetstone which is dual grit - 400 and 1000.  It is one of the best value for money whetstones on the market at £39.95 and available from all I.O.Shen stockists.  This method of sharpening is extremely skilled but will produce a gorgeous finish if you know what you're doing!