120

After reading comments I read the instructions carefully and followed them closely. While I have been gifted a few quality kitchen knives, I could never say I have a collection of fine knives. However, when I grab a knife to slice something, I want it to slice and slice easily. All my knives had gone dull and my previous sharpening abilities didn't help much and/or were too involved for me to want to do. I wanted something that sharpened my knives and was quick and easy. Something I could do or my wife could do without a lot of setup. This sharpener filled the bill perfectly! My super dull knives came out super sharp with very little effort! Sure, I could probably spend more time on the sharpener perfecting a razor sharp edge but cutting quickly and cleanly met my goal and got all my knives back into useful condition. I would recommend this to anybody!

This finally solved my dull knife problems. After many other sharpeners failed to give me a good sharp edge, I finally resolved to buy this one and I’m happy I did. I hate dull knives and this sharpener is so worth the cost.

Where's the 6th star?? This is an EXCEPTIONAL product, worth a PERFECT rating. I am a tough grader, but this thing is just wonderful: 1. It just works, very little skill or time required. 2. No water, no significant maintenance, no mess no fuss. 3. Compact, space efficient 4. FAST (maybe a minute or less per knife) 5. SAFE - - the abrasive wheels are spring-loaded, so you can't easily make a big "ding" in the edge of a blade. My wife loves it, I love it, we're throwing out all of our other miserably ineffective sharpening tools. I have no idea about longevity of the abrasive wheels -- but I suspect, with the spring-loaded design, that they will not suffer premature wear-out (because you can't press the knife into them too hard). Time will tell. Read the instructions well and follow them closely, for the best initial results. But honestly even if you don't you'll get sharp knives. Just draw the blade fairly smoothly through the slot (no pauses). I did notice that the edges produced by this system do not have the razor-sharp "feel" on fingertips that I am accustomed to with hand-sharpening, but they ARE SHARP and they CUT VERY WELL. I attribute this to the dual-bevel structure of the way the 3-stage (really 2-stage) process works. Another thing I was concerned about was getting the blade sharp all the way down to the hilt. No worries, the design of the machine allows the wheels to contact the blade down to within about 1/8" of the hilt. I have a 30x magnifier, which I used to examine the process and nature of the new cutting edge. This is a very useful method to understand what's happening with the sharpener and with your knife blades. I highly recommend a 10x or 20x magnifier (jeweler's loupe), they're cheap and you can really see what's going on with your fine knives. I don't normally rave on and on about any products, but this puppy is a gem and I've never been happier with a purchase.

Some of my knives had a very dull blade, so a new edge was required. This sharpener has a coarse wheel, which quickly puts a new edge on the blade, and removes the small dings I had on some blades. Typically, you will only need the fine wheel, and the final 'buffer' wheel to keep your knives sharp. The only reason I did not give (...) is you have to be careful not to press too hard or you will cut into the plastic guide slots. I did this the first few times I used the sharpener, but learned how to control the pressure. This sharpener does not need more than 2 passes on each wheel, per knife, and the directions are just guidelines. After you sharpen a few knives, you will get a feel on how much of which wheel you will need. Just be aware that different pressure will be needed on different knives, with thicker blades needing more pressure to fit in the spring loaded guides. Again, the first coarse wheel is rarely used, except for extremely dull or damaged (nicked) blades. This unit is so easy to use and lightweight, that it is not an inconvenience to touch up your knives quite often. You cannot go wrong by purchasing and using this sharpener. I have used it on Heinkels, Cut-co, Ito Chef, and on my cheap knives. I sharpened all my Benchmade, Buck, Kershaw,and Cold Steel pocket knives as well. Spyderco serrated knives are tough on the buffer wheel, so I would not recommend using this on extreme serrations, those found on Spyderco knives. Although the 'buffer' wheel is recommended for serrated blades, I found some serrated blades will cut into this leather-like material, decreasing wheel life. Since I don't know if there are wheels that are available for easy replacement, I would not recommend using it on serrated blades often. For straight edge knives, this is the best solution I have found. I have purchased Lansky sharpeners, Spyderco sharpeners, and regular whet stone sharpeners. This sharpener costs more, but is very reliable and produces the sharpest blade ever. It is much easier, and much faster. I am sure a pro or a trained whet stone user can sharpen a blade better, but for the person who is not a professional knife sharpener, this is your best bet. I can sharpen a knife perfectly in under a minute. I have seen 2 stage sharpeners made by Chef's Choice in some stores, but I would suggest the 3 stage for most people. It is always good to have the coarse wheel for dull, damaged blades. I have bought two of these models (120), and gave one away as a gift. There is a newer model, which is different, so I stuck with the model that has been proven to be a winner.

The three stage strategy works very well. I've used many non-powered techniques over the years with mixed success. Rods, stones, gizmos... Most work fine under limited circumstances, but all fall short in either the time and effort involved or their ability to do a particular stage of the sharpening. I have a mixed bag of knives, ranging from Chef's Choice trizor and Sabatier au carbone to no-name stamped junk. Of course, this sharpener had no problem bringing them back to an extremely fine edge, but the interesting thing to me, was how differently these knives progress through the different stages of the sharpening. This may account for some of the different sounding reviews here. The manual has good tips, read it! I also have a knife that has primarily been used for construction tasks including sheet metal, sheet rock and digging. Needless to say, this knife was a mess. The 1st stage of the sharpener reshaped the edge in no time. Once your knives are in good shape, it takes very little time to touch them up with the last two stages. Stage 3 is for straightening and polishing the blade, and stage 2 is a very light sharpening. Someone else here mentioned using a steel between sharpenings which is always a good idea. It's also a lot quicker/easier to pull out and put away, and for some softer knives, I think I get a somewhat sharper edge. (BTW this is an F. Dick 12" fine oval steel) There was also a comment about not having much success with serrated knives that I have to echo. It can help true an already sharp edge but it can't sharpen a dull serrated blade. Overall, I've had great results. Both in the quality of the edge it produces and the ease of use.

Very well designed/sturdy build. I’ve never been able to sharpen knives and with this sharpener it’s virtually impossible not to get an extremely sharp blade. Seriously sharp as in use extreme caution when cutting an item.

Works great

I initially purchased a model 100 from a local Target store. It looked identical to the model 110 that is listed on Amazon's site. After bringing it home and trying it, I discovered that it did not sharpen the knife all the way to the hilt. After calling the 800 number for Chef's Choice, I found out that the 100 is different from the model 110 because of the inability to sharpen the full length of the blade. Both the 100 and the 110 use reciprocating flat stones to do the sharpening. I found that the model 100 had a tendency to leave irregular sharpening marks on the knife, They were sharp - but purely on an aesthetic view - they didn't look that good after sharpening. I then opted to go for the Model 120. The Model 120 uses three sets of rotary stones that are controlled by springs that keep a constant pressure between the blade and the knife. It also has spring loaded slots that keep the knife at an exact grinding angle. It is an almost foolproof method of sharpening knives. As long as you maintain an even speed pulling the knife through the sharpener and you allow the spring to hold the knife at the proper angle, you should get the same excellent results that I got. The first stage only has to be used the first time that you sharpen a knife with the unit - after that only stage two and three should be necessary. One of my concerns about using an electric knife sharpener has always been about how much steel is removed from the blade during sharpening. The model 120 has a magnetic cleanout plug under the machine that collects the steel removed during the sharpening process. After sharpening eight knives the filings that accumulated on the magnet were almost non-existent. I have always been reluctant to try an electric knife sharpener on our Henkels Four Star knives. We have had the knives for over twenty five years and the only sharpening that they have ever seen has been with the Henkel's fixed wheel pull through sharpener and steel along with an occasional "tune-up" by a professional knife sharpener. After using the Chef's Choice the edges of the knives are a good as the day they were purchased. I highly recommend this unit.