Knife sharpeners
 

every body seems to have a favorite knife. what about knife sharpeners. the dominate is chef's choice and relabeled chef choices and chef choice knock offs. they are underpowered, and use sandpaper . any others that are remotely afordable and powerful.

anyone use a nirey KE 280? i have never seen one. it sounds good, is about $200.

anything else?

knife sharpeners
 

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but are you talking about traveling with or traveling to buy said sharpener?

only to the nearest mail box. the sharpest knife in the block did not require any travel, either. i do not know where else to post than in dining buzz. if the moderator wishes to move it, just buz him on that button in the lower left, and he will move it.

I am not sure what second place is, but go here http://www.edgeproinc.com/ for my favorite and I either own or have tested most of them.

As far as the Nirey....well it is one of hundreds of electric sharpeners I would never ever use on a decent blade.

I use a Minosharp, which are aimed at those not confident/skilled/bothered enough to use a traditional whetstone.

http://www.minosharp.jp

I use a whetstone. But I also have a Chefs Choice 110 because it has an extra sharpener for knives that are so far gone, they'd take forever to do manually (i'm guessing it's < 200 grit equivalent)… That generally gets used when sharpening for friends, then finish things up on the whetstone.

All that said, I'd certainly get and EdgePro if I didn't already have the skills to manually do it (and to be fair, i've still occasionally considered getting one for the extra accuracy)

I dropped using the Chefs Choice for a Spyderco. Being manual, the Spyderco is quiet and portable. I can use it while watching the game.

That said, my hand isn't steady enough to get a "factory edge" using the Spyderco. But you really don't want a shaving edge on chefs' knives anyway. You want more of a tool edge - sharp enough to cut easily, but not so sharp the edge folds over the first time it hits the cutting board.

+1 on the Spyderco.
It's quiet, portable, does not ruin your blades and easily gets you a shaving edge.

I have three stones from Japan, each of a different fineness. I don't remember the count exactly. But they work wonders. Check out kitchenknifeforum for more info :)