Knife Sharpening

I have had this Calphalon Contemporary 8" Chef's Knife since around fall 2008 when Linens 'n Things was undergoing liquidation and I decided to buy a chef's knife on sale while a college student. It is not a bad knife per se, it is just not a great knife, and you can probably do better by spending a little more (I currently have two Fibrox® Pro 8-Inch Chef's Knife and they are much better knives, but I digress). Within the first year of ownership of the Calphalon Contemporary 8" Chef's Knife one of the people I shared an apartment with put this big nick in the blade by cutting a spaghetti squash on a granite counter top with no cutting board (do not suggest).

For eight years I have been honing / sharpening this knife with a J.A. Henckels International 10" Sharpening Steel that I got at the same liquidation sale. (Again, not suggesting anyone purchase this item, I have recently acquired new ceramic honing rods for my knives.) And slowly over time the nick has been becoming less pronounced.

Being a western style chef's knife the blade was likely sharpened to a 20 to 22 degree angle on each side resulting in a 40 to 44 degree overall angle for the cutting edge which is good for edge retention but also makes certain cuts have higher friction and can crush some more delicate foods during the chopping process.

My wife and I recently acquired a Chef’sChoice Trizor XV Sharpener EdgeSelect Model 15 as an electric sharpening option for our older duller knives. It puts an eastern style 15 degree angle on each side of the blade making for a much sharper and better chopping / slicing edge. The draw back is this edge, depending on the quality of the original steel of the knife, is likely to dull more quickly.

But between sharpenings the blade cuts extremely well and the nick is gone.
In order to sharpen a rather dull or damaged blade (with a western style edge) you:
1) alternating pulling the blade through slot 1 on the right and left sides of the guide holding the blade down gently to make sure it stays in contact with the wheels and while evenly pulling the blade toward you, at about a 1.5 seconds per inch of blade;
2) repeat step 1) alternating side about 4-10 times depending on shape the blade is in and until you form a nice burr;
3) now pull the blade through slot 2 alternating sides for about 3-4 passes making sure to hold the blade and pass through evenly at about 1 second per inch of blade to make the pass;
4) and finally strope the blade in slot 3 using the same motions for 4-10 passes (depending on how shiny you want the blade and how finely tuned you want the edge) while alternating sides.

So far this is working really well for us, even though it is not necessarily our ideal sharpening method. The Chef’sChoice Trizor XV Sharpener EdgeSelect Model 15 has put a very nice edge on my Calphalon Contemporary 8" Chef's Knife and removed prior damage. We are quite satisfied.

For your reading pleasure:
Knife Maintenance and Sharpening - fantastic resource for information on sharpening and maintaining knives, and just about kitchen knives in general

Also when it comes to choosing a knife or other piece of kitchen equipment we find America's Test Kitchen extremely useful. They really seem to do a good variety of items testing, they will update when a prior choice is no longer favored or has been outdone by more updated versions, and they are also very good at picking from a multitude of brands for their top picks, plus they tend to give both a best choice and a most cost effective choice (sometimes the same) as suggestions. We have yet to have an item recommended by America's Test Kitchen that we bought and have not liked. The Chef’sChoice Trizor XV Sharpener EdgeSelect Model 15 was recommended by them.