Straight to the Point. The SHAPTON Ha No Kuromaku Ceramic
A sharpening stone, also known as a whetstone is a kitchen essential used by professional chefs across the globe.
Best and easiest are usually mutually exclusive. Best is by using diamond or Japanese stones of varying grit and doing this by hand. Easiest is to use a guide tool, pull through sharpener, or electric sharpener. I highly discourage the latter two, as they will prematurely wear your knives out.
For chef's knives, opt for a whetstone or electric knife sharpening tool.
Pull-through sharpeners are the most popular way to sharpen knives, and with good reason: They are quicker than whetstones and more precise than sharpening steels. However, they shed the most amount of metal, which weakens the durability of knives.
As for rubbing knives together, that's purely for show. It might sharpen slightly, like using the bottom of a ceramic cup, but it's not effective.
Sharpening steels, stones and whetstones are great for home chefs who only occasionally sharpen their blades, and butchers who sharpen one or two knives regularly. But, if you're a commercial butcher who uses multiple knives on a regular basis, an electric knife sharpener is often best for the job.
We love the Chef'sChoice 1520 Electric Knife Sharpener for its all-around stellar performance in our tests and its versatility with various kinds of knives. For a more budget-friendly choice, the Presto EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener simplifies the process of getting the correct angle, at an impressively low price.
Straight to the Point
The SHAPTON Ha No Kuromaku Ceramic Whetstone Set was the clear whetstone winner. It's an easy-to-use, two-stone set that quickly sharpens carbon and stainless steel knives. If you must use an electric knife sharpener, I recommend the Work Sharp Ken Onion Knife Edition Sharpener.
Electric pull through sharpeners remove way too much metal and shorten the life of your knife by years. Ceramic wheel sharpeners tend to take chips and chunks out of thin Japanese blades. Because of the mechanics of use, it is impossible to apply the same amount of pressure throughout the blade.
The whetstone is pretty popular and classically what many chefs use. It's compressed sandstone. You soak it in water and start with the lower grit to shave off the blade and then you smooth it out with the higher grit side.
Füri Sharpening Technologies
The Füri Rachael Ray TECH EDGE Pro Knife Sharpening System was developed by the engineers and chefs at Füritechnics Australia after years of new research into cutting edges and has revolutionized knife sharpening.
While most cheap serrated knives can be sharpened and made to be as sharp as more expensive serrated knives, micro serrated knives cannot be sharpened. These are recognised by the sharp jagged cutting edge.
Your pull through knife sharpener becomes rounded out
That's good. However, in the same motion smaller bits of of the sharpener scrape off too. Over time your sharpener becomes a "rounder" tool. The groove at the very tip of the sharpener wears and rounds out.
Whetstone sharpening is a traditional and highly effective method used by many professional chefs. This technique involves using a sharpening stone to restore the knife's edge.
22 to 30 Degree Angles.
Most pros would agree that pulling the blade edge across the whetstone produces the best results. Not only will it bring the knife to its sharpest but it's also a much more effective way to remove chips and imperfections from the blade.
Common mistakes include twisting, pressing down or pausing the stroke of knives as you pull them through the sharpener slot. This can cause oversharpening (the loss of too much metal) or result in an uneven edge.
We recommend 6–8 pulls through the sharpener (tip up). If you need that extra degree of sharpness, polish the edge with a few strokes back and forth.
Both manual and electric sharpeners have pros and cons. Manual sharpeners are generally less expensive, don't require a power source, and since they're not automatic, offer better control. But they can take some experience to use effectively, and often don't work on serrated knives.