Chef choice 130?

[ncage1974]

Anyone had direct experience with this sharpener? I have a chef choice 310 and ive had it for awhile. I can't ever remember it working "that great". A couple weeks ago i tried to give it another go with lackluster results. It tried with some of my cheaper knives and it did sharpen them but it seemed to scratch the blades and it didn't get them "that" sharp. Maybe its because i don't have the manual and im using it wrong. I don't know. I went to their home page and they don't have the manual online you can get.

Now i heard they have made a lot of improvements with the 130. I heard its light and day difference. They no longer use magnets to keep the blade in place but some time of mechanism that supposedly you can not get wrong. I would hope this would prevent scratching the blades of expensive knifes. I would also help you would be able to get them to near new sharpness. I have checked in my area and i can not find a good professional sharpener and i really don't have the time to mess with manually sharpening them. This thing would be PERFECT if it works but its $140 which is very pricey for a knife sharpening system but it would be worth it if it works well for me. I just got my new issue of cooks illustrated and they rated this knife sharpener as highly recommended and they didn't mention anything about scratching the blades. They did mention that the accusharp manual sharpener was also very good but it said the manual sharpeners wouldn't produce a new burr which i have no idea what that means but im assuming it would better to go with the electric sharpeneer. So anyways im thinking on buying the chef choice 130 and i want to make sure this knife sharpener is going to produce excellent results before i spend all this money on it. Like i said the money will be well worth it to me if the results are good. Any help would be apprecaited.

thanks,
ncage

 

[DaCook]

IMHO, the stone and the steel are the only good friends for good knives.

 

[ncage1974]

IMHO, the stone and the steel are the only good friends for good knives.

Sorry but i don't mean to sound rude or anything like that but i pretty clearly stated above that i don't have the time/patients to manually sharpen my knives.

 

[GB]

I do not have an experience with that particular model, but I have used another Chefs Choice model and disliked it for the same reasons you did. My personal opinion is that you are going to find those same problems with any electric sharpener. They are not very good for your knives. For a cheapo knife that you do not care about they are fine, but I would NEVER use on on my good knives.

I know you said you don't have the time/patients to manually sharpen your knives, but may I submit that you are wrong, at least about the time part. Manually sharpening takes a matter of seconds so time really should not be a factor.

If you do not feel comfortable with keeping the correct angle (which many people are not comfortable with) then there are a number of great systems which take care of that for you. Lansky is one of the most popular brands. I personally like the Lansky Crock Stick system, but they have other options too if that does not work for you.

If you have good knives then stay away from the electric sharpeners. JMO.

 

[TexanFrench]

Hi,

I use a Chef's Choice 360 diamond hone. It's a manual two-slot thing--slot 1 sharpens, and slot 2 hones. I've used this sort of thing for years (needs replacement every so often), and even my oldest knives have maintained good cutting edges. I like it!

Now I'm sure that someone is going to pop up and say that I should just learn to use stones and do it properly. Let me say that when I was about 12 and tried to learn this, my dad/teacher went absolutely ballistic and screamed at me for ruining the edges during my first lesson.

Haven't tried since, and I'm not gonna.

And the professional sharpening guy around here is a person who does lawnmower blades. He says there's nothing to doing kitchen knives, too, but I've seen his work, and I think he takes off too much metal.

 

[ncage1974]

I do not have an experience with that particular model, but I have used another Chefs Choice model and disliked it for the same reasons you did. My personal opinion is that you are going to find those same problems with any electric sharpener. They are not very good for your knives. For a cheapo knife that you do not care about they are fine, but I would NEVER use on on my good knives.

I know you said you don't have the time/patients to manually sharpen your knives, but may I submit that you are wrong, at least about the time part. Manually sharpening takes a matter of seconds so time really should not be a factor.

If you do not feel comfortable with keeping the correct angle (which many people are not comfortable with) then there are a number of great systems which take care of that for you. Lansky is one of the most popular brands. I personally like the Lansky Crock Stick system, but they have other options too if that does not work for you.

If you have good knives then stay away from the electric sharpeners. JMO.

GB do you know what particular model you used?

thanks,
ncage

 

[GB]

I use the professional.

 

[GB]

I have also used this system as well. It also does a great job, but I find the crock stick easier to use and quicker as well.

 

[ncage1974]

I have also used this system as well. It also does a great job, but I find the crock stick easier to use and quicker as well.

Sorry i actually meant which chef choice unit did you use? I was interested to find which model you had bad luck with.

thanks,
ncage

 

[GB]

Oh sorry, that I am not sure of. I got it as a gift about 4 or 5 years ago. I used it a few times on some junk knives I had and then never used it again.

 

[ChefJune]

Sorry but i don't mean to sound rude or anything like that but i pretty clearly stated above that i don't have the time/patients to manually sharpen my knives.

You may not have the time nor the patience, but you are going to ruin your knives if you don't!

 

[Andy M.]

Electric sharpeners will put a sharp edge on your knives. They are quick and easy to use and are relatively "idiot proof".

The knock on electric sharpeners has always been that they take a lot more steel off your knife blade with each sharpening than manual methods. Also, if you don't keep the blade moving through the grinding wheels, you can do serious harm to the edge.

 

[ncage1974]

???

I do not have an experience with that particular model, but I have used another Chefs Choice model and disliked it for the same reasons you did. My personal opinion is that you are going to find those same problems with any electric sharpener. They are not very good for your knives. For a cheapo knife that you do not care about they are fine, but I would NEVER use on on my good knives.

I know you said you don't have the time/patients to manually sharpen your knives, but may I submit that you are wrong, at least about the time part. Manually sharpening takes a matter of seconds so time really should not be a factor.

If you do not feel comfortable with keeping the correct angle (which many people are not comfortable with) then there are a number of great systems which take care of that for you. Lansky is one of the most popular brands. I personally like the Lansky Crock Stick system, but they have other options too if that does not work for you.

If you have good knives then stay away from the electric sharpeners. JMO.

GB sorry for so many questions but i want to get this right the first time. I think your starting to turn me away from the electric sharpeners and towards a lanky system. I am looking at a couple lansky systems and have some questions. First i looked at this:
http://www.lansky.com/products/systems/deluxe.html

This seems foolproof system because it holds your blade at the right angle. My question is how well does this work with larger knives? It would seem by looking at it if you had a large chef knife that maybe it wouldn't work so well or would scratch the blade. What do you think?

I also looked at the following:
http://www.lansky.com/products/crock/pro.html

Also it looks like there is a similar sharpener here:
http://www.amazon.com/Tri-Angle-Sha...1_1/002-0192205-6480026?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden


I have never seen this type of system in use so do you run the blade through pretty much like you do one of those cheap plastic knife sharpeners that you run over the blade that you find in sporting good stores? With this system is there any guess work with the angle? Will it take practice to get a sharp blade?

Your feedback would be highly apprecaited. Im trying to decide on which one now.

thanks,
ncage

 

[GB]

For the first link you posted, I found that system a little awkward to use, especially with a larger knife. Don't get me wrong though. It does an excellent job and does take the guesswork out of the angle. It does not scratch the blade at all, regardless of the size of the knife. I used it on my 10" chefs knife many times and my knife looks brand new. It is not 100% accurate in getting the angle though, but none of the systems or doing it by hand (even the professionals) can claim that. That is fine though. Don't let that scare you away.

The second link you posted is what I use now and I love it. Basically what you do is hold your knife as if you were using it (90 degree angle to the tabletop). You then just draw the blade down the sticks. At first I was nervous that I would not be able to hold the angle just right, but it really is quite easy. I get a great edge on my knives every time now.

The third link I do not have personal experience with, but the company is a well known and respected company and I know other people on this board have used that system and rave about it. I believe that with that one you can also use it on serrated blades, which is something my Lansky Crock Stick system can't do. The Lansky Universal can though and I still have that one in my basement so when I need to sharpen my bread knife I am all set.

With any of these systems there really in no guesswork for the most part. Even if you do mess up a little (not a big chance of that happening) is will still be worlds better for your knives then running them through an electric sharpener IMO.

 

[Andy M.]

I am in the opposite situation from GB. I started with the second system you listed and switched to the first.

For longer blades you have to set the blade clamp in two or three different positions along the blade to do the entire length. It works great.

I think the first system is better if your knives are in worse condition. the second system is simpler for upkeep - and does a good job.

 

[thymeless]

I've used the Tri-Angle sharpmaker a lot. I own 2 sets. They are pretty idiot proof and pretty quick. Well worth the price. I have sharpened 10" knives without trouble. Can also be used as bench stones. A very versatile set up.

thymeless

 

[ncage1974]

thanks...

Well i wanted to thank everyone. I can't believe you all changed my mind from the electric route but you did. I ended up ordering a the lansky deluxe unit. I did a lot of research on both google and blogger and i found blogs by people who have been into knives their whole life and very highly recommended this system. The first knife i will test is a wustof knife that i have that my old chef choice unit screwed up. If it does wonders on this knife it will definitly have me sold. I ended up ordering from walmart online( they didn't have it instore) because of return policy. It was a few dollors more and i was charged tax but you can return online orders instore with no problems and everyone knows how good walmarts return policy is but hopefully i won't return it and will be quite happy.

ncage

 

[Andy M.]

You will be pleased with this system. And you knives will be super sharp.

 

[GB]

You made a great choice. Make sure to write back and let us know what you think once you try it.

 

[ncage1974]

You made a great choice. Make sure to write back and let us know what you think once you try it.

Well i only have one thing to say.....WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. You guys have made me a believer. I got this sharpening system and have had the chance to use it on a few knives and put it this way i have cuts on my hands from testing them out. It gets them just as sharp as when they were brand new. I have to admit i definitly had my doughts but wow i would not go back now. This lansky system is awesome. The only thing i would say is i was base was a lot studier but i am a very happy camper.