Reviews Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone 3-Stage Professional Knife Sharpener

This Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone 3-Stage knife sharpener was written up in "This Old House" magazine's current issue. It is everything the article says it is, it works great. My knifes are sharp, sharp like
there were when I was a kid always cutting my fingers when doing the dishes. While most home "sharpeners" merely hone your knives, this product actually crafts a new, razor sharp edge on your knives.

I am very pleased to have finally found this no-nonsense , genuine sharpener. I have used this product with "factory new" results on all of my Wusthof-Trident Culinar knives. And contrary to statements posted by another reviewer, this Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone sharpener is in fact recommended by Wusthof-Trident for use on their knives--please refer to their "Comprehensive Guide On Honing and Sharpening" available on their website.

• Three-stage precision sharpening
• Works for gourmet chef's knives, butcher knives, sporting knives, serrated knives
• 100 percent diamond abrasive will never detemper
• Unique Trizor-Plus edge provides greater sharpness and durability
• Three-year household warranty

It does take practice to get the pull & pressure right, but it's not hard to do at all. Also as others have noted the Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone will leave fine longitudinal scratches on the blade. So don't plan on dressing a collectors knife on this machine, it's for work knives! For whatever reason I've noticed it takes the longest to get a good burr in the center of the blade. With my Lansky it seemed to take the longest to get the tip to burr.

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 Chef's Choice model 120 Knife Sharpener 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.

This Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone 3-Stage Professional Knife Sharpener product earned 237 customer reviews and 90% are satisfied (as 11/12/2013). 

Bottom line is this sharpener can do a very good job, but it's a tool. Like any tool, it needs to be used properly. It may be electric, and it may be a lot easier and faster than a whetstone, but it doesn't have a brain. That's what you're for, so read the manual, make some practice pulls with the power off, sharpen a cheap knife first if you can, and then enjoy.