Originally published at: The Angle Pro Knife Sharpener's 3-step process makes old knives as good as new | Boing Boing
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Ha, ha, ha, no. Stop with the fraudulent “regular price” claims.
$199 was the alleged future retail price on the Kickstarter, where people could contribute $99 in hopes that the product would actually get made and shipped to them (only 186 people took them up on buying one out of the 2500 offered for that price, and if they couldn’t sell out the 2,500 offered up for $99 each during their Kickstarter, what’s the chance they subsequently sold any for $199?).
The sharpener retails for $89 on Amazon. And for $79 on the manufacturer’s site. That is, the “regular price” is $79-$89, not $199.
So, the product is being sold by Stack Social at a $10-$20 discount, but it is not being sold for a $130 discount.
At some point Stack Social needs to be held accountable for the constant and, I can’t imagine otherwise, knowingly fraudulent discount claims it makes in it’s extensive marketing campaigns, especially since Stack Social is based in California which has a specific law about such claims in advertising, requiring that the claimed regular price must have been the prevailing price for 3 months. I doubt anyone ever paid $199 for the Angle Pro, let alone that it was the prevailing price for 3 months. I suspect that price is entirely fictional.
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Odd i’ve never cut myself with dull knife… all the ones i’ve cut myself with were freakin’ sharp!
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Anyone have any recommendations for an easy-to-use sharpener for a Shun chef’s knife? It’s both dull, and has a few minor dents (including the very tip, which I just noticed in fact).
Now, I could learn to use the sharpener I have, just the long metal rod that came with the knife set I got from Shun. But that won’t take care of dents – I may have to take them to an actual professional, I suppose?
If it hasn’t been sharpened for a long time I would take it to a professional to bring it back to life.
The steel rod you are talking about is good for everyday keeping an edge but is no good once the knife is too dull. For that you need a professional or at least know how to use a proper sharpening stone.
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I use a water stone on my Shun, but honestly it’s such an effort that I do it pretty rarely, so I should probably get something easier.
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my great grandaddy was a butcher, I was fortunate enough to know him closely until his passing when I was 18yo.
He always said “you’ll cut yourself with a dull knife” and would proceed to expertly sharpen my hunting and fishing knives. (grandaddy and his daddy taught me to fish at a very early age and upon GGD’s passing, I inherited his amazing tacklebox full of wonderous fish-taking gear and at least one of his very fine filet knives. I still use these things today.)
obviously, GGD taught me proper sharpening techniques, down to a leather strop to keep the finest edge.
all that aside, well cared for ceramic knives simply cannot be beat.
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Probably better to take it to a sharpening service if you can find it.
If you want a simple sharpener to learn to use a water stone is the quick way to get into hand sharpening. A cheap 1000/6000 grit combo stone is less than $40 and covers most routine sharpening.
Or you can use wet sandpaper or autobody sand paper spray adhesived to a piece of tile or anything else confirmable flat (that’s the cheap way to get a bunch of grits).
If you absolutely have to get a guided machine: The only thing that will take nicks out, and with any history of recommendations short of a belt grinder. Is a Chef’s Choice. Look for one that does 15 degree grinding, and you’ll need a 3 stage to potentially get nicks out. The “Trizor” model is the one that usually gets good reviews and recommendations from reliable sources.
The very cheap models (below about $50) can chip your knives, and most of the ones below $100 will grind the wrong angle for a Shun or lack a “coarse” wheel for the chips.
I got one of these for my grandmother who isn’t about to take up hand sharpening due to arthritis but needed to keep her kitchen knives solid after my grandad passed. She loves it, used properly it hasn’t caused any sort of problems. She now sharpens everyone in the retirement park’s knives on the regular.
If the nicks are deep, that’s not going to do it though. You’ll grind off too much metal trying to fix them and fuck up the edge geometry in a way that takes a grinder or stones to fix.
The only other machine I’ve seen with any reputation is the Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition, it’s essentially a tiny, guided belt grinder specifically for sharpening. And there’s an accessory that can be used to make it better for free hand grinding. That’s kinda gonna require the same skill set as stones, but you can fix just about any sort of damage without causing problems if you know what you’re doing. Some travelling sharpening services use them for their portability. And they have a small following as a cheap or compact way into knife making.
ETA: Oh and if it’s the sort of Shun that’s only beveled on one side you’re kind of stuck. It’s free hand or the Work Sharp.
Lucky that. It takes a lot more force to cut with a dull knife. And you’re more likely to slip or otherwise lose control of it.
So when you do cut yourself with a dull knife it does a fuck ton more damage. Like I saw the sous chef straight up amputate his thumb during service damage.
The last time I slipped with a genuinely dull knife I ended up with a roughly M shaped tear in the heel of my palm, surrounded by a very large black and blue mark. Thankfully it wasn’t deep enough for stitches, but it hit hard enough that the bone at the base of my thumb hurt like it’d been cracked with a pipe for a couple weeks.
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Appreciate the responses, thanks crew! To the pro it is! 
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Oooh a thread about knife sharpening! This will end well 
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Throw out old knives, buy new knives. There.
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But then you have fewer knives.
Brings up a real question: how to safely throw away knives? Don’t want anyone getting hurt by the sharp pokey things at the transfer station or the dump.
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Small plow-shares?
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Well, I guess it’s time to set up a forge in the back yard. Dunno if the landlord will be cool with it. But plow-shares it is…
Next, need to find someone with miniature horses and a moderately sized garden to use the small plow-shares.
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