A Knife Sharpener For Your Kitchen Knives
You don’t need to own a expensive set of kitchen knives. But you really should own a knife sharpener for your kitchen knives. Very sharp kitchen knives makes a tremendous difference while preparing foods. Dull kitchen knives are actually more dangerous! A shark knife will slice through with ease. A dull knife requires unnecessary pressure /force – which could be bad for your digits…
There are lots and lots of knife sharpening tools, and most all of them will get the job done.
A good knife sharpener does not necessarily have to be expensive. Here’s one that I keep specifically with my kitchen knives.
Some time ago (actually quite awhile ago) I had purchased a knife sharpener that wasn’t too expensive – to see how well it works for my kitchen knives. It turned out to be quite a surprise. It worked amazingly well, and it’s very easy to use.
DMT Diafold Sharpener
The DMT Double Sided Diamond Diafold
(view on amzn)
This particular knife sharpener is made by a company named Diamond Machining Technology, DMT, and is manufactured in the USA. It looks like they make several models, but this one, the Diamond DiaFold, I found to be affordable, very effective and simple, and it folds up into a neat little package.
The way it works is simple.
This particular sharpener has two surfaces, both impregnated with diamond particles. One course surface and one fine surface.
How To Sharpen Kitchen Knives With DMT Diafold
Kitchen Knife Sharpening Angle
That angle for a kitchen knife is typically ~20 degrees. This is the angle at which you should sharpen against the sharpener’s surface.
Simply look at the knife blade edge and pay particular attention to the angle of the blade where it steepens to a sharp pointed edge.
As you rest the knife edge on the sharpener surface, and as you rock it up and down, you can usually ‘feel’ where the right angle is. You an also see it if you look closely.
Here’s a tip… Hold the knife at a 90-degree angle to the sharpener surface (straight up and down). Then halve the angle (45-degrees), and then halve it again. Now you’re reasonably close to 20-degrees.
More expensive sharpening systems have methods to physically hold the blade and/or sharpener at a fixed angle or adjustable angle. However, the basic method of “eyeballing” it will work quite surprisingly well and get you very good results without becoming overly elaborate with the process.
Always slide /push the blade across the sharpening surface in the direction that you would be cutting something. In other words, do not pull the blade across the surface, but instead push it forward across the sharpener surface.
There is no need to apply much pressure. Just lightly push /sweep the kitchen knife across the surface while maintaining the proper angle as best you can.
Try to sweep the entire blade’s surface in one motion as you complete each sharpening motion.
Then flip the knife over and sharpen the other side the same way.
I typically start with the course surface side of the DMT sharpener and work it a few times, then switch to the fine side.
It’s a great tool to keep around for your kitchen knives.
Like I said, there are lots of good knife sharpeners out there! But you might give this one a look for yourself. You will be slicing through your kitchen foods with ease! I now have several of these (as well as other types of knife sharpeners /stones)
– I have one of these, and I second the notion that they are 1) effective and 2) easy to use. It’s really quite impressive to use. I do have a couple of Washita/Arkansas stones, but for day-to-day use this is the best I have ever seen. I also have a clamp-on sharpener with guides, does a fine job and anybody can get a decent edge with it with little effort. A little bit slow and cumbersome, but a ten-year-old Girl Scout can use it and get an edge to be proud of. In fact, the only thing I have ever found I couldn’t sharpen with it is an axe. Wish I could think of the name on the thing.
– Papa S.
Papa S,
You talking about a Lansky sharpener perhaps?
Ken J.
Thank you for this knife sharpener, the one I have is going into the garbage. I am tired of messing with it, what a royal pain in the backside.
Plan on purchasing an electric but I also like a manual sharpener, for those time I do not feel like messing with the electric unit.
Is there an electrical one you happen to like & have used? I have a lot of meat that requires cutting up and my hands & wrists are pooped!
AC, I have tried an electric sharpener. The kind designed to drag a knife edge through it. I didn’t like it because it took too much off the blade, and I just never got used to it. Tossed it. Now I do all my knife sharpening by hand.
I have several other sharpeners that get the job done fairly well (for a quickie job)…
— Smith’s Adjustable
— Lansky QuadSharp QSHARP
I also have a ceramic rod in the kitchen next to my DMT. I use it for a quick fine-tune on the edge to take off any microscopic burrs.
— Arkansas Sharpeners Superstick Ceramic Rod
Ken J.
Thank you I will look at those to see if they will work for me. I do have the round knife sharpener, which I believe was put into storage. Have a large flat stone for sharpening knives but have never used one.
It was either my dad or ACDH who used those stones for knife sharpening.
Always “lube” the sharpener with a little water. Diamond sharpeners work well and the water acts to pull the metal fragments out of the diamond burrs on the sharpener just like oil on a wet stone.
I have been using DMT stones for years. They became easier to find than a good piece of stone from the hardware stores. I have larger stones so I can maintain a good grip on the sides and sharpen without cutting my fingertips. DMT also makes a diamond stone in the shape of an old fashioned “Butchers Steel” in fine grit. I have a course grit, medium grit in addition to the “Butcher’s Steel”. These reside in my knife block or beside my knife block.
I spend more time cooking in the kitchen than I ever did in the hunting fields so most of my working knives are in the knife block in the kitchen. They are all scary sharp because I sharpen as I go on a big job. (As a prep cook, cutting and peeling 10+ lbs of onions or 20+ lbs of potatoes is a “big job”). When going from kitchen to kitchen, I got in the habit of bringing my own knives and my DMT stones in fine and medium grit. The course grit was used to regrind the blade usually at my home.
Sharp knives are never thrown in a sink full of dirty, soapy water (good way to cut yourself trying to get something out of the sink or to pull the drain plug) or in a dishwasher. I dry the blades before I place them back in the knife block. Treat all kitchen knives with a healthy respect be it Chicago Cutlery or an expensive Solingen blade. They last longer that way.
I have several of these, and keep them handy.
I have one of these and it works very well. I also have “West Virginia Sharpening Sticks” for a quick edge on small to mediun size knives.
I’ve used this sharpener for the last dozen years or so. It sharpens my kitchen knives, but it lives in my left hip pocket when I’m guiding hunters. I do all my butchering and caping with a Swiss Army knife and the DMT sharpener comes out as soon as I feel my knife edge dulling. It’s way quicker to spend 30 seconds touching up a fairly sharp edge than grind away on a really dull edge. This sharpener makes that quick and easy, that works for me.
I have multiple diamond stones, DMT and others, and have used various devices with them to hold the sharpening angle. I have used various Arkansas stones and Japanese whetstones. I have used various ceramic sticks. I have used a fancy whetstone system from Delta. I have used electric sharpeners that you draw the knife through.
The absolute best system I have used so far is a simple little belt sander with several grits of belts plus a leather strop belt. Bar none. I sharpen knives for a local butcher shop. I can sharpen to a razor sharp edge in 4 minutes average. Each month they bring me about 3 dozen of their knives monthly and I can do them in 2 hours. There have been days where I have sharpened 150 knives in one day. All with four 1×30 inch belt sanders. The ones from Harbor Freight will work though a bit of truing the pulleys helps a good bit. Amazon has all the supplies and Youtube has instructional videos. Less than $100 gets you going. I’ve been it doing this way for about 18 years. Haven’t found a cheaper, better, faster way as yet.
Bill – I second your comment. Wet stones, ceramic, diamond…none compare to the little belt 1″ belt sander for speed and accuracy. However, I do keep up my hand sharpening skills for various wood carving knives and cabinetry chisel work. Always good to have the basics to fall back on if needed.
They all have uses that they are better for too.
Thanks for the mention of using a 1 x 30 belt sander as another effective method for those serious about sharpening knives. You would need the belt sander, appropriate belts, and an angle guide. Here’s an example of the combination for what you might need, if you wanted to go down this road…
— EX ELECTRONIX EXPRESS Mini 1 x 30 Belt Sander
— Knife Sharpening Angle Guide for 1 x 30 Belt Sander
— 24 Pack 1 x 30 Inch 4 Pcs Each of 120 240 400 600 800 and 1000 Grits
— 1×30 inch Leather Honing Strop Belt
Another option is worksharp mk.2 for about$100. Mine is the old skool Delta 1″x30″ I’ve had for years here on the farm. Much wider use than just knives. But if I was just starting and contemplating a purchase for knives, the worksharp would be it.
Thanks for the tip for the Work Sharp Mk.2 — It has an incredible number of good reviews, and I do like that it’s portable too.
My BIL has a Worksharp and I have tried it a little bit. In all fairness, one must get a good amount of experience with a tool to really understand how to employ it which I didn’t get. Still, I didn’t like not having a platon (flat surface that keeps the belt flat) behind the belt. The edges were always ground convex and took a lot more time with very light pressure to achieve a semi flat bevel. It is a nice little unit that seems fairly well made and runs smooth, something many HF brand belt sanders won’t do without some help. Other brands (Delta, Rikon, etc.) are much better.
The cute little Worksharp belts were similar in price to 1x30s but life of a 1×30 is much greater and a whole lot more belt options exist with 1×30. For example I have multiple grades of Scotchbrite belts handy to clean up rust and polish. Diamond belts for ceramic knives. I have grits that range from 40-5000 (though 240, 600, 1200 and leather are my workhorses for resharpening knives). Lots more options to experiment and explore in the 1×30 world for pretty much the same money. And there also are various belt sander/grinder mods to reorient the belt from vertical to horizontal, variable speed drives, pulley upgrades, motor upgrades. There is a big world of folks exploring lots of things that can be done with 1x30s. Search belt sander upgrades on Youtube.
Bill, The Rikon looks like a great upgrade for a 1×30 belt sander…
— Rikon 50-161VS Power Tools 1 x 30 Inch Belt, 6 Inch Disc Variable Speed Sander
It is a nice sander/grinder with built in variable speed. That is nice as regular speed for most 1x30s is a bit fast and slower belts speeds would be nice. Biggest issue with that Rikon that is almost a show stopper, is the physical size of the motor. It tends to get in the way when working the side of the blade that puts the handle to the right side of the belt.
It is a nice sander/grinder with built in variable speed. That is nice as regular speed for most 1x30s is a bit fast and slower belts speeds would be nice. Biggest issue with that Rikon that is almost a show stopper, is the physical size of the motor. It tends to get in the way when working the side of the blade that puts the handle to the right side of the belt.