Fun and semi-functional
This 2 piece set of mini carrot & tomato shaped knife sharpeners are pretty much exactly what they are described as and what the product photos show. The specifics: - There are no instructions or details included with these sharpeners, so you need to know a little about sharpening knives. - If you have wonderful expensive knives, then you know how to sharpen them or you know where to have them sharpened, and you know that this product is not for you! Move on, these are not the sharpeners that you're looking for. - If your knife is just a casual little kitchen knife, or better yet the knife in the drawer that's all banged up and dull -then this might be your first step to sharper and better knives. - Sharpeners tend to start with a "coarse" stone and then finish off with "fine" stone (or ceramic "stone"). First you drag the knife toward you on the coarse stone, then you do the same with the fine ceramic stone. - Commercial knives will already have an "edge" that's cut at a specific angle. (This is one of the reasons why it's good to sharpen a more expensive knife with their specific sharpener). If your knife is in great shape, then be careful of trying to sharpen it on a random sharpener. But we were talking about the knives in the drawer - dull, cheap, and easy. You're going to figure out how to sharpen them, or you're going to toss them in the trash. - Start with the "Carrot" to get that initial edge. You'll feel the drag of the knife go from harder to easier and then you're probably there. Take a look at the blade, the whole edge will be shinny. (If above the edge is shinny, but the point of the edge isn't, then you've got a long way to go or this is not the sharpener you're looking for.) - Now move to the "Tomato" to get the finer edge. (Remember how hard tomatoes are to cut with a dull knife? That's how to remember that the "Tomato" sharpener is the one to get the finer, sharper edge once you're done with the coarse "Carrot" - even a dull knife can cut a carrot, right?) You may only need 2 or 3 steady pulls across the ceramic stone to get you as good as you're going to get. These are not super high end, but with a little practice and solid hand you can get your junk draw knives back to something that can cut a carrot... and maybe with even more practice you can cut a tomato. The functional downside of the cute design is that the body of the sharpener is keeping the sharpening stone away from the handle side of the blade... so you're only going to sharpen the beyond the first couple inches of the blade to the point. That's not awful unless you were thinking you needed the use of the full length of the blade (and then we're back to get a better knife and a better sharpener, right?) For the current price (just under $10), a steady hand could give a new life to some of those dull knives and make your cook much more happy. Read more
