J.A. Henckels Twin Sharp Duo Knife Sharpener

This product allows almost anybody to greatly improve the condition of their knives. Used regularly, it greatly lengthens the interval between real sharpenings. And if your knives have been used against glass "cutting" boards or counter tops, then you can get some edge back with a bit of work.

There are two sets of of overlapping discs, through which the knife blade is pulled. This process actually deforms the cutting edge and raises a burr that becomes the new cutting edge. After the steel has done the deformation, a couple of passes through the ceramic set cleans up the edge and gives a very useful edge for many types of cutting. Things that are difficult to slice, such as tomatoes and bread are readily cut by the newly formed edge. If you use this device gently every couple of times you use the knive, you can maintain a very good cutting edge for a long time.

This product does not repair badly damaged cutting edges. For that you need to grind off a good bit more metal, and at the proper angle. Unless you have the proper equipment or a lot of practice with a stone, then such work is better left to a professional knive sharpening serve.

This product also does not produce a polished cutting edge that you can get with water stones or diamond hones. The edge is often ragged where small chips of the burr have broken off. But that is really okay for most kitchen work, as it takes some of the cutting features of the serrated knives. The little discontinuities actually help rupture the tomato skin or bread crust when used with a slicing motion.

Actually, for the price and purpose, it probably should get 5 stars. It is the best maintenance sharpener I have run across.

While I have been cooking for many years, I consider myself an amateur at sharpening knives. Perhaps I am intimidated by the use of a steel or ceramic, since I am never quite sure if I am doing it right. This new sharpener takes the guesswork out of sharpening. They tell you to use the steel first, then the ceramic, and you just pull the knive blade through, the angle of the sharpener to the blade is pre-set, and so no intimidation!

This product worked better than I thought it would. I was staying at a friends house at Lake tahoe for the month of September and while he had good Henckel knives they were all very dull. I went shopping on amazon.com for knive sharpener and ran across this one that was from Henckel and was only $20.00 or so. I ordered it and it came quickly and works very well. One of my better buys on amazon.

After we received our sharpener, I came home at lunch a few days later and went to cut a tomato. The knife slid through the skin like it was a hot knife going through butter. I asked my husband if he had sharpened the knives and he said yes. He said it was really easy to use. All our knives are good quality Henckels so we were particular as to what sharpener we bought. We had originally looked at the Henckel one slot sharpener until I found this model. We were afraid an electric sharpener would widdle away the steel too much.
We would recommend this product if you are wanting something easy to use that works well.

I never knew how much I would appreciate this little sharpener until I started using it. It has become an important part of my kitchen routine in just a few short weeks. Quickly puts a nice edge on all those knives I was thinking needed professional sharpening. Comfortable to grasp and nice enough to leave out on the counter for instant access. I'll think I'll buy one for my daughter--it's such a pleasure to have sharp knives.