MinoSharp Ceramic Wheel Water Sharpener Plus, Black/Red

First of all, I NEVER thought I would ever buy any sort of sharpener, EVER. I was trained how to use stones (and own), but now that I own quite a bit of Japanese steel, I was researching water stones and Global recommended this product. I was skeptical. When you get a culinary education, that can make you snobbish, so I put my ego aside and listened to quite a wide range of opinions, but that wasn't making my decision any easier. Then I saw a demo video, http://youtu.be/UOay9-VmyMc?t=1m41s (on YouTube), was very impressed with the ease of use achieving precise results. I received and pulled the sharpener out, and ran through a couple of my carbon steel blades from Germany with excellent results. This is a great addition to my knife kit, and having read some of the other reviews, from those in the industry, some recommend not telling anyone you work with that you have this tool.

Fast and easy to use. Recommended for Global knives which use harder-than-typical stainless steel and slightly steeper angle. Not hard to "convert" your typical steel knives to work with this sharpener. While a Global knives take about 9 strokes on each ceramic wheel, your other knives may take 15-30 strokes to get them converted to steeper angle. Not a biggie to accomplish. Just up-and-back and up-and-back a few times. Keep one finger on top of the blade to guide it, and use a very light touch against the wheels. Then a snap after that for subsequent sharpenings. While not quite factory sharp, this sharpener will quickly and easily get them about 90% there.... and that's pretty danged sharp!

Use this if you have a global knife, Save yourself time with off-brand ones cause they will definitely dull your knife. This does the job and returns the Global knives to their almost original sharpness

I know two other ppl who have this sharpener and they love it. It is specifically designed for Japanese style narrow-angled blades, but it will work on other knives too. I took this thing out of the box and used it on a bunch of my cheaper, older, dull knives and it worked very well. They feel sharper than they ever were brand new. The sharpener is easy to use but the box means it when it says don't apply too much pressure. The blade will get stuck or the stone won't turn right so the proper light pressure and smooth back and forth motion is important.

Wow! This sharpener brings life back to old knives. I bought it for my Global knives since it is recommended by Global. But I haven’t used them for my Global knives yet since they are still very sharp. However, even my old cheap knives have been brought back to razor sharp levels from using this sharpener. It was a little tricky getting accustomed to this sharpener; it worked best when I used slow motions, quick motions didn’t work for me very well. And another thing this sharpener works better with think bladed knoces, just like Globals, I didn’t get the best results with thick knives.

I purchased one of these several months ago after reading a favorable review. It's great, super, fantastic . . . I'd add more superlatives but I'd rather you read the rest of this review. I have other sharpeners and a selection of diamond-surface sharpening devices both hand held and the larger 4" x 10" units. I was skeptical that this small unit could live up to the hype. I was wrong. This little thing is incredible. The instructions understate how many times the knife should be run across the blades especially on a dull knife (make sure you always have water inside the device per the instructions). On a dull knife, double the recommendation of cycles. You will quickly find that some of your older non-serrated knives can cut just as well as knives costing a lot more. If I'm going to be cooking for a while, I always get this out, so I can make sure my knives are re-sharpened (in case my wife or college-age children have used the knives in the meantime and dulled them a bit). The price is reasonable (considering how well this device performs). I assume at some point the ceramic wheels, which do the hard work of removing hardened steel so the knive blad is sharp, wear out, but I have not yet gotten to that point, and I've sharpened a bunch of knives, including a bunch of large kitchen knives for friends. I assume when the ceramic blades wear out, the device is to be tossed, or that's what the manufacturer wants, because there is no information in the box or instructions on how to get replacement ceramic blades. Even so, this device is a bargain. I was ready to purchase a new set of kitchen knives and this device made it apparent my current knives are more than adequate.

I bought this and the Chef's Choice Pronto Asian at the same time to keep an edge on my Shun knives. I like very sharp knives, and when I say sharp I mean you can shave your arm with it, or slice a piece of paper in half with one swing, not a sawing motion. I use an EdgePro, but that is a pain to set up and takes 1/2 an hour per knife, can't do that everyday. So I needed something to maintain the edge that I can use easily and quickly. The MinoSharp isn't fine enough, and won't give this edge. I'd like to try the 3 wheel model, which has a finer third wheel so maybe that'll work better. There's nothing really wrong with this product, it just doesn't get knives back to the factory edge they started with.

Easy to use. Does put an edge on dull knives. Not the best out there, but best for the $