Sharpening a knife sounds easy enough – just hold it at an angle against a whetstone and drag the blade repeatedly. In practice, though, it gets a little trickier, as it requires a fair bit of practice to maintain a perfect angle throughout a session. The Work Sharp Angle Set Knife sharpener wants to make it a whole lot simpler.
Instead of requiring you to hold the knife at the right angle during sharpening, the contraption fixes itself at the required angle. That way, you only need to hold the knife the way you always would when cutting something on the table, effectively eliminating the part of sharpening that gives novices the most difficult time.
The Work Sharp Angle Set Knife Sharpener consists of two abrasive rods that are hinged together on one end and a case where you can mount the rods. Each rod comes with metal contact points at the unhinged end, while the case has magnets installed where you can snap the rods on to hold them upright at your desired sharpening angle. Five positions are available: 15 degrees, 17.5 degrees, 20 degrees, 22.5 degrees, and 25 degrees, allowing you to position the honing rods at whatever angle is recommended for the blade you want to refresh.
In case you’re not sure at what angle to sharpen your knives, the outfit recommends using 15 degrees for kitchen knives, 20 degrees for EDC knives, and 25 degrees for survival knives. We’re pretty sure there’s plenty of overlaps and exceptions in there, depending on edge, material, and a host of other things, so you’ll have to do research on your own knives and edge tools if you want more granular information. For most people’s needs, though, those recommendations should work just fine.
The Work Sharp Angle Set Knife Sharpener’s abrasive rods, by the way, come with three sides each, any of which you can turn to face outside for use to sharpen your blade. One side is coarse for shaping a blade, another is medium for sharpening, and the last one has a fine grit for honing. Make sure to turn the rod to the correct grit to get the results you want. Once you have everything set up, simply hold your knife against the stone, making sure the edge is at the bottom, and drag it up and down in gentle strokes. That’s right, no need to put pressure either, so it effectively reduces the act of knife sharpening to a very simple chore.
Want to sharpen a serrate knife? This can help with that, too, as it includes a small ceramic rod that can attach to the sharpener, essentially positioning it at the same angle. From there, just place each serration of your blade onto the rod, slide up-and-down, and repeat. The best part? The whole thing fits inside the case, allowing you to keep your sharpening rig in a single compact box that you can throw in a bag for bringing anywhere.
The Work Sharp Angle Set Knife Sharpener is available now, priced at $49.95.