Owning a knife sharpener is a no-brainer. This must-have kitchen gadget can mightily improve the longevity and effectiveness of your knives. However, knowing exactly which type of knife sharpener to buy is not so easy. With this guide, we're here to help. Keep reading to learn how to choose the best knife sharpener for your skill level and culinary needs.

Tip!

Contrary to what you might think, sharp knives are much safer than dull knives. This is because sharp knives require less pressure to cut and are less likely to slip over ingredients.

Types of Knife Sharpeners

There are two types of knife sharpeners: manual and electric.

Manual

The manual category of knife sharpeners includes all knife sharpeners that aren't electric. These sharpeners require a bit of work from the user, usually a series of well-placed swipes. Despite the fact that they require a little bit of work and understanding from the user, manual knife sharpeners aren't inherently worse than electric sharpeners. They allow you more control over the sharpening process and are often far more versatile than electric sharpeners, meaning they can be used with serrated blades, scissors, and more.

Manual knife sharpeners are available in three forms: countertop, honing steel, and whetstone.

Countertop: Countertop manual knife sharpeners rest on a countertop and have built-in grinding stones beside slots in the top of the sharpener. A sharpener can have one or more slots; additional slots allow it to sharpen a more diverse array of blades. To sharpen a knife, you swipe the blade swiftly through the slot. There's no need to be precise when using a countertop manual knife sharpener – built-in guides ensure that the knife's blade is at the correct angle when it is swiped against the grinding stones. Depending on the condition of your knives, this process may be quick or time-consuming.

Though these devices don't allow you much control and aren't the most versatile of the manual knife sharpeners, they are extremely easy to use. They also tend to be the safest, as there is less room for user error.

Honing Steel: Sometimes found in knife blocks, honing-steel knife sharpeners are long, narrow, cylindrical objects with a gripping handle on one end. The sharpener's cylindrical body is grooved or otherwise textured with a grain. To use a honing steel, also called a honing rod or sharpening steel, hold the rod vertically against the countertop, handle side up. Holding the knife at a 15° angle against the rod, draw the blade's edge against the steel in an arcing motion.

Honing rods don't actually alter the angle of a knife's blade to make it sharper. Instead, they buff out the microscopic nicks in the blade's edge, which returns the blade to its original condition. It takes a bit of skill to use a honing steel, but once you know what you're doing, sharpening a blade can take only a few seconds.

Honing-steel knife sharpeners are a solid choice if you'd like some control over the knife-sharpening process but don't want that process to take all afternoon.

Whetstone: Whetstone knife sharpeners (also called sharpening stones) are simpler in appearance than other knife sharpeners. They comprise a smooth rectangular fine-grained stone and often a matching base on which the stone slab rests. Sharpening stones can have varying degrees of hardness, called grades, that are better suited for knives of different materials and hardnesses themselves.

Whetstone knife sharpeners are some of the most versatile out there – not only can they sharpen knives of both Western and Asian origin, but they can also be used to sharpen almost any blade you can think of. That said, a whetstone is one of the more difficult and precise knife sharpeners to use. It takes a decent amount of know-how and skill to use a whetstone properly. To sharpen a blade on a whetstone, you must hold the blade at a precise angle and repeatedly draw it against the stone in a circular motion. You have full control of the process, which may be a drawback or an advantage depending on your skill level.

Ultimately, a whetstone knife sharpener is the best knife sharpener for you if the quality of your knives is a top priority in your kitchen.

Electric

Similar in form and function to countertop manual knife sharpeners, electric knife sharpeners are countertop devices with a single slot or a series of slots through which knives are pulled for sharpening. Some electric knife sharpeners have slots for each stage in the sharpening process including polishing, while others include slots for different types of blades. Internally, grinding stones are inset beside each slot. The only physical differences between an electric knife sharpener and a countertop manual one are size (electric sharpeners are bigger) and electric-powered mechanics.

Just like when using a manual countertop knife sharpener, all you need to do to use an electric knife sharpener is pull the knife gently through the grinding slot. However, this process is much faster than the manual process. While sharpening a dull knife with a manual sharpener may take many swipes over a long period of time, sharpening a dull knife with an electric sharpener may only take a few swipes over the course of a minute or two.

While there is still some debate over the effectiveness of electric sharpeners compared to manual sharpeners (which provide you much more control), this much is true: The more expensive the model, the more effective and versatile it will be. Opting for a less-expensive electric knife sharpener may not be worth the time and energy it can save you. If your household has a lot of well-worn knives that see a lot of culinary action on a day-to-day basis, an electric knife sharpener may be exactly what you need to keep your knives in good condition safely and with ease.

Best Knife Sharpener Materials

Diamond: One of the hardest materials on earth, diamond is an exceptional knife sharpener material. When using a diamond knife sharpener, you'll need very little pressure to achieve a sharp result.

Ceramic: A formidable comparison to diamond when it comes to hardness, ceramic knife sharpeners are extremely effective knife sharpeners. In fact, ceramic knife sharpeners can be less abrasive than diamond sharpeners, meaning they won't wear away at the blade as much and can result in some of the sharpest blades possible.

Steel: Steel knife sharpeners, often available in the form of honing rods, don't actually sharpen a knife's edge. They hone the edge, removing imperfections to smooth out the blade and return it to its original condition.

Japanese Waterstone: Softer than many common whetstone materials, Japanese waterstone is a highly effective material for knife sharpening and knife maintenance. Lubricated with water, Japanese waterstones are incredibly gentle but do require a bit more care than other sharpening stones, as they need to be soaked before sharpening.

Arkansas & Natural Stone: Named after novaculite mined in Arkansas quarries, Arkansas stone is a material commonly found in whetstone knife sharpeners. You will need to use much more pressure when using an Arkansas-stone or other natural-stone knife sharpener than you would with a diamond sharpener, which means sharpening can be laborious.

Knife Sharpeners' Recommended Use

When shopping for a knife sharpener, it's important to consider the types of knives best suited for each sharpener. Read on for a quick rundown.

Straight Edge: Most knife sharpeners have what it takes to effectively sharpen straight-edge knives. Exclude specialty sharpeners made to sharpen other types of blades by shopping only straight-edge knife sharpeners.

Serrated: Serrated knives pose a unique challenge that only some knife sharpeners can conquer. Some knife sharpeners are specialized for serrated blades only, while the best knife sharpeners are versatile enough to handle both serrated and straight-edge knives.

Scissor: Sharp kitchen scissors are just as important as sharp knives. Accommodate your kitchen scissors' unique needs by shopping for sharpeners that can sharpen scissors.

Asian: While most Western-style knife blades are angled between 15° and 20°, Asian-style knife blades tend to be angled far narrower, some as narrow as 5°. This not only makes them more delicate, but it also means that sharpening these knives is a far more precise process. Whetstones tend to be the best knife sharpeners for precisely sharpening high-quality Asian blades, though some other manual and electric sharpeners boast the ability to handle Asian blades in addition to Western ones.

German: German knives and Asian knives are on the opposite end of the blade-thickness spectrum. Thicker, rounder, and more robust than Asian-style knives, German knives are typically angled at more than 15°. Despite their thickness and blunt shape, German knives need sharpening too! Accommodate yours by shopping for knife sharpeners that can handle a German blade.

Ceramic: Extremely light and sharp, ceramic knives are becoming more and more popular. Unfortunately, they do have a tendency to chip, and their ceramic material requires special care when sharpening. Ceramic can only be sharpened by diamond and requires attentive pressure to ensure that it does not break during sharpening.