08800 EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener, 2-Stage System, Silver/Black

It really did sharpen my knives well, fast and easy. I never expected it to be so easy or sharpen my knives so quickly. All my life I have struggled just to keep my knives sharp enough. I’ve bought several knife sharpeners over time. NONE worked as this one does. It even sharpened my knife that is to be professionally sharpened. Perhaps it is because they predetermine the angle for us??? At any rate, this sharpener works and I could not be more pleased. And it is inexpensive, too.!

I just received my Presto knife sharpener, and immediately tried it out, as I happened to have some free time. I admit that our knives are not well cared for. In their 5 or 6 years of use, I think we've had them sharpened twice - both times at a knife shop that charges a couple bucks per blade. Obviously, our knives don't stay sharp very long! I finally decided I was sick of dull knives and figured it would be safer and make us more efficient in the kitchen if I would get a sharpener. I didn't want the hassle of hand sharpening, and clearly, given my past history with using dull knives, I'm not going to be caught up about a razor edge the way a purist might be. The package arrived in great shape, packaged by Amazon along with several other items in the same box. The sharpener was well padded and wrapped in plastic. The directions are easy to understand. The unit feels like it is solidly built. Mine doesn't rattle, for instance. But, the plastic they chose to use has a rough feel to it, almost like they wanted the top to mimic the feel of a grinding stone - who knows, maybe that's exactly what they were going for. Either way, I wouldn't want to drop it, but it appears and feels like it will hold up to regular use just fine. The on/off switch and whatever it connects to make for a solid feel when turning the unit on and off. The cord is somewhat short (~30 inches), but not short enough to take off a star. Assuming you're using it on a kitchen counter (as I did), it's plenty long. But, if you wanted to sit at a table and sharpen your knives you'd probably need an extension cord. I sharpened a number of knives, from paring knives all the way up to chef's knives, and in each case this sharpener made a noticeable difference. I will probably sharpen them again using the whole proscribed method since they were so dull. But, after just one sharpening, three times through both sides, I am impressed. I tried cutting the edge of a piece of cardboard and a piece of paper with each knife before and after sharpening, and each case it made a huge difference. I also tested some of the edges on a carrot. In every case, the dull knives required much more force on the carrot. Afterwards, the cutting action on the carrot was smooth and more of a cut than a "chop" - I could draw the knife across the carrot instead of relying on downforce to split the carrot. The paper and cardboard cut was night and day. A few knives did nothing to the paper or cardboard before sharpening and all cut at least something afterwards. I say something because none of the knives cut like a razor blade does, but again, my knives were in bad shape to start with, so all in all I am calling it a success. I did use the suction cups on the bottom, and they stayed in place for the duration of the time I used the machine. It does make a vibrating/whirring sound when it is turned on, and naturally, it makes a grinding noise when using it. I did notice that some knives hop and skip a bit when pulling them through the sharpener, but I think that has more to do with my technique than the sharpener itself. You can't (and shouldn't) use too much downforce when pulling the knives through, as it will slow or even stop the grinding wheel. I did that on my first test knife...fortunately I was smart enough to use one of my lesser quality knives in case I made a mistake. This works best with just a tiny amount pressure - just enough to keep the knife against the edge. I did sharpen two serrated steak knives with the sharpener, and I was impressed by the results there too. The instructions for serrated sharpening were a little confusing until I had the knife in my hand, looking at it. My steak knives are only serrated on one side, which is the type that the Presto can sharpen. If they had edges on both sides, this sharpener apparently doesn't work. But, with the one sided edge variety of serrated knives, you pass the blade through so that the sharpened edge makes contact with the stone, and it sharpens it nicely. The angle of the wheel in the Presto is "steeper" than the factory edge was, so that after sharpening, the shiny part where the wheel made contact made it appear that I dramatically shortened the "teeth" of the serrated knife. But, upon closer inspection and comparison with an unsharpened identical knife I realized it is mainly an optical illusion. I'm sure there is a small amount of loss, but not nearly what I thought there was just looking at it with a quick glance. Again, I'm not a purist, but I am very pleased with the job the Presto has done right out of the box. Now it's time to go watch my wife cook dinner and see how long it takes her to notice that her knives are sharp again!

Shopping on the internet can be difficult, and sometimes buyers have to purchase a few versions of the same item online to determine which has the best quality. I love the idea of this product. I purchased this electric knife sharpener because I'm an avid knife collector, carry a knife daily, and have been into cooking lately. I know a good cook has to have sharp blades. I was becoming lazy since all the sharpeners I used were manual. I have a combination sharpening stone, ceramic rods, and a plastic V-rod pull sharpener (Accusharp) as well as the rolling sharpener, which has a magnetic base at a pre-fixed angle of 15 or 20 degrees (Tumblr diamond rolling knife sharpener) as well as a 20 degree guided field knife sharpener (Work Sharp). All those sharpeners make my knives razor sharp; however, I have to put effort into the sharpening. I want you to have a background knowing I was looking forward to having an easy electric sharpener. Here is some more background information: My spouse and I do not use the same knives in the kitchen. I have very sharp Damascus steel knives I use and cook with. My spouse prefers to do anything other than hand-washing dishes and utensils. Our house's different set of knives is affordable Cuisinart 12-piece colored knives. They're on Amazon for $25+. They are also dull from being in the dishwasher and are probably 13 or 14 years old. I am confident these have never sharpened. I'm the one who usually cooks, using my knives. These knives would be the perfect way to test the sharpener's quality. The instruction book says to cut a vegetable with your knives, and then if there's resistance, continue the phases one and two again. We use the paper testing method. It's cleaner. The paper test is the most popular test for knife sharpness. Place a piece of paper between your fingers to test your knife's edge and draw the knife downwards. A sharp knife will slice the paper cleanly without you applying any force, while a dull blade will tear and rip at the paper, making for a messy cut. I read the instruction manual on using the product. It was my first time using an electric sharpener, so I wanted to do it correctly. I test the blade's sharpness with a regular printer piece of paper. I try to get all of my knives razor sharp to where they slice right through. First, I did a test run with the Cuisinart in the shape it was. It slightly nicked the paper for a millimeter, followed by ripping it. When I go to use the electric sharpener, I do several passes on each side, make sure I'm not pressing too hard on the stone, make sure it sounds correct, make sure to keep it flat on the sharpener guide as well as keep parallel with the counter and move it with the way of the curve the blade. I started to test the edge of the knife on the paper again. It cuts a little better. However, it's still ripping the paper at the beginning of the cut. There was "Lather, rinse, repeat" with this product, and it did not perform as I believed it should, based on the information presented on Amazon. At this point, throwing the Cuisinart knives away was the only choice. I wanted to avoid going back and correcting the blades/ manually sharpening. I bought "Mama's Great Knives" 12-piece set sold on Amazon. They claim to be dishwasher safe, have good ratings, and do not break the bank. Again, I don't recommend putting knives in the dishwasher. I did give this electric sharpener one more chance. I carry a Bench-made knife, and I keep it reasonably sharp to the point where when I take it out of my pocket, it slices right through the paper as if it were razor sharp, and I have not sharpened it in a few weeks (I used it every day). "I did a few passes and wanted to see if it would make the lights sharper. I had a dull spot, probably from slicing open Amazon boxes. It dulled my knife when I ran it through Phases 1 and 2. At this point, I thought it was a user error, so I reread the instructions to ensure I understood everything and tried again with the same results. I didn't continue the process because I did not want to damage my everyday carry knife further. I did try it on the piece of paper to give me feedback. When I said it was a dollar, it started to rip the form more than slice through the paper. It's an excellent product for the money and easy to use. It looks pretty straightforward. It did not have results that were in line with my expectations. You can read some of these reviews, and many people are happy with the product they received. They're satisfied with what the product does and how easy it is. I may have bought a bad unit, but I returned this product. Unfortunately, the electric way is not in my future.

I love this new gadget! Use directions included to create a kitchen full of sharp knife-ware, from steak knives to your favorite cutting and dicing cutlery. At first, I must admit, I did not read the instructions and did not get good results. I was about to send back but I knew I had not done my homework. Ut Oh!! So, I read the instructions. I followed the directions! And... voila! Works beautifully. My kitchen knives were all sharpened in a very short time. I am very happy with the results. As with most sharpeners, this one does not do serrated edges and does not do scissors. For this check out trying a Whetstone (manual method). I gladly recommend this product for its great, simple instructions and for quality sharpening in a fraction of time from manual sharpening.

I’ve been using it regularly and so far it performs perfectly. It’s easy to use, even if you’re not very tech-savvy, and the instructions are clear. What I like the most is how practical it is and how it actually makes my daily routine easier. You can tell some thought went into the design.

I should've gone for the 3 stone version; a friend has it and it does a slightly better job. BUT I hone the blades a few times on a rod sharpener afterwards so this model is perfect. I've been sharpening blades since I was a young kid and found a sharpening stone in the utility drawer in the family kitchen. I was always in search of the perfect edge... by the time I was twelve the steak knives could've been used for cataract surgery and my mother's cloth shears would go through leather without closing them. That took a lot of time, but I was working with blades that already had edges, they were real carbon steel, and I was taught what angles worked best on different metals and for different applications. Different angles for different uses. This sharpener is perfect to get you started on those old blades that you may have given up on. My only problem with the unit (my unit, anyway) is that one side of the left wheel was uneven. So to some that don't know what that does, it'll leave a weird patterned grooving in it. I just went through the junk knives on that wheel until enough of it wore down. I didn't want to return it. You can't constantly sharpen knives if you are doing it wrong or too fast or to many times! I read some of the reviews and I suspect that's what's happening. Soft metal, and passing it through doing the same things over and over again... and you wind up with something that won't go through butter. Eventually the edge will get weak and bend instead of sharpening. You have to pay attention to what you're doing; constantly repeating, going over and over from one stone to the next will just basically soften the blade as it heats up and you'll have a little "lip" that moves instead of metal that grinds off. The only way to get rid of that lip is to start with a flat edge, and that means grinding the edge off, which means a lot of sharpening again to restore the angles. I'd leave the final one to a rod, then a final FINAL hone to a leather strap. I use this unit on the utility knives, junk knives, knives that you'd probably throw away... yet I also trust this unit with my carbon knives (the ones you see actual sparks coming from). Oh, use it outside. Metal dust is a pain.

Great sharpener, works fantastic. There is a small learning curve to get used to using it. Anyone can get their knives very sharp with this machine.

I read all the reviews before buying and just had to write my review (my first ever of any product). I have worked in kitchens in the past and prepare meals regularly. I am a cajun cook and we chop crazy amounts of onions, celery, garlic, bell peppers and everything else from the garden. I also have a catfish pond, and I need a very sharp filet knife. So needless to say I have a drawer full of old filet and chef knives of varing quality and dullness. I have tried so many sharpening techniques and nothing I tried could restore the original sharpness without spending a ton of time an energy. Well let me tell you, all the positive reviews are correct, this is a marvelous little gem and its the best $24 dollars I ever spent. Less than the new knife I was going to buy. I have knives of every metal imaginable and this little baby put an edge on them that is crazy sharp. I had to warn the wife about how sharp the knives were. Before if a burgular would come at me with one of my knives I would have died laughing, now I have to worry how they are stored in the drawer so not to accidently cut myself rummaging around in there. Trust me, if you need your knives sharper than this baby gives you then you just are plain crazy. I believe I saw my onions cowering in the fridge! I had to cook a big seafood gumbo with extra onions and celery just to celebrate my new sharp knives. This baby gets The Cajun seal of approval!!! Have fun and be safe with your like new sharpness! ***Update*** It has now been almost three months since I first sharpened my knives and wrote this review. I use my knives everyday and they have held their edge ever since, this sharpener is just collecting dust now because I have had no need to resharpen them. I of course use a good piece of steel to keep a razor edge but otherwise I don't foresee having to resharpen for awhile yet. ***Update 2*** Its has been over 6 months now. My knives are sharp as razors with only two sharpening times. And they get heavy use, cleaning huge catfish from my pond and also chicken and all sorts of heavy kitchen use. Coupled with a nice piece of steel this sharpener is so good I just can't live without it. With so much usuage out of my knives and only having to sharpen 2 times in the last 6 months I would have to say it is the best 24$ I have ever spent! ***Update 3*** It has now been 2 years since purchasing this excellent knife sharpener. It is funny, I took this sharpener down from the top shelf to sharpen my 12" chef knife before cutting up a ton of meat to make sausage and I had to wipe all the dust off of it before using it, that is how infrequent I have to sharpen my knifes, and I use my knives for heavy duty use! Love this sharpener! Get yourself a decent piece of steel, a good chopping board and you got it made. ***Update 4*** It now has been 4 years! It is funny 2 years ago my wife bought me this exact sharpener by accident. I had it on my Amazon wish list...for review purposes and she didn't even realize I had one, that is how infrequently I have to sharpen my chef knives. I kept a hold of it to see how long my original one would last, well I am tired of waiting, I am bringing the unopened 2 year old sharpener to work today to sell it. And I do a lot of cutting and I just took it down from the cabinet and had to dust if off again to see how well it worked before letting go with the unopened one. Knives didn't need it just wanted to 'top em off', all like new again. *Note to commenter, all my knives in use are in their original cases, or original sleeve. Next year will be my 5 year review. The person I am selling the unopened sharpener to is a hard core hunter and trapper. We will see how it handles. Stay tuned.