Presto 08810 Professional Electric Knife Sharpener, Multi/None

I've been sharpening knives for over 40 years using good stones and honing steel rods. But I hate doing it. It's laborious, and there are other things I'd rather do. But I can always get a very sharp knife.Unfortunately, my wife does not know how to sharpen or hone a knife, nor does she care to learn. She dulls them and expects that I will sharpen them.I wanted something both of us could use, that would make life easier when it comes to knife sharpening. My knives range in quality from very high quality to low quality, but regardless I want them sharp!So I started buying a lot of different hand-held knife sharpening gadgets. They all suck. Don't bother.Next I spent hours reviewing electric knife sharpeners - narrowing my choices down to two; (1) Chef's Choice 120 Diamond Hone 3-Stage Professional Knife Sharpener for $120.00, or (2) the Presto 08810 Professional 3-Stage Electric Knife Sharpener for $43.00 (that's what I paid).I watched a lot of videos and actually saw the Chef's choice demonstrated live at a show; even had the guy try it on my own pocket knife. For $120, I was unimpressed with the Chef's Choice. Don't bother.So instead, I bought the Presto 08810 Professional 3-Stage Electric Knife Sharpener for $43.00.As with all knife sharpening systems, technique is needed, so read the instructions. Done right, you can get an amazing edge with very few passes; very sharp. I try not to over-sharpen. When it's sharp, I stop - mission accomplished. Continuing to make more passes after the knife has reached sharpness can possibly dull the blade. I only repeat if sharpness was not achieved after proceeding through the stages the first time.For my first try with the Presto 08810, I used a very crappy, very dull kitchen knife. It was so dull, I knew I needed to start with the coarse Stage 1. The directions said to make "three" alternating passes each side. I stopped after only "one." I already had a nice edge after just one pass each side. Don't over do it if you don't need to. Once you have a good edge, stop and move on.I test my knives by cutting into the edge of a piece of paper. The instructions say to test on vegetables. Paper is cheaper, especially when sharpening many knives in a session.If you do test sharpness on vegetables, you must clean the knife before putting back into the sharpener or you will ruin the sharpening wheels.I proceeded to Stage 2, making only about two passes, and also two on Stage 3. After only a couple of swipes, the knife was already super sharp. It sliced clean through a full sheet of paper like it was nothing. It was razor sharp. Wow!All this time I've been sharpening by hand (the hard way). I felt like a dope. The Presto 08810 is my new quick and easy sharpening tool.Granted, very expensive professional belt drive sharpening systems with leather stropping can probably achieve surgical scalpel sharpness, but who cares? Or who wants the cost and complexity of such machines for their average daily use? I'm not "shaving" with my knives, nor performing surgery.The Presto 08810 made my knives super sharp (VERY sharp). More than enough for the kitchen.[My Recommendations]Wipe your knife blade clean of any metal tiny filings after a couple of passes, and absolutely before proceeding to the next sharpening stage. This will keep the blade guides clean and free of any particles that could scratch your blade.That being said, I sharpened a bunch of knifes, and not one knife was ever scratched or marred (like the Chef's Choice is known to do).For most knives, I even recommending skipping "coarse" Stage 1. You can re-sharpen, or touch-up knives using only the "fine" Stage 3, or by sharpening in Stage 2 and finishing in Stage 3. I only used all three stages, starting in "coarse" Stage 1, for knives that had completely lost their edge.For those with small pocket knives and sport knives... yes, it sharpened mine. The smallest knife I sharpened so far was a 2.5" (9 cm) blade on a pocket knife. Because of the thickness of the handle, the Presto 08810 could not reach the final quarter inch (0.25" or 0.5 cm) of the blade, near the hilt/handle. But I was Ok with that. It was better than I expected.This was my exact same pocket knife used by the guy in the demonstration on the Chef's Choice. I can tell you for a fact, the Presto 08810 sharpened my knife better.I also sharpened my USMC KA-Bar knife with a black painted blade (gutsy, I know). Not a scratch in the paint. But remember I tend to wipe off the metal filings with each pass, just to be careful. I don't plan to do that again, as I suspect the blade guides will ultimately wear or scratch the paint if subjected to frequent passes. I just wanted to give it a try at least once.As for my stainless kitchen cutlery, no worries, all my knives were just fine. No marks, no scratches. Just sharp!Although it didn't happen to me yet, I do see the potential that possible scratching or marring of the blades could occur, depending on the knife, not resting the blade against the blade guides, or simply a build-up of filings on the blade guides.If it does happen to my kitchen knives, I'm not that overly concerned. They're just tools to me, not decorations. As long as they're usable and sharp, I'm Ok. So far, after sharpening many knives, it hasn't been a problem.[Summary]I'm so glad I didn't spend $120 on a Chef's Choice 3-Stage. What a waste that would have been. Save your money. I paid $43 (on sale) on Amazon for the Presto 08810 (3-Stage) knife sharpener, and it works just as good, if not better, as I discovered.I've seen the Presto 08810 for as high as $48, and usually for $45. Check also on eBay if Amazon is too high. But either way, it's cheaper than the expensive Chef's Choice.

Simple to use and great results. Do practice on an old knife which will allow you to learn the proper technique and break in the stones a bit.Update: after 2 weeks of ownership and 30+ knives sharpened, I am completely satisfied with this product. I have sharpened all of my knives, slicing and serrated, and am compiling a nice set for each of my two sons who are moving out and need basic kitchen tools. My new hobby is to rescue unwanted quality knives at yard sales, and give them new lives as high performance tools. The results are truly awsome and it is such a pleasure to work with sharp tools again.Update after approximately 1 month of use. I have sharpened close to 100 knives for friends and family with fantastic results. Some of the negative comments mention the motor to be underpowered. Either the motor is faulty on their unit, or they are pushing down too hard. A very light pressure works best. I would again recommend using one old knife to practice on, which will also break in the stones and perhaps reduce any over aggressive grinding. It is important to position yourself so that you are pulling the knife in a straight line towards yourself to keep the knife along the guide and at a consistent angle to the wheel. Since this is done at a slight angle to the unit, I move my body left or right accordingly. When I am using one of the sharpening slots, I angle my body so that my shoulder and arm are in line with the direction of knife motion. I also count the number of seconds that it takes me to complete the motion to make sure that I am not going too slow or too fast. So for an 8" blade, it should take me about 4 seconds to do one pass. For knives which have a curved tip, you have to raise the handle as you are pulling the tip across the stone to get the proper grind. On a long knife, I often will steady the tip with my other hand until it reaches the back of the unit.It also helps to have a good high intensity light to see the edge for inspection and to see the wheel that you are using so that you can locate the knife precisely. I work in the medical device industry where we sharpen surgical needles which penetrate human tissue, so I am very familiar with what a good edge looks like. I also have a 10x loupe which makes edge inspection very easy. A dull edge will reflect light while a sharp one will not. So if you have a light directly over the edge, if you see specs of light reflecting back at you, that means that those areas are not yet sharp. If you can get a hold of a magnifier, hold it close to your eye, steady your hand by resting it against your cheek, and move the knife towards the magnifier until it comes into focus. Most people hold the object to magnify at arm's length, and move the magnifier until it is in focus, which is incorrect. If used properly, you will have a larger image to inspect.Under magnification, the edge has micro serrations which make it very sharp. My company used to polish our needles so that they were very shiny with a smooth edge, but after developing a test for sharpness, we realized that a dull surface with a micro serrated edge is much sharper. We now use a process which keeps those micro serrations. When I am done sharpening a knife, I pull it very lightly across a finger and can feel it "biting" into the skin. Scary sharp!I have also read on some knife forums that grinding an edge can de-temper the steel and make it weak. I reached out to one of my Metallurgists and was told that unless I can see visual heat lines, which I do not, de-tempering is not occurring. Although when sharpening stainless steel I do not get any sparks, carbon steel does spark a little, which is also a good test to see what type of steel it is if you are not sure. I recently bought a Vintage 10" Chef's Knife which was advertised as "stainless" but it had some light staining on the blade so I suspected that it was made from carbon steel. It did spark during sharpening so this confirmed that I got a carbon steel knife and a real find!Now, some purists will argue that hand honing gives the best results. Perhaps, but I am not collecting priceless knives, but merely buying great knives and turning them into fabulous kitchen tools in a fraction of the time that it takes to hand tone. This sharpener is one of my favorite tools.

I was surprised that this unit really sharpend my knives more quickly than as in manual. Cut my finger when using the first knife sharpened. Will be more careful in future but enjoy the sharpener so much I am leaving it right on the kitchen counter(doesn't look too bad there, eithier). Good product!

Good product

Great for a gift