Knifemen, knifewomen, downvoters, upvoters, it’s time to update you on the salvation of this kitchen knife. Mr. McKay, based knife sharpener, did the best he could do to restore the edge to something like symmetry. I expected a salty comment or two on the topic when I picked it up, however, he did not offer any, only a pitying silence as he gave me a meticulously handwritten receipt. Yet, his silence was full of kindness. Cost: $4.00 USD Many have asked, how did I achieve the ragged edge seen in my previous post? I wish I had a better answer for you, except that I used a shitty Coghlan’s sharpener that was probably full of metal filings and dirt. That one is going in the trash. Any suggestions for buying a beginner’s sharpener for $30.00 or $40.00 ? I don’t know how to use a file or a stone.
For kitchen knives and a great many other knives I currently use a Ruixin “Pro” RX-009. I have oodles of other knife sharpening thingamabobs including the motor driven Ken Onion edition Work Sharp belt sharpener thingy, their field sharpener, one of their tilting bench stone sets, a Spyderco Sharpmaker, and any amount of random strops, stones, and blocks. I’ve been swearing up and down that one of these days I’ll write more about some of them, and I probably will… Just as soon as I run out of knives to talk about.
The Ruixin is one of the current crop of clamp based guided angle jig setups that are all the rage these days. Myriad other similar options are available, but all of these things trace their lineage back to the original Edge Pro Apex as far as I can tell, the latter of which many of their stones are still interchangeable with. The original Ruixin (which I used to have one of back in the day) was actually a direct Chinese knockoff of the Apex which probably did not make Mr. Ben Dale very happy. But they have since gone their own way and the Apex has not. The Apex (or a knockof thereof) is technically more versatile to a small extent but I also find it significantly more irritating to use.
My Ruixin, meanwhile, is more or less idiot proof provided you bring your own angle finding gizmo — up to or including your phone — and is capable of making anything stupidly sharp with a minimal amount of effort. I imagine I could have done a much better job straightening out the edge of your knife with mine than Mr. McKay did, there. And you probably could, too.
(Seriously, what he did to your knife is no less awful than what you did to it. I could have done a better job with some sandpaper on a block and my eyes shut. Are you sure you don’t want to just send the thing to me?)