How to Keep your Knives Sharp with Chefs Choice Professional Sharpening Station 130

I am sharing my tips on keeping your kitchen knives sharp thanks to Chef’s Choice.

If there is anything that makes me appreciate having sharp knives to use in the kitchen more than anything else, it’s using my mom’s dull knives. Her knives are consistently dull, making it difficult to cut through food properly. Add to that, the fact that she always uses the wrong types of knives for jobs, and it makes me want to gift her with a Professional Sharpening Station, like the Chef’s Choice Model 130.

My mom isn’t the only dull-knife culprit. My dad isn’t much better. Mind you, he lives alone and doesn’t cook elaborate meals, but he cooks enough where having sharp knives would make a big difference.

Keeping knives in good shape means regularly sharpening them. Without regular sharpening, you’ll be forced to re-edge your knives — which is pretty extreme. I’ll share some tips on how you can keep your knives in tip-top condition by regularly sharpening them.

This professional sharpening station can be used for all fine edge and serrated knives. There are three different stages to this knife sharpener, which you can use in different combinations to get custom edges for your cutting tasks.

Stage 1: 100% diamond abrasives sharpen knife edges. This stage should be used sparingly. Turn on the sharpener and start by pulling the knife once through the left slot of stage 1, then the right. You should only need to alternate between the left and right side a few times. Once a “burr” is created on one side of the knife edge (feels like a rough and bent extension of the blade), move on to stage 3. This stage is great for knives used to cut fruit and vegetables as well as for pocket knives.

Stage 2: This stage is for creating a steeled edge. This is most commonly used for cutting meat.

Stage 3: Serrated knives should only be sharpened on this stage. After a “burr” is created using stage 1, and for future resharpening of knives, use stage 3. In general, you will only need to pairs of pulls in this stage for a razor sharp edge.

The Chef’sChoice^® Model 130 Professional Sharpening Station has earned the “The Best” rating in the 2013 electric sharpener category from the Hammacher Schlemmer Institute “because it produced the sharpest, most resilient edges.”

I have a few paring knives, a bread knife and a santoku knife in my collection, so I just use stages 1 and 3.

I’m impressed with the weight of this professional sharpening station. Knowing that it can be used in a professional setting makes me think that it will have a place in my kitchen for years to come. I’ve had a few Chef’s Choice products over the years, and really stand behind this brand.

I’d love to hear from you — how often do you sharpen your knives?

The Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife-Sharpening Station is great for gift-giving. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be ecstatic to receive this as a gift! It is available in white for $149.99 for white molded casing to $179.99 for brushed metal.

I received the above mentioned Chef’s Choice Sharpening Station in order to write this feature. I only share products with you that I stand behind.