Rachael Ray Knife Sharpener?

[heWho]

Does anyone have any experience with this thing? My parents bought it to sharpen their knives and I'm trying to convince them not to use it. Any yea's or nay's?

[frankiii]

If you use nice knives and want them to last then you really should let a pro do the stone or grinder sharpening (once a year or so, unless you are using the hell out of them). Stick with a steel (which is a lot easier than it looks) to keep your knives sharp.

[ML8000]

I think most of RRs knives and the sharpener are made by Furi, an Aussie company.

http://www.furitechnics.com.au/

If you click on the US link on their site (and scroll down a bit), I believe you'll see the spring loaded claw thing, it that's what you're talking about. I've seen it at some show but never heard of Furi, so it's a guess. The site says $30 bucks...I thought it was more for some reason.

[goodhealthgourmet]

nay on sharpening one's own knives, period. [unless you're properly trained.]

oh, and the fact that rachael ray has her name on it...a second nay if i can vote twice.

[A Ron]

I don't understand all the fear of knife sharpening. As a hunter, and growing up in rural TX, knife sharpening is something that was learned at a very early age. It is not that hard (with the right tools) to put a shaving sharp edge on a blade and keep the correct edge geometry.

If you can properly wield a knife without losing a digit, you should be able to sharpen your own blades.

[DWPC]

Besides cooking, I do a good deal of woodworking and have a fetish about sharp tools. My wife bought this contraption, and I had misgivings about letting any good knives near it. I finally tried it on an old knife I hadn't sharpened in years. I was very surprised at the results. Its a cleverly designed, fairly idiot-proof system that will put a pretty good edge a knife if use per the instructions. It's not one of those coarse things that ruins a blade. It uses a set of progressive spring-tensioned "forks" that act on the edge pretty much the same way as a stone would. We've used for two years on our knives and I'm very satisfied. The carbide v-tool is only for restoring really rough edges; I used it on a fishing knife and it did a respectable job.

So my advice is to try it before condemning it. Sharp knives are tools, not kitchen jewelry or objects of ritual.

[Zeldog]

Let's hope Rachel Ray didn't actually have anything to do with designing the thing. I've never used one, but from what I can tell from the description I found on a website, there are two fittings with diamond dust encrusted "fingers" and one fitting that looks like it may be a carbide v-notch for use on a really dull or badly nicked blade. Nothing beats professional sharpening, but the diamond fingers will probably maintain a fairly good edge without doing any serious damage to the blades. But tell them to throw that other thing away. I'm not kidding. Really throw it away. V-notch sharpeners shave substantial amounts of metal off the blade. Use one just a few times and you will change the curve of the blade. Use one too much and you can turn a chef's knife into a boning knife. When I was young and ignorant I ruined my first Henkels knife that way.

If your folks have some knives that are really dull or badly nicked, get them sharpened at a cutlery shop, then maintain the edges with the diamond fingers. And don't go to Sur la Table or some general store to get them sharpened. That's a real crap shoot. Your knives will probably be sharpened by a sales clerk with 10 minutes of training in how to use a bench grinder.

[greglor]

My personal prejudice: Stay far away from anything with the name Rachel Ray.

[Eric in NJ]

I bought one at Marshall's at a good price, but I don't like it. I do better with a stone. I don't think it will ruin any knives I just didn't find it to work very well.