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| Chef's Choice 120 3 Stage Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener | 
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| Brand: EdgeCraft
Category: Kitchen
Buy New: $139.95 - $189.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  (92 reviews)
Sales Rank: 270081
Media: Kitchen
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
MPN: 0120009
Model: 120 Brushed Metal
UPC: 087877001293
EAN: 0087877001293
ASIN: B0006GZKYO
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Easy and quick sharpener May 24, 2008
I used to sharpen my knives with many different hand sharpening tools. They would do a good job on them, but they always took planning and a fair amount of work. That led to knives not getting sharpened nearly as often as they should have. I finally got tired of dull knives and got this.
At first I thought I would just sharpen my cheaper knives with it and do the better ones the old way. I found out it does a very good job on all knives and haven't sharpened any knife with anything else for a very long time. It's quick and does a very good job of sharpening. What more could you ask for.
Highly recommended!
 Scratches blades! February 12, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I purchased this model based on the positive reviews here, and the recommendation from Cook's Illustrated, but I haven't had the same positive experience. It puts long fine scratches on the sides of the blades. I know it's just cosmetic, but I just can't subject my Wusthofs to it. I rated it 1 star, because hopefully it will get the attention of people for whom this might be a determining factor in their purchasing decision. Most of the reviews don't mention this problem, and many of the reviews that mention it, still have a high rating, so it may be overlooked by someone looking for critical feedback.
There are also a couple of other negatives that I found with this model. Depending on the knife, it can be difficult to draw it through the guides and feel the correct pressure, so getting a nice even edge can be difficult at times. Also, you can't sharpen the blade right up to the bolster due to the shape of the guides. One last caveat, this model will not sharpen Santoku knives to the standard of 17 degrees, which is sharper than the German standard on which this model is based. To be fair, it does a decent job of sharpening your average knife, and I will still use it on my cheap knives, but if I had it to do over, I would not have purchased this model (especially considering the price).
Chef's Choice 120 3-Stage Diamond Hone Professional Sharpener January 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great product - Wish I would have purchased it sooner. Does a super job of sharpening and is simple to operate.
 Even better than expected - within it's limits. January 20, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Pros: With very little work will put a wicked edge on anything. Capable of going way beyond a working edge. Good aesthetics in the stainless model. Great warranty, quick, knowledgeable customer service.
Cons: WILL leave fine scratches on blades - not for show knives! Fixed sharpening angles not suitable for all blades, only traditional American & German blades.
Let me start by saying this thing WILL put a "shaving sharp" edge on a knife, any knife. I have been using a Lansky sharpening kit for years and I can sharpen a knife. I'm just tired of all the work. I was looking for something to get a knife "kitchen sharp" and the M120 way exceeds this level.
I brought the M120 home today (along with three new Wusthof Icon knives), and after reading the manual & playing with it for a few minutes I attacked an old 5" utility knife which had been so abused that it had chunks missing from the edge! It did not develop a burr in stage one for quite a few pulls, I had to work at it for about five minutes. With my manual Lansky sharpening kit it would have take an hour or more to restore the basic bevel. Stage two and three went pretty much as advertized. It be shavin' sharp! I sharpened every old cheap piece of #$^# I could find in the kitchen and my pocket knife too. Now BOTH my arms are bald as a baby's smile. I gotta find a new way to test an edge!
Ok, so you want to know what happened to the brand new Wusthofs right? First off the bevel might be good on them but neither of the straight edge knives were "shaving sharp". Not even after steeling them. The edges were just too rough for fine push cutting. I don't know why but only Bear MGC, Kershaw Ken Onion, and Brusetto knives have come to me sharp out of the box. Anyhow after all this sharpening I got so bold as to run my new Wusthofs through stage three for a couple of pulls. WOW! The 3.5" paring knife is not shaving sharp, it's scarey sharp! And the 8" Chef's is sharper than it's got any right to be. I'm just too timid to go any farther. There IS such a thing as too sharp! As for the 5" serrated sausage knife, it seems to dress the tips of the edge to scarey sharpness. These knives now shame the Shun's that I also looked at (I'm a south paw).
It does take practice to get the pull & pressure right, but it's not hard to do at all. Also as others have noted the M120 will leave fine longitudinal scratches on the blade. So don't plan on dressing a collectors knife on this machine, it's for work knives! For whatever reason I've noticed it takes the longest to get a good burr in the center of the blade. With my Lansky it seemed to take the longest to get the tip to burr.
Her's some technical specs. I got from Chef's Choice and a warning about Oriental knives. The angles on the bevels are as follows:
Stage1: 20 degrees.
Stage 2: 22.5 degrees
Stage 3: 25 degrees - flexable stropping disk
These angles are NOT suitable for oriental knives which are typically 17 degrees! I was looking at the M130 which claims it is suitable for oriental and ALL knives??? Well a call to Chef's Choice surprised me! Stage one in the 130 is the SAME as stage two in the 120 and Stage 3 is the same in both. Stage two in the 130 is just a steel at 22.5 degrees! It's not even a powered device. When I pointed out the disparity of angles to the very nice customer service rep. She said that the 130 would just sharpen the oriental knives to German angles & if I needed to I could "easily" have then ground back to 17 degrees!
My advise is to buy the 120, which I've proven will restore ANYTHING in stage one and get a separate steel for when you need an edge with more bite. I'd skipp the M130 as it has no course grind to restore a destroyed edge. If you have Asian knives I'd have a look at the Asian models from Chef's Choice. All and all I'm really pleased with this machine. Take away the blade scratching & make the angle adjustable and it would be perfect!
Fantastic! January 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have a set of Henckels that had become progressively blunter over the years. Sharpening them took longer and longer.
I finally broke down, did the research, and purchased this unit. In one word: Fantastic! I cannot believe how sharp the knives are now!
Some recommendations: Read the instructions and follow them to the letter. I tested and made sure that I could feel a burr along the whole edge after Stage 2. If I didn't feel a burr, I repeated Stage 2 more slowly until a burr developed along one side of the edge.
I also recommend another reviewer's instructions to wipe down the knife blade with a paper towel with every pass, the rationale being that you remove metal particles that could otherwise mar the finish.
To test sharpness, I used a piece of ordinary letter size paper, trying to make a cut using the whole length of the sharp edge with a minimum of force. This is of course subjective, but can give you a good idea of how sharp the blade is becoming.
As a final test: cut a apple. You should be able to slice it in 2 with very little pressure.
Note: I haven't tested this unit with a serrated edge since I don't really use serrated knives. This unit claims to sharpen serrated edges as well.
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