Opinel Manual Knife Sharpener (002386)

The Opinel Manual Knife Sharpener is a very easy way to maintain the edges on your knives and keep them sharp--even for beginners and even in the field. This Manual Knife Sharpener is the pull-through type where the sharpener is held stationary while the blade is pulled through. However, it is much better than most pull-through sharpeners because:

• silicone pads on the bottom hold the sharpener stationary on your work surface and there is no hand fatigue
• the carbide blocks are spring-loaded to enhance glide and prevent blade sticking and chipping inside the blocks
• the carbide blocks will either sharpen (remove material) or hone (polish) your blade depending on the angle at which your knife is held
• the carbide blocks are oriented to provide a 15-degree edge, which is what most people prefer today

To those who take pride in their sharpening skills and poo-poo pull-through sharpeners, the obvious response is that 99% of knives out there are dull. This is obviously because the vast majority of users do not possess the skills to sharpen their knives, find it too inconvenient to keep their knives sharp, or both. For those people, a pull-through sharpener is very suitable and infinitely superior to nothing. A pull-through is also very suitable for honing an edge right before use, as chefs are known for doing with their sharpening steels. Finally, some knives are simply not worthy of a sharpening session on the Edge Pro. For example, the shop knife at EE is a 6" Olfa box cutter that uses disposable blades that dull daily from cutting so much cardboard. Rather than tossing the blades every day or trying to Edge Pro the blades every day, John sharpens them on the Manual Knife Sharpener every morning and uses-sharpens-uses them into the ground.

The Manual Knife Sharpener is very easy and convenient to use. Simply place it on a flat surface and the silicone pads will hold it stationary. To sharpen a blade, position the rear of the blade in the slot with the tip pointing down and then glide the blade through the V-blocks several times. To hone the blade, place the rear of the blade in the slot with the tip pointing up and then glide the blade through several times. The tool does the work for you and there is no hand fatigue. Of course wipe down the blade before using it on any food.

The Manual Knife Sharpener measures 2" x 4" x 4", so it is small enough to fit in a home kitchen drawer or even your field kitchen.

Keep all of your cutlery nice and sharp. Not only will your blades be more effective when they are sharp, they will actually be safer to use because they will cut with less pressure than a dull blade and behave much more predictably. There is no single or "best" way to sharpen cutlery, because we all have our different preferences and skill levels. Different sharpening methods will also suit different blade shapes and sizes, and you probably would not use the same sharpening tool on a pocketknife and sword. To make the matter even less universal, some prefer to sharpen at home while others sharpen in the field, so the "best" sharpening tools will necessarily differ. Excellent ways to sharpen include:

• Edge Pro Sharpening System
• Hults Bruk Grinding Stone
• Opinel Manual Knife Sharpener
• Opinel Small Natural Sharpening Whetstone from Lombardia

Opinel Part Number -  002386
Universal Product Code -  3123840023866