Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Kitchen newbies to experienced cooks will love this sharpener. I have a large collection of European (Henckels & Wustof) and Asian (MAC) kitchen knives and want them very sharp for ease of use and safety. I also have a large collection of manual and electric knife sharpeners that I never use because: 1) they don't make knives wicked sharp 2) they take lots of time and skill to use 3) they don't work on both Asian and European knives, and 4) .they are big and stored away in a closet. I have tried the manual stones, CrockStick, Accusharp, Chantry, Fiskars Rollsharp and at least 3 earlier Chef's Choice manual and electric models spanning 25+ years and this one works as fast and more easily than all of them. Plus it is 1/3 the price of some of the electrics and it works on both Asian & European knives. The latest Chef's Choice I have is Model 120 and is works well on my Euro knives but you have to be quick with the coarsest grinding stages otherwise you will grind in a divot near the bolster. And, the 120 only works on Euros. I recently fell in love with MAC knives from Japan which are so hard they stay sharp longer than my Henckels, but the Rollsharp recommended by MAC wasn't able to remove microchipping of the edge created after several years of use. Instead of buying a dedicated electric Asian or a Asian/Euro model from Chef's Choice I did some reasearch about this model and other brands and bought one as a gift for a relative setting up her kitchen. I tried it out at Christmas and loved it, she tried it and loved it, her Mom tried it and loved it. Since then I have given four more as gifts or as recommendations to friends and family whose knives I sharpen annually at Thanksgiving or Christmas on my electric Model 120. Only rave reviews so far. I've now sharpened about 50 knives with my Model 4643, including several Shun's and carbon steel chinese cleavers and it still restores a hair popping edges on my heavily used MAC 8 1/2" chefs knife. I can now cut ripe tomatoes and crusty bread without a serrated knife because the blade is so sharp. So small, it stores in a drawer for handy access. Sharpens both sides of the blade on both forward and backward strokes. It is easy to use, but please read and follow the instructions. Unlike some sharpeners, a moderate amount of pressure is recommended (3 tp 5 lbs, use you kitchen scale to get a feel for it). If your blade is curved, rotate the handle up or down to keep the portion of the edge in the sharpener parallel to the table, otherwise you may cut into the plastic body and undo your sharpening. A reviewer of the Asian only Model 463 said they liked the Minosharp ceramic roller sharpener much better because the Chef's Choice because it uses flat diamond plates instead of double-sided rollling cones like the Minosharp. Older and less expenisve Chef's Choice manual sharpeners do use flat diamond coated plates but the Models 4643, 463 and 464 all use double sided-cones like the Minosharp and Rollsharp, but, the Chef's Choice cones are diamond coated metal instead of ceramic. The only cons I find with this manual model is that it takes longer than an electric to sharpen a very dull knife, that said, it has eventually sharpened every knife I have tried, no matter how dull, wicked sharp. Just keep sharpening in the first stage until it shreds paper, then finish in the second stage. Not suitable for thick bladed Japanese knives sharpened only on one face. Chef's Choice sells over a dozen manual sharpeners, the older ones cost less, but they don't work nearly as well as the Model 4643, 463 or 464.