Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Haaa--llelujah...... Haaa--llelujah...... Hallelujah! -- Hallelujah! -- Hal-le-le-eh-lu-jah. Sharp knives! I finally have sharp knives! This thing is so unbelievably amazing, I feel like swearing. It works!... by golly, the darn thing works! I've tried more knife sharpening systems and stones than I care to admit. In fact, here are the ones I can remember purchasing: 1. Smith's PP1 PocketPal 2. Furi FUR626 Ozitech Diamond Fingers Pro Knife Sharpener 3. Wusthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener (the heavy duty version) 4. Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker Knife Sharpener 5. A traditional whetstone 6. AccuSharp Shear Sharp Scissor Sharpener 7. A motorized dual-stage (coarse/fine) grinding stone that came with a fancy can opener 8. Some other manual dual-stage sharpener I bought at Bed Bath & Beyond (similar to the cheap Chef's Choice) Despite being a mechanical engineer *and* a mechanic and a psychotic perfectionist when it comes to sharp knives, I was never able to get that razor sharp edge everyone dreams of. Sometimes I would spend 30 minutes on a single knife following the directions to the letter (I did this many times over with the Wusthof, the Spyderco, and the regular whetsone). None of them worked (though I'm sure a master knife-sharpener could get the whetstone to work). It's as though you have to be a Samurai-sword blacksmith to get the same results claimed by the manufacturers. Some of these tools were just plain junk. Others were OK. But never did I arrive at perfection... that is, until now. 10 minutes after I unpacked this guy I set about sharpening a Chicago Cutlery chef's knife and pairing knife (not the highest quality knives, I admit), a Leatherman Charge multi-tool blade, a Victorinox 4" pocketknife blade, a KaBar hunting knife, and a Smith & Wesson boot knife. Perfection across the board. I tested the first four knives by doing that nifty paper slicing test you see on TV where you hold the paper in front of you and cut slices using the entire length of the knife. Every one of them made delicate slices from heal to tip. You operate this thing just like the honing steel that came with your set of kitchen knives. But this is *not* a honing tool, it is sharpening stone perfection. With each swipe you can feel it taking aggressive yet precisely-controlled slices off the knife's edge. 5-10 strokes per side for any knife in average shape and you'll be shocked at the finished edge. But I should warn you: the feel of this thing shaving off years and years of wretched sharpenings induces some sort of mysterious swordsman's euphoria... a kind of mild intoxication that will have you standing hunched over in your kitchen making swipe after swipe after swipe like some mad scientist... trying to get sharper... and sharper... and sharper. *Not* because the knife isn't already sharp, mind you, but because you've finally been liberated from knife sharpening hell! If you want sharp knives, look no further. This is the one.