The Ultimate Edge 5-Inch Companion Narrow Diamond Sharpening Steel

I make kitchen knives that I give to my friends and family and one of the suggestions that I give my "customers" is to buy a 12" Ultimate Edge. The Ultimate Edge is just about the only sharpening tool that is needed for home knife sharpening. The Ultimate Edge is the best diamond stick sharpener that I have ever used. There are two tricks to sharpening a typical kitchen knife. The first trick is being able to know when (and where) the knife is sharp. If the edge of a shap knife is touched to your thumbnail it will feel "sticky" a dull edge will feel smooth and just slide off of your thumbnail. You can try this with your own dull blades and then try a new pocket knife at a sporting goods store. Knives can be dull along part of the blade (most usually at the tip) and sharp along another part. The object is to get the the blade sharp along the full length so you touch, touch, touch....along the full length of the blade to find out where it is't sharp and dull. A dull edge will also reflect light so that can be used to confirm what you determined with your thumbnail.The next trick is to be able to get the blade at the right angle for sharpening. First take a Sharpie and blacken the cutting edge. That is pretty easy to do, just run the Sharpie along the full length of the blade right at the beveled cutting edge. Next hold the Ultimate Edge as verticle as possible and swipe the blade for its full length down the UE. Don't push hard and go slow. Now look at your Sharpie mark. Did you "sharpen" most of it away? If so you have the right angle! If not, mark will show you whether you need to steepen or flatten your angle. Don't push hard and go slow. Do the other side. Now the kinda painful part is that you are going to use the Sharpie several times until you "teach" your hands and your eyes what is the correct angle. And the OTHER kinda painful thing is that no matter what handed you are you need a different set of skills for both sides of the knife blade.The two tricks now form a feed back loop. Mark both sides of the edge, swipe both sides, touch, touch, touch..., repeat as required. The very best way to learn is to start with the shortest blade that you can find. A used paring knife from the thrift store works great. I figger that it would take about an hour for a flat beginner to use this method and get a 4" paring knife from Goodwill sharp enough to shave arm hair. If you like to cook, believe me, it is worth the effort to learn how to sharpen a kitchen knife sharp enough to shave the hair off of your arm.I am a man, I grew up in the South and it took me a while to become a feminist. My mother used to say that the main reason that a woman needed to get married was to have someone to keep her kitchen knives sharp. In fact, in the South a dull knife is said to be "as dull as a widow's ax". So this is partially a feminist issue that at least some of you have the tools now to resolve.

This is not sharpening steel, it is an amazingly convenient sharpener. I keep my knives sharp. Over the years I have used the Laski system, hard and soft Arkansas stones, but finally settled on a diamond stone/plate. When I saw this "steel" i was intrigued. It is everything I'd hoped for. I run it under the water before each sharpening. When I am not happy with a knife, this steel is hanging right there. 10 seconds and the knife, big or little, is sharp again. Wicked sharp. As an additional benefit, the instructions noted that it can be used on glass. I have two 5 liter wide mouth Fido bottles that I use for fermenting kraut. Both had developed small chips around the rim under the seal. I was concerned that the chips might ruin the seal. I went to town on the rims of both bottles. This steel smoothed out the rims beautifully. I no longer worry about cutting my hand or ruining my kraut. It won't give you a polished edge on you knives or glass but it is a quick and effective compromise. 80% of what you need for 10% of the work. No sign of wear yet. I am guessing that if you wet it before each use and give it a quick wipe with a paper towel after using it, it will last indefinitely. My diamond "stone" has lasted for 15 years.

This is a good honer for the moneyMultiple people at my work use these because they're durable and they work like they're supposed to. It has the added benefit that it will actually sharpen your knife slightly which means I don't have to take my knife to the stone as often. It will dull your knife if you don't use it properly so make sure your holding your knife at the right angle!

Just got this today and have put it to use on a couple of kitchen knives and a pocket knife. It seems to do the job. It is fairly course and it removes a good amount of material fairly quickly. I am a bit concerned about how it will hold up in the long term. I fear that the diamond abrasive will wear off quickly, leaving just a plain old steel. Time will tell. Im only goving the durability 3 stars due to this concern. Hopefully its an unwarrented concern. For now, I'm pleased with the purchase.

After months upon months of researching reviews and articles on every knife sharpener and method to keep kitchen knives sharp, I happened upon a review for diamond steels that made sense to me. Again, more research to determine any differences among diamond steels -- other than price. I chose this Ultimate Edge Model 10W . . . and I'm very happy with my selection.My Wusthof knives have an easily-achieved, very sharp edge again. Since I was already comfortable using a steel, switching to a diamond steel was easy. Albeit, I do use the diamond steel more slowly, keeping my knife blade at the recommended angle, and I use it only when necessary. I still use my regular steel whenever I pick up a knife to do a cutting task. The only -- minor -- concern I have is that this diamond steel has a plastic handle that may not last for many years, although it seems sturdy.Bottom line, this is a relatively inexpensive way to sharpen my knives without the damage that a bad electric sharpener can do. I'm pleased and would recommend using a diamond steel to anyone with expensive knives and concerns about keeping them sharp.

This sharpening steel puts a nice edge on my fillet knife. Slow and easy and control is the key