Sent my knives—again, third time now—to Knife Aid. About $11/knife including postage. I sent 11 this time. I do it once a year, before Thanksgiving.
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I replaced my 40+ year old Chef’s Choice with a new model a year ago. The new one is different and has separate passages for Asian and Euro/American knives. Important to examine your knives to see how they are ground. My Japanese knives are ground on one side only.
Sometimes, reading the instructions is beneficial as well. It seems I’ve been over-working my knives in the sharpener and on the steel. Now after a quick sharpening I simply use a steel on my knife before each use and the razor edge holds up time after time. @bryan_flannery did a video on how to properly use a steel and that helped me as well.
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Good to know. I’ll look for it. I ditched my steel in favor of a ceramic hone. Much better results
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Haven’t ditched mine but now discriminate.
Diamond hone when a blade needs a little touch up and is softer steel. Ceramic hone for harder steel. Leather strop with diamond emulsion for the high end Japanese stuff.
Honing a knife is a completely different process and serves a different purpose than sharpening a knife.
If you can’t realign the burr with a ceramic hone, the knife needs sharpening anyway.
I use the diamond hone to create a new micro burr. Seems to work on some of my knives pretty well. Not used on the high end stuff.
Me too. Can’t be bothered trying to learn how to do this correctly. They do an excellent job. Last year I shipped them 7 of my best knives and the package got lost. They replaced them with better knives than I had sent. I’m a customer for as long as they are doing this.
Once a year is great if you never cook. I need my knives sharpened every quarter at the min. At least the few I use daily.
I just used this for the first time on one of my principal European style knives. I’m knocked out by its sharpness. I hesitated because the first (and subsequent) pulls feel and sound like you are ruining the edge. Awesome recommendation
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The review I read said it takes off a “lot” of metal and the sharpener wears out quickly.
Any speak to the layer point. It felt like u was taking off a lot of edge while I was sharpening, but found no trace of steel when I wiped the edge off with a white cloth when done
Just bought one of these (thanks, @Anton_D ) and sharpened my Wustoffs. Haven’t used them yet. But as an aside, ordered from Amazon about 6 PM, delivered about 8:15 same day! They had a digital coupon for $8 off the $49 price, such a deal!
But when using for the first time, I wiped them on a towel and didn’t see much metal. Each successive pull thru the sharpener got quieter and smoother, edge seemed really smooth, I will test out tomorrow. Used to use an electric sharpener which no longer seemed to get them really sharp.
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I can’t find the review. Serious Eats had a review that mentioned taking off metal for a similar Zwilling sharpener. “This is the only sharpener I tested for this review that took a measurable amount of material off of the knife (two grams). Over time, this sharpener will whittle your knife down to a toothpick.”
A steel penny weighs 2.9 grams.
A paper clip weighs 2 grams.
I gotta call BS on that reviewer’s claim of removing steel to that degree.
I do go along with a shortened life, so my great grandkids might have to face buying a new knife. 
2 grams of steel powder is a small thimbleful.
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I finally watched a YT video and used the (inexpensive) King KW65 1000/6000 whetstone I bought in 12/2025 on my regular kitchen knives. At about 10 minutes per knife it was surprisingly less work than I anticipated, with great results.
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Who is your DC guy?
Great question. I looked for him about a year ago but couldn’t find him in my emails.
Sorry about that. He was really good.
Lonnie
Not a problem. I have been using a neighborhood kid but no idea if he is particularly good (or when he’ll next be visiting his parents nearby).