I needed to sharpen my culinary knives, but I didn't want to be bothered with (re: didn't know how to use) a whetstone to sharpen my knives, so I purchased this AccuSharp, since it was recommended to me by my friends at my catering job. And honestly, I was surprised by how this handheld device managed to breathe life into my favourite, old blades. So, I decided to try using it on a wakizashi sword that had gotten dull from its repeated use as a coconut opener. It made the blade unnervingly sharp; however, I did notice something that I didn't when I used it on culinary knives: the sharpening process can change the natural shape of the blade to match the set-up of the sharpening stones within. That's something to take note of, but it's not actually an issue for me (as far as I'm concerned, a sharp blade is a sharp blade).

I can't believe this worked. Over 10 years ago I tried to sharpen my own knife and ended up throwing it away. Since then I was taking them to a professional once or twice a year, but it was getting annoying, the time, the travel, the waiting. I think I saw this recommended by America's Test Kitchen maybe, but I gave it a shot. My husband and I were nervous the first time, basically decided on just buying a new knife after this. The first time I spent extra long "adjusting" my blade to the sharpener, but it worked! It has been working! Still working. I can quickly make 3-4 passes before cutting tomatoes any time I want! Small, easy to store. Safety features seem well thought out. The only thing it doesn't do is get rid of that irksome nails on a chalkboard feeling I get when grating metal.

We bought this for our parents as a little random gift to have at their home. I suggest using it for your cheaper everyday knives. It sharpens really well! The only drawback is that my husband noticed that eventually it bent some a few of the cheapo knives. The knives were cheap, but this sharpener ended up damaging them (but still got them to be sharper). If you don't really care for the little dings and changes to a small portion of your knife, as we don't with our cheap ones, it's still worth using! I suggest to only use them on your more inexpensive knives because I'm not sure how I'd feel using them on more expensive knives, because you really don't want to damage those in case it does the same thing to them!

I highly recommend this to anyone who uses a knife. I am a cook, I have many people I work with now purchasing these after they have used mine and I also bought one for my step-dad and he loves it. Well worth the price, I use these on my knives at home and for work. Please read the directions and use accurately as a co-worker injured himself by not following correct procedure, remember, these are knives and are very sharp, you are sharpening them! Common sense people. Remember also to use a steel and hone your knives, please research if you do not know the difference between sharpening and honing.

This is the first time I've bought something EVER that looks like an "As seen on TV" gimmick cheepo product that actually works better than I expected! It makes cheap steel sharp in 3-4 runs across the blade...not exacto knife sharp, but it gets the job done chopping meats, hard breads and veggies with ease. That said, I would avoid using it on expensive high end knives as it does shave a decent amount of metal off..not a problem if you replace your kitchen knives every few years, but I wouldn't use it on a Wustof Classic that you want to keep for 10+ years. Another cool trick: even if the sharpening blades eventually wear down, you can simply flip them over and you have a fresh 2nd pair built in! Great product for the money.