When you go to Shun’s sharpening webpage, they have the following statement:
For an electric sharpening option we recommend the Shun electric sharpener, which matches the 16° angle of our cutlery
I got one of these as a gift, and am afraid to use it…I turned it on and it sounded like a garbage disposal chewing ice… There was no way one of my knives were going through that thing.
I also have had terrible experiences with Shun’s new sharpening people (east coast), and will never send a knife back to them… Find someone local, go to a few upscale restaurants and ask them who they use, you will be glad you did… As for my shun electric sharpener… It looks nicetucked away in its box, and it will stay there.
I use a Sabatier steel I bought in NYC in the early 70’s and a double sided Sears stone I got in the 60’s…Practice, practice, practice, and shave your forearm with that newly sharpened knife… If the edge will catch in your thumbnail from the weight of the knife, all is well…I do not own two knifes of the same brand, maybe when I’m 70 in a few months I’ll buy one that is the same brand as one of the others… Happy MLK day to all…
I got this for Christmas and it works great for my needs. I’m sure it isn’t the perfect treatment of my knives or whatever, but if I was going to do that I would still be cutting with a dull knife.
ARGH. One of the big reasons I sprung for my expensive Shuns was the lifetime free sharpening. And now it no longer exists? Well, I may purchase this sharpener, but after that, they’ve lost a customer.
[QUOTE=dcpotts, post:25, topic:339171]
That’s interesting.
KAI still sharpens Kershaws & ZT’s under warranty, but not Shun.
That tells me that they were probably horking Shun’s w/ their acute blade angles (which isn’t all that acute, but…).
That tells me that KAI doesn’t want to mess up your Shun with their primary USA factory equip (which handles a few exotic edges & steels from the Kershaw & ZT lines).
That should tell you that if KAI has to outsource their Shuns, maybe you should too…
(unless you’re handy with stones and/or strops)
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It tells me they are trying to save a buck in a bad economy
[QUOTE=glibdud, post:48, topic:339171]
ARGH. One of the big reasons I sprung for my expensive Shuns was the lifetime free sharpening. And now it no longer exists? Well, I may purchase this sharpener, but after that, they’ve lost a customer.
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me too, am very disappointed that they stopped this service. I guess all of the sales on Shun knives should have been a warning to us that their business was struggling.
[QUOTE=SputnikHQ, post:47, topic:339171]
What about these new ceramic knives? I am having a dickens of a time using my sharpener with them. Any ideas?
Vegas
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Kyocera offers a re-sharpening service for their knives. Whether they’d do it for other brands, you’d have to ask.
3565 Cadillac Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1401
Knife Re-Sharpening / Warranty Department
888-700-7371
Too bad you didn’t take a picture of their packaging and send it back with a picture of their recommended packaging. Seems they owe you a heap of money for not following their own recommendations. (OTOH, they did offer proof that not following recommendations would damage the knives!)
I’ve always wanted to learn how to use a whetstone. Obviously it all comes down to practice, but can I just use any cheap knife to learn with and then apply the principles to the nicer ones? The quality of the knife steel shouldn’t matter for that purpose, right?
[QUOTE=jameslanger, post:9, topic:339171]
I wouldn’t let any electric sharpener near any good quality knife. Better to leave it to a professional, unless you really know what your doing with a set of stones. IMO.
My Wustoff’s and spyderco’s get steeled every now and again and once a year or so they get professionally sharpened by a wustoff certified tech for about $3 a knife.
I’d do the same for Shun if I had one.
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HERE’S THE THING: I took my good knives to a professional (on the spot) sharpening person thinking that my knives were going to get sharpened on a flat stone BY HAND. I was shocked to see that he put them through a gadget (that looked similar to this one) and sharpened each knife in about one minute. I was NOT IMPRESSED.
[QUOTE=kahawken, post:34, topic:339171]
My set of 5 knives just came back the other day. $35.00 plus my expense to ship them to them…$43.00 Total. Box returned to me: Packaging included paper wrapped around all 5 knives that were loose inside box. One knife nicked/gouged when returned to me - was in perfect condition when sent to them except needing their yearly sharpening. I was dumbfounded to see how poorly they were packed. Holding box in hand and knives clinging around box before I opened. I wrapped them individually with a sheath cover on each knife and then bubble wrap. No sheaths returned or bubble wrap to be found. Sick over how they were transported.
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I worked at a sushi restaurant for a while, and we had a couple wetstones for all the knives. We sharpened our 5 dollar Kiwi knives (brand, not the fruit) and they were thin cheap knives, but they sharpened well and stayed around for 2-3 years a piece of constant use. Then the sushi chef’s would use the stone on their fancy pants sushi knifes with no issues.
It’s just how you do it. The cheaper the knife, the less care went into sharpening, so you got a sharp ugly knife quickly, where the more expensive knives were done with care so as not to rough anything but the blade.
It’s actually pretty easy to do and the stones last forever, so it’s worth investing. Find the restaurant supply store in your town and go pick one up, they’re only 30 bucks or so.
To really quickly sharpen any non-serrated knife, chisel, of metal, the best technique is to get a set of sandpapers of increasing grit, about 60-80 through 600, and pass the edges over them in order of increasing grit. At each level, make certain you’ve removed any visible gouges in the edge before moving to the next level. It’s surprising how quickly that edge will sharpen using this system.
This is so much quicker than using sharpening stones, and does a much better job. edit: NOT the home.woot item, but the sandpaper technique. talk about a misleading quote in the ‘quality posts’!
[QUOTE=Jmulls, post:41, topic:339171]
When you go to Shun’s sharpening webpage, they have the following statement:
For an electric sharpening option we recommend the Shun electric sharpener, which matches the 16° angle of our cutlery
I got one of these as a gift, and am afraid to use it…I turned it on and it sounded like a garbage disposal chewing ice… There was no way one of my knives were going through that thing.
I also have had terrible experiences with Shun’s new sharpening people (east coast), and will never send a knife back to them… Find someone local, go to a few upscale restaurants and ask them who they use, you will be glad you did… As for my shun electric sharpener… It looks nicetucked away in its box, and it will stay there.
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Before you sharpen your knife professionally next time, whip out this and see how it works. The pro will still charge you the same and it might work like a champ if you follow the directions of the sharpener.