Nerdy Science in the Kitchen

Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife Sharpener

This article will provide an overview of the Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife Sharpener (Platinum).

EdgeCraft Corporation, located in Avondale, Pennsylvania, manufactures its world renowned Chef’s Choice brand of advanced technology small kitchen electrics, which include the world’s largest selection of electric and manual knife sharpeners, electric food slicers, waffle-makers and hot beverage products.

Available in over 70 countries worldwide, Chef’s Choice products are enjoyed by consumers everywhere.

Founded in 1984, EdgeCraft Corporation introduced the brand with the debut of its first electric knife sharpener in 1985. The company continues to increase its offerings through the expansion of Chef’s Choice small electrics product lines and its unwavering commitment to quality, technology and the consumer.

Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife Sharpening Station

Chef’sChoice 130 Professional Electric Knife Sharpening Station for Straight and Serrated Knives Diamond Abrasives and Precision Angle Guides Made in USA, 3-Stages, Platinum

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The Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife Sharpening Station is a quick and efficient way to maintain all of your kitchen knives.

A major breakthrough in sharpening technology, the Chef’s Choice 130 Professional Knife Sharpening Station has all of your sharpening options in one compact appliance. It professionally sharpens, and hones all brands and types of knives – straight edge or serrated, kitchen, Asian style (see below), and sports/pocket knives in seconds.

The company website claims that these 3 stages, on this particular machine, make it possible to obtain a “better than factory” edge quickly and effortlessly.

This sharpener does sharpen at a 20° angle so this is great for most kitchen knives made in the European or American styles.

However, most Asian style knives have a 14° – 16° angle.

It is very important to use the right stage for your knife sharpening tasks. Stage 1 is used for excessively worn, dull, or damaged knives.

Chef'sChoice Professional Electric Knife Sharpening Station for Straight and Serrated Knives Diamond Abrasives and Precision Angle Guides, 3-Stage, Silver

Stage 1 has the coarsest 100% diamond coated discs and will remove the most metal so you should only use this stage when it is truly needed.

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It is definitely okay to remove metal and that is really what sharpening is all about but remove no more metal than is needed. Stage 2 is a super-hardened, miniature steel that develops a shaving sharp edge with ultra-sharp microscopic teeth, providing a superior edge “bite”.

In Stage 3, a revolutionary flexible stropping (honing) disk polishes the edge to hair-splitting sharpness. Using these stages in different combinations produces custom edges, suited to a particular cutting task.

The unit has built-in, precision angle guide which they describe as “elastomeric” in nature. An elastomer is a polymer with the elasticity of rubber, so, basically a rubberized guide.

These guides will keep your knife at the proper sharpening angle to maximize consistency thus, sharpness. Whether or not polymer/rubberized guides hold up well under long-term use is not known by this reviewer.

The appliance comes with a 3-year limited warranty and it is engineered and assembled in the USA.

Pros and Cons:

There is an across the board consensus that the consumer should carefully read the owner’s manual prior to use! It is widely mentioned that the owner’s manual is unclear at times and confusing (another gift to our country from outsourced writing, perhaps?).

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Cook’s Illustrated Magazine rates it as “very good” and Cooking.com gives it a “good”.

Many of the negative reviews cited that the sharpener just didn’t get the owners’ knives very sharp without providing any details. This leads me to think that the owners did not follow the instructions in the manual.