Nerdy Science in the Kitchen

Wusthof Electric Knife Sharpener – 3 Stage

Wusthof is one of the top knife manufacturers in the world. They have been around since 1814 or about seven generations. The knives come out of two facilities in Solingen, Germany.

See the Wusthof PEtec Electric Sharpener at Amazon

They use a special proprietary alloy of steel with a Rockwell rating of 58°.
Wusthof also offers blades with a PEtec angle of 14° which is super sharp.
The Wusthof website outlines the details of the process which includes laser measurements and precision robotics wielding whetstones.
The benefits are extremely sharp cutting performance, long-lasting blade edge retention, awesome cutting edge along the entire length of the blade.

Wusthof Electric Knife Sharpener

Enter the Wusthof 3 Stage Electric Knife Sharpener…

If you have a Wusthof knife with a PEtec edge, you NEED THIS SHARPENER.

This knife sharpener was designed specifically for Wusthof PEtec blades but can be used with any knife if you desire a 14° sharpness.

Stage 1 uses 100% diamond abrasives, Stage 2 uses finer diamond grits to hone the blade and prepare for polishing, and Stage 3, the final stage, uses stropping material to polish.

In only a few easy strokes you can restore your knife to its original precision and sharpness.

It is very important to use the right stage for your knife sharpening tasks.

Stage 1

…remove no more metal than is needed.

Stage 1 is used for excessively worn, dull, or damaged knives. 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.

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 can be used for your routine sharpening tasks and is less coarse than Stage 1.

Stage 2

Stage 2 also uses diamond coated discs and at a slightly different angle which creates another bevel for added durability.

This means your blades will be sharper, longer…

…with less sharpening over time.

Stage 3

Stage 3 is made of a flexible abrasive and only removes a fraction of the metal that Stages 1 and 2 remove.

Stage 3 provides the stropping and honing that your knife needs as the final stage of sharpening.

Stage 3 is also the one to use for your serrated knife sharpening needs.

If your knife just needs a quick touch up, try a couple of passes for each side on Stage 3. Most of the time that will do the job.

See the Wusthof PEtec Electric Sharpener at Amazon

Pros and Cons

Overall users are more than pleased with the sharpener. Although it is a little pricey, it’s well worth it.

For pocket knives, sporting knives, and, survival knives, I would recommend using Stage 1 and 2 in many cases.

One other thing to consider is that this Wusthof sharpener is manufactured by the good people at EdgeCraft Corporation out of Avondale, Pennsylvania who make the Chef’s Choice line of products.

Wusthof 3 Stage Electric Knife Sharpener is one of the best kitchen knife sharpeners out on the market and can handle any sharpening task for high-quality gourmet knives, fillet knives, sporting knives, and serrated knives.

The slightly coarser grit and grind that is provided by Stage 1 and 2 can make the blades have a better “bite” which can be helpful depending on the task.

Is 14º too sharp??

As a word of caution, the 14° angle that this sharpener provides directly impacts the durability of the knife blade.

For this reason, we do not recommend that you use this sharpener for hunting knives, survival knives, pocket knives, or butchering knives since they would likely need to be sharpened after each use.

The fact is that a sharper blade means that the amount of metal actually doing the cutting is less which makes the knife blade wear down more quickly.

You might also be interested in the Chef’s Choice M120 or the M1520.

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