Do Electric Sharpeners Ruin Knives? – The Truth Unveiled

You have a set of precious Japanese knives handed down by your grandma. While you’ve been using an electric sharpener for your regular knife set your entire life, you’re concerned if it’s safe to use on your recent acquisition. 

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In this article, I will be shedding light on whether electric sharpeners damage knives and if so how this happens.

Do Electric Sharpeners Ruin Knives? 

There’s no black-and-white answer to this question, but many grey areas in between. Electric knife sharpeners do have the potential to ruin your knife, but that’s not always the case. It all comes down to the technique that you employ. 

In order to understand how an electric sharpener can end up damaging your knife’s blade, let’s look at the machine’s dynamics. 

How Do Electric Knife Sharpeners Work?

Place your appliance on the countertop, plug it in, run a knife through the slots and voila! All the bluntness magically transformed into a razor-sharp edge! It’s not really magic doing the trick. Here’s how your sharpener managed to perform this incredible feat. 

There are numerous small orbiting plates within the sharpening slots of electric sharpeners. These plates are fixed at different grinding angles. (This is precisely why you don’t have to worry about getting the angle right while sharpening your knife). 

The orbiting plates are the sharpening elements of the machine. They are composed of abrasive materials. If you have used an electric knife sharpener before, you would be familiar with the fact that different slots on the machine provide different levels of sharpness. This is because the plates within each slot are made of different abrasive materials.

When you pass your knife through the various slots on the machine, the material is removed from the knife edge, which ultimately sharpens the knife. So how exactly are electric sharpeners bad for knives? 

As you have seen that an electric knife sharpener works in a highly mechanized and automated manner to sharpen knives. They are super fast too! If you use it for a prolonged time or sharpen your knife too often, the sharpener will remove more than the necessary material from the knife edge. Therefore, considerably shortening the lifespan of your knife. 

Related: Problems With Electric Knife Sharpeners

How do Knife Sharpeners Ruin Knives?

If you aren’t careful while using this appliance you might ruin your knives in the following ways:

• Damages blade temper: If you use this device for too long, the slots can overheat. Overheating can permanently damage the temper of your knife. This can especially happen with knives that have very thin edges and those made of softer materials like aluminium or carbon steel. Overheating usually occurs in electric knife sharpeners which come attached to electric can openers. 

• Creates rough edges: Placing the knife into the sharpening slot at the wrong angle will grind the blade at the wrong angle too. This results in the knife edge being rough and toothy-edged. You obviously won’t be able to seamlessly slice through your veggies with this knife anymore!

• Creates nicks: A ceramic wheeled electric knife sharpener used on a thin Japanese knife can be the ultimate disastrous combination. Chances are that you will end up with a chipped knife.

• Reduces knife life: Sharpening your knife too frequently and for too long can remove excess metal from the blade. 

• Changes the blade shape: If you do not follow the curve of the blade exactly, you can end up with a knife with a whole new blade shape. 

• Creates uneven blades: A lot depends on the speed at which you run your knife through the sharpener. If you move it too slowly, you can end up removing more material from one spot of the blade. This can result in high and low points on your knife blade, instead of a smooth curve. 

How to Use Your Electric Knives Sharpener Safely

Like I said earlier, technique matters. Your knife sharpener comes with a detailed instructional guide. Read it carefully and follow the steps accurately to avoid damaging your knife. Some general rules that I would recommend are as follows:

• Don’t be jerky: Run your knife through the sharpener in one smooth stroke. Interrupted motion can lead to nicks and chips on the blade. 

• Use the “on” and “off” buttons: Make sure the appliance is switched off when plugging it into the socket. Position your knife into the desired sharpening slot and then switch it on. Following standard procedure will ensure that you are not surprised and make a sudden abrupt motion.

• Work in a clutter-free space: Steer clear of hanging cords or anything obstructing the moving parts of the appliance. One wrong move could wreak havoc on your knife. 

• Adjust the sharpening angle: This should be adjusted according to the type of knife that you own. For instance, American and European blades are angled at 20 degrees, whereas Japanese knives are angled at 15 degrees. 

• Take it easy on the pressure: When running the knife through the sharpening slot, do so effortlessly and avoid exerting too much pressure on it.

• Use a fault-free device: Do not insert your knife into the sharpener if you notice any unusual sounds or vibrations coming from the appliance. 

By now, you must be ready to tick off electric sharpeners from your shopping list. Don’t do it just yet! According to Australian kitchen experts electric knife sharpeners are the greatest invention since sliced bread. Let’s take a look at the electric knife sharpener pros and cons.

Advantages of Electric Knife Sharpeners

Electric knife sharpeners are all about providing their users with ease and comfort. Unsurprisingly, statistics reveal that in the year 2019, electric sharpener sales in the US alone amounted to 65.3 million dollars. These are popular products because they provide many benefits to their users. Some of them are as follows:

• These appliances save your breath and energy. You can sharpen your knives in a breeze.
• You can sharpen all sorts of knife types with electric sharpeners including filleting knives, chef’s knives, carving knives, Japanese knives and serrated knives.
• These appliances give ultra-quick results.
• User-friendly instruments which can be operated by beginners.
• These are safe-to-use appliances.
• They provide consistent results.

Disadvantages Of Electric Knife Sharpeners

Apart from how they can damage your knives if used inaccurately, electric knife sharpener usage has some other disadvantages too. These factors should also be looked into if you are considering purchasing one.

• Electric knife sharpeners are way more costly than manual ones. 
• You cannot operate these appliances outdoors and where you do not have access to electrical power.
• These items are quite bulky and take up a lot of space.
• Even though electric knife sharpeners are capable of sharpening a wide variety of knife types, there are some types which the appliance does not cater to. For instance, Damascus steel knives and deba knives. 
• You are incapable of changing the sharpening angle and pressure to suit your particular knife type. 
• If you are a noise-sensitive individual, electric knife sharpeners are not your cup of tea.
• They are not as durable as manual knife sharpeners.
• It is impossible to sharpen bolstered knives with electric knife sharpeners.

Here’s our comparison guide on Electric vs Manual Knife Sharpener: In-Depth Analysis