Works great

This was a birthday present for my roommate, and she used it to sharpen our kitchen knives wonderfully. Life is good again!

Great sharpener - worth the extra cost

Really great sharpener - worth the money. It has restored 20-year old global knives with an excellent edge. Have used honing blocks before and while they are really good too, this sharpener cuts the time to sharpen to easily , of the time.

Worksharp E5, a real Workhorse!

WorkSharp Culinary E5 SharpenerAlmost any good knife sharpener can put a decent edge on a piece of steel. They range in price from just under ten dollars to many hundreds of dollars. Few would argue that a brand new knife in your kitchen would be a joy to use. The utility of a factory sharpened 8” Chef’s knife making quick work of a chicken or preparing the perfectly sized filet mignon can’t be overstated.For thin even vegetable slices without the need to rock the knife, a Nakiri blade delivers paper thin results every time. But I wondered just how sharp these knives were when I bought them.Shopping for knives in Paris can be intimidating at best. Most cooking stores cater to three different strata of clientele; the casual cook, those who are experienced and ... MoreWorkSharp Culinary E5 SharpenerAlmost any good knife sharpener can put a decent edge on a piece of steel. They range in price from just under ten dollars to many hundreds of dollars. Few would argue that a brand new knife in your kitchen would be a joy to use. The utility of a factory sharpened 8” Chef’s knife making quick work of a chicken or preparing the perfectly sized filet mignon can’t be overstated.For thin even vegetable slices without the need to rock the knife, a Nakiri blade delivers paper thin results every time. But I wondered just how sharp these knives were when I bought them.Shopping for knives in Paris can be intimidating at best. Most cooking stores cater to three different strata of clientele; the casual cook, those who are experienced and exceptionally good at what they do, and the commercial enterprises who require brutally durable goods. Being in that large second group I found picking a knife from a drawer full of different sizes and shapes an awkward task ~ the more important one was learning how to do this without being cut. Your knife is then skillfully sharpened by hand on a stone wheel then wrapped carefully so you may avoid injury while carrying it home. In the states, no such luxury is afforded. Your beauty is pre-packaged and glamorous and trussed in cardboard to within an inch of its life.I’ve had the Work Sharp Culinary E5 and the Upgrade Kit for many months now and can not sing the praises loudly enough. In all, I have run hundreds of knives through this sharpener using the East and West guides and it has been flawless in operation. All of the knives were previously used before they were sharpened, some had to be ‘Reshaped’ quite a few times before they were ready to be sharpened. The worst amongst them was a fifty year old #1 Chinese Cleaver ~ dull from neglect and rusty, it now separates slabs of baby back ribs with ease!I did not, however, consider this a fair test and ordered factory new knives. The results were surprising. Tested were the following: 3 - 8” Calphalon Chef’s Knives (Contemporary Series, {German steel made in China}), and 3 Classic Wusthof 4193 Nakiri Knives {German Steel made in Germany}.As expected, all knives were factory sharpened as sent. One randomly picked sample of each was used to cut the following; meat, chicken and fish, citrus, robust and fragile vegetables, all without additional sharpening. A second knife was sharpened using the coarse (red) belt, the third was sharpened using all three belts in the upgrade kit (coarse, medium and fine). The first knife was then sharpened using a Chef’s Choice 120. The test was repeated (for the first knife) and results were compared.Initially, all the knives were sharp and cut well. There was a difference between the factory supplied knife and the one sharpened with just one belt and the one sharpened with all three belts. The factory sharpened knife dulled quickly. The coarse belt had a more solid ‘purchase’ to its edge where the one sharpened with all three belts had a smooth almost silky feel when cutting. When using all three belts, the knife was allowed to cool so as not to let the heat influence the blade temper.Of note is the fact that The WorkSharp takes advantage of a belt that sharpens first in a downward direction then in an upward direction. This eliminates the ‘Wire’ or burr often found on the edge of knives sharpened in one direction only. Often this wire has to be honed, stropped or polished out to eliminate a ragged but noticeably rough edge. The Work Sharp design is a significant improvement and allows a cleaner edge on a sharper blade. One of our favorite dishes is Bread Basillico. Crusty bread, fried in butter is layered with cut, diced, sliced, chopped or cored tomatoes. This is drizzled with garlic infused olive oil and finished with a chiffonade of basil and different flavored salts. Uniform dice, or thin slice was easy with perfectly sharpened knives!When all three belts were used, a very fine edge was achieved and the results were nothing short of amazing. As with all very fine edges, it tended to dull faster, however, initial results and increased speed of use made this the preferred method for sharpening where perfect presentation was needed. By comparison, the results from the Chef’s Choice were very good, but the Work Sharp had it beat in every circumstance.I always look for ways to improve existing products; a better design, an easier way to access features or a more attractive package. After months of use, I can not find any improvement. Perhaps the only downside is that I did not have one fifty years ago!