Electric Knife Sharpeners

[Fat Guy]

No reply.

I played with the sharpener a little more today. There's definitely some play in the slots, especially with a thinner knife, that allows you to get a steeper angle. I've also started getting a little better at maintaining constant speed and pressure. What I haven't gotten better at is photography. This was the best close-up shot of the edges that I could get today:

[Fat Guy]

Also, I am now of the opinion that all three wheels on the machine are at the same angle. It's just that depending on how you lean the knife you're getting a range of angles from, maybe, 18 to 22 degrees. But if you hold the knife consistently through all three sets of slots you don't seem to get a double bevel. What you see above is the result of applying slight pressure to keep the knife at the smallest angle while pulling it through each slot.

[Fat Guy]

So, while I am very happy with my new life with the electric sharpener, I am not happy with the depression in the blade near the bolster. Is there an easy way to grind bolsters down that doesn't involve taking the knife somewhere or buying an expensive, bulky piece of grinding equipment?

[slkinsey]

You're already getting as depression in the blade near the bolster? You've had this thing for what, two months?

This is one consistent knock on electric machines: They remove a lot of metal.

[Fat Guy]

I don't think the machine necessarily removes all that much metal. When I've gone to clean the little shaving-collection tray, there's pretty much nothing in there. As I think I mentioned earlier, I've had depressions near my bolsters all along from regular sharpening on a stone. I think Chris had the same issue with hand sharpening and went to an outside vendor to grind his bolsters down. But now with the electric sharpener and the fact that I'm sharpening much more often (because it's so much more convenient) my bolsters are only going to be more of a problem. In the future I'll probably never buy a knife with a full bolster again, but for the current generation of knives I'm trying to find a way to eliminate the depression.