SHARPMino Plus 3 Ceramic Water Sharpener 550 - Black/Red

Update : 18 months on, no problems at all. I have used the sharpener pretty well every day, mainly a light run through on the fine wheel to maintain an excellent edge to all my knives. No sign of wear on any of the wheels. The key, as I said in the initial review, is sharpen little and often just using the weight of the knife. It is important to keep the knife upright and square to the sharpener to keep a consistent edge angle. This sharpener has completely revamped a set of very cheap japanese knives I bought some years ago but never really used. Now they have an excellent edge and are used regularly. The only potential downside I have found is the transparent lid and guide is very stiff plastic, and feels like it might snap on the location clips, so I don’t open it, just filling and emptying through the slots. It might be perfectly ok, just me being paranoid.The price was a bit offputting. I am really pleased I overcame my innate meanness and bought this.I have a lovely 10 inch sabattier which was just not cutting it any more. I have always used diamond stones lubricated with water but for whatever reason it just wasn't working for me any more, probably an inconsistent sharpening angle.I tried one of the cheaper fixed ceramic angle devices and although the blade felt sharp it still wasn't passing the paper sheet test. When I looked at the blade closely I could see why. The sharpener had ripped up the cutting edge, creating a sort of micro serrated effect. It was also removing an unacceptable amount of metal. Time to rethink.The key to keeping a sharp knife for a long time is a consistent cutting angle. Only two devices seem to achieve this. I am sure one of the devices which hold the knife in a frame at a constant angle to a whetstone would give the best edge. But it is fussy, time consuming and messy.So I opened the Minosharp, put a small amount of water in the well, and gave the wheels a quick wizz to make them wet. I passed the Sabattier back and forwards over the coarse disc 15 times, then seven on the medium and three on the fine. Paper sheet test passed no probs.So on to my lesser knives. This has successfully put a papersheet edge on a six inch paring knife, an eight inch chinese chopper, and a very old twelve inch cook's knife.After my sharpening spree I emptied the water out into a white dish and was surprised at how little metal was in the water.Now I keep the Minosharp on the worktop and pass my knives just once through the fine disc before use. I don’t know whether that's a good thing to do or not, but it seems to maintain a really keen edge and in my mind it replaces the honing you would usually do with a steel.The minosharp is comfortable and stable to use. Never without water. I don't apply any pressure at all when I am using it, just the weight of the knife and a slow deliberate stroke the whole length of the blade. The only downside is that the plastic guide stops you sharpening right up to the handle of the knife, but how often do you cut with that bit of the blade?

I used to have a cheaper version of a wheeled sharpener many years ago but the grind wheels wore out and I stopped using it. For a while now I've been using sharpening stones but I'm not that good at it and it takes me a fair bit of time to set up and use them. I knew about the recommended Global Minosharp sharpener, and finally decided to get one, and I'm really glad that I did. The first thing I noticed was that it was bigger than I was expecting and you can get a good grip on the handle when you are drawing the knife across the wheels. It's really easy to use and get very good results but you have to place the knife edge with care. It's easy to let the blade ride up onto the top of the sharpening wheels which ruins all your good work. The trick is to not rush it, don't apply too much pressure and let the blade run back and forth. A minute or two of sharpening before you use them and they are ready to do the job. It's easy to clean because the clear plastic cover hinges back and you can run it under the tap to flush out the dirty water. When the wheels finally wear out, which is a long time to come, then I will definitely be getting new ones rather than pushing this to the back of the drawer. I strongly recommend it and wish that I had gotten one sooner.

I had an earlier model {just two smaller ceramic sharpening wheels} and it was the best sharpener of many that I purchased over the years.For those of you who can't keep a knife at an 8 degree angle (you are not alone) this sharpener was made for you and it gives the best results I have obtained using various sharpeners over the years.This new Minosharp has 3 ceramic sharpeners and they are physically bigger, [my knives are NOT Global) but this sharpener copes well with my knives and the knives slice through paper once sharpened.I find tomatoes and onions a good subject to test on the knives, if your knife blade is not sharp it will slip {dangerous}.But its very easy to use this sharpener and even soft tomatoes slice easily once you have shapened your knives with the sharpener.Just read the instructions, avoid undue pressure when using this sharpner, you do not need much pressure and too much will damage or break the ceramic wheels (I can remember my school woodwork teacher saying "let the saw do the work"), its the same with this sharpener, one finger held lightly on the top of the thick part of the knife blade.I hope to get similar long life from this sharpener as I did with the previous smaller one.To all those who can keep too a constant 8 degree angle and use whet sharpening stones, well you are a better person than I, my Minosharp does the job for me nice, quick and easy.George Watson on the 1st of September 2016.

Primarily I bought this to keep my Global knives sharp, but this particular model is meant to be suitable for European knives too. My reading suggests that this sharpener will give blades a 15 degree angle, in keeping with Japanese blades. This makes even European blades a bit sharper due to the more acute angle of the blade. The course (blue) wheel has enabled me to grind out a rather nicked and notchy old Sabatier cook's knife, albeit my efforts did result in the blade profile being a little uneven in the curve (it reminds me somewhat of a flamberge sword now). That's probably a result of the prior damage to the blade and my rather over enthusiastic effort in grinding it out.It is fairly easy to use; just add some water to the wheel compartment and run the blade back and forth through the slots. Certainly less difficult than using a whetstone or sharpening steel. You can certainly buy worse.