This Fancy Knife Sharpener Makes It Easy to Keep Knives in Tip-Top Shape

I have a whetstone. Do I use said whetstone? Occasionally. But when my knives are dull, I tend to go to the farmer’s market and hand them over to the guy with the sharpening stone setup. Yes, as a food professional, it’s embarrassing. I really should just keep practicing on the whetstone at home, but sometimes I want to be a cop-out, okay? 

So I was intrigued when I first heard about the Tormek T-1 knife sharpener—it’s basically a mini version of what the knife sharpening dude at the market uses: a spinning sharpening stone on one side with a honing wheel on the other. To try to become more self-sufficient, I tested it out for a few months, using it to sharpen lots of knives, including nakiri and paring knives. Here’s what I found. 

The Tests 

• Setup Test: I followed the manufacturer’s instructions to set up the knife sharpener and adjusted the angle guide to the suggested 17.5 degrees. 
• Small Knives Test: I used the Tormek to sharpen a variety of small knives, including paring knives and petty knives. 
• Chef’s Knives Test: I wanted to see how well the Tormek sharpened stainless steel chef’s knives. I used a professional edge tester to measure their sharpness before running them through the Tormek. I then remeasured the knives’ sharpness.
• Other Knives Test: I measured and sharpened a variety of other knives, including a nakiri and a Chinese cleaver. 
• Single-Bevel Knife Test: I love my single-bevel Misono UX10 gyuto, but it was getting dull. I measured its sharpness, then ran it through the machine and honed it. 

What We Learned 

The Tormek Was Easy to Use

Using the Tormek was intuitive. To start, plug it in, press the switch, and the Tormek hums to life. Set the sharpening angle by turning a screw that adjusts its distance from the stone. Then, slide a knife in through the angle guide, and you'll hear it hitting the spinning sharpening stone. Run the knife back and forth, following the curve of the blade. Remove the knife, and if it has a dual bevel, turn it around and repeat on the other side. Afterward, run the blade on the honing stone, making sure that the stone is rolling away from the edge of the blade. This takes some finesse, since there is no guide holding the blade in place. I found I could run it cleanly over the wheel with firm, steady pressure from my other hand on the flat side of the knife. 

A small detail that I liked was the Tormek’s built-in handle, which made it easy to move into storage after using. 

It Did a Good Job Sharpening Knives

The angle guide and rotating stones made it easy to sharpen blades. But the proof is in the pudding, so it was the sharpness increase that interested me most. Before I sharpened them, I tested the knives’ sharpness with a professional edge tester. Then, I ran each knife over the sharpening stone 10 times per side, repeating this on the honing stone. Every knife came out sharper, most by at least 30%, which is a significant increase and something I was happy with. 

Variables like blade material and bevel make some knives easier to sharpen than others. In my tests, the Tormek successfully sharpened knives of all shapes, sizes, and compositions. Were they factory-level sharp? No, but they certainly cut through onions and sliced through peppers with less resistance than before.

Some Knife Sharpness Readings Before and After Testing
Knife	Average Pre-Sharpening	Post-Sharpening	Percentage Sharpness Increase
Misono UX 10 Gyuto	362	188	48%
Mac MTH-80 Professional Series Chef’s Knife	208	141	47%
Made In Japanese Damascus Steel Nakiri	100	62	38%
Made In Japanese Steel Gyuto	187	75	59%

It was slightly tricky to sharpen the blades’ heels—though, to be fair, that’s also tricky to do on a whetstone. The angle guide is also too small to fit larger blades, like a Chinese cleaver or meat cleaver, so you have to remove it if you want to do so. 

The Verdict

If you’re willing to splurge, then the Tormek T-1 knife sharpener is a great option that makes it easy to sharpen knives. It’s simple to set up and use, with a single button. I also liked that it has a honing wheel to realign the blade edge. While it won’t restore blades to factory sharpness, it did a great job with every knife I ran through it, improving their sharpness by at least 30%, if not more. 

The Pros

The Tormek holds your hand through the entire sharpening process. Setting it up is as easy as adjusting the angle guide, plugging the device in, and pressing the “on” switch. It was also a cinch to sharpen blades: Just insert the blade into the angle guide and run it along the stone as it spins. The results speak for themselves: Every blade I used came out sharper. The handle is a nice touch, and I liked that the cord is a generous 78 inches long. 

The Cons

It’s expensive! But if you use your knives a lot and pay someone else to sharpen them for you, it could be worth it. It won’t restore blades to out-of-the-box sharpness levels. The angle guide is too small for large knives—you have to remove the guide to sharpen bigger blades. A fuzzy piece of fabric keeps blades snug in the angle guide, but it sometimes caught on the knives as I slipped them through. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 13.7 pounds
• Height: 7.12 inches
• Width: 7.75 inches
• Cord length: 78 inches

Why We’re the Experts

• Grace Kelly is a senior editor at Serious Eats.
• She’s been testing kitchen gear for over four years. 
• She loves testing knives and has attempted to get the hang of a whetstone.