Kicking myself for not getting one of these years ago. After watching 100's of people use these at work, finally tested it out on a 16+ and a 17+ pound brisket. Trimmed off 12 pounds total and this thing made things insanely smooth.
I set an edge with the first slots on my Electric Sharpener....that's it....Ergo did the rest.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
So it is a better honer, not a sharpener? My Zwilling needs to be sharpened reasonably frequently, a couple-3-4 times a year, but the Globals only need to be sharpened once a year, or every year and a half; on the other hand, they benefit from frequent honing, often every couple days. I use a ceramic rod for that right now.
texastweeter I am impressed with the Work Sharp. A couple things I’ve found:
1) Replacement belts from other manufacturers are not as good. I tried a couple different sets, and now I stick with Work Sharp branded.
2) For myself, I’ve found that if I wait and do a lot of knives at once, by the time I get to the last couple I get a strange sort of fatigue, where I find it hard to keep the blade properly against the guide; it drifts a little bit, either on the yaw or roll axis (thinking like airplanes). I think what happens is repetition causes lack of concentration. My solution is pretty simple: only do a couple knives at a time. The holidays is when I usually think of it, but right now they’re all cutting right to the quick. I can use the draw through if I need a touchup beyond a straightforward honing.
What kind of electric sharpener do you have Jerod? Does it not do as good of a job with honing as the Ergo? I had to Google Ergo, never heard of it before.
TrizorEdge by Chefs Choice. It's 3 stage and does a great job, but.....I got 4 of these fillet knives and brisket dulls them FAST. Only using the first stage and going to Ergo thereafter, one knife for both packers and it wasn't even close. Typically one brisket is causing a knife to reconsider its life choices. At the plant, they set the edge with an electric sharpener in the knife room. The Ergo then keeps the blade honed for HOURS of non-stop cutting.
So, I didn't know that I wanted this until now. It seems (after watching a couple of videos) that this should be in my kitchen. I wonder if it will go on sale after Christmas. My wife and daughter get a little upset when I buy stuff for myself just before Christmas. What a conundrum, succumb to WMS (Want More Stuff) or face the wrath of the two of them and risk getting coal in my stocking? I need some coffee and time to consider all my options.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Cooking gadgets
Weber Summit Charcoal Grill Center
Weber Summit Platinum D6
Blue Rhino Razor
Dyna-Glo XL Premium Dual Chamber
Camp Chef Somerset IV along with their Artisan Pizza Oven 90
Anova WiFi
Thermometers
Thermapen Mk4 - ThermaQ High Temp Kit - ThermaQ Meathead Kit - ThermaQ WiFi - ThermoWorks IR-GUN-S - ThermoWorks Signals & Billows - ThermoPop -ThermoWorks ProNeedle - ThermoWorks TimeStick Trio x2 - and a Christopher Kimball timer - NO, I do not work for ThermoWorks...I just like their products.
Other useful bits...
KitchenAid 7-qt Pro Line stand mixer
A Black & Decker food processor that I can't seem to murder
A couple of immersion blenders, one a "consumer" model & the other a "high end" Italian thing. Yes, the Italian one is a bit better, but only marginally
Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8-qt + accessories like egg-bite & egg holders
All-Clad pots & pans, along with some cast iron...everything from 7" Skookie pans to 8.5qt Dutch ovens
Weber GBS griddle, pizza stone, and wok
Knives range from Mercer to F. Dick to "You spent how much for one knife? One knife?!" LOL
There is an all stainless version but some reviews mentioned a lack of spring tension. If this model is good enough for a few hundred thousand million billion chickens it's good enough for me.
I have two F. Dick versions of the same tool. They make a black one (see pic below) in a medium fine version and a white one in a finer version. I use them a lot. They sit on my counter. F. Dick calls them Rapid Steels. The white one is suitable for 15 degree Asian edge knifes. I was wondering about the angle it was set at. I contacted F. Dick and they told me the white one was 15 degrees. I didn't ask them about the edge angle on the black one, but I use it on a variety of kitchen knives and it works good for me.
I have reset the edges on most of my kitchen knives to 15 degrees, even the ones that came with 18 to 20 degree edges. This has worked out well for me. I really like a really sharp edge. The only issue that I know that could arise from resetting the edge to a narrower angle is maintaining the thin edge on a knife that has steel not as hard as the steel on most Asian knives. Steel that registers higher on the Rockwell scale, can take a finer edge. The tradeoff is that the higher the Rockwell scale, the more brittle the steel.
With a fine edge knife, it is necessary to avoid cutting against bones and working on a hard surface. I use an end grain cutting board when using a fine edge. Also, I make sure to frequently hone the thin edges to maintain the edge. Thin edges are more delicate than traditional German edges that come in at about 18 to 22 degrees. Although, some of the German high-end knives are now coming in narrow edges. When I buy a knife, I always check out the edge angle. If the maker doesn't disclose that or, it is not published, I don't buy it.
When doing boning work, I use an 18 degree edged boning knife. And for separating ribs from the rack. I have a 20 degree edged cleaver.
I am a knife maintenance fan. I have many knife sharpeners and honing rods. I probably use the Rapid Steel more than any other honing rod. It is so easy to use and works wonderfully for advanced knife aficionados and novices alike. Highly recommended.
Attached Files
Last edited by briano52; March 17, 2026, 05:43 PM.
That’s the one I mentioned a while back. They make some great stuff.
Right now I don’t have the space or I’d probably have a set of them as well.
One of my knife rolls has a fairly complete set of F. Dick knives. Theirs was the first 9” chef knife that I tried and loved it. Perfect size for me. The Goldilocks knife. The 10”+ feels a bit clumsy and an 8” now just feels like a utility knife.
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