A pull-through knife sharpener differs from an ordinary knife sharpening stone because the pull-through style ensures an accurate and consistent angle. In contrast, when using a sharpening stone you must physically hold the knife against a sharpening stone at the specified angle.
Each knife blade is designed to have a specific blade angle for optimum performance. Additionally, too sharp of an angle can make the blade more likely to bend or break. A pull-through knife sharpener takes the guess work out of keeping a consistent angle. Instead of drawing an angled knife against a flat sharpening stone, run your knife straight against a sharpening stone held at a consistent angle.
Using a pull-through knife sharpener is very easy. The stones meet to form a V-shaped slot with the correct edge angle. Simply rest the sharpener on a flat surface, and pull your knife through the sharpener in one smooth motion, flat against the sharpening stone. Do not put downward pressure on the knife as you slide it through the sharpener, as the weight of the knife creates enough downward pressure. Quick speed is not important; do not try to slide the knife faster than you can control it. Each pass during the fine honing stage should be faster than those during the coarse stage. Depending on the grit of the sharpening stone and the condition and hardness of the knife blade, you should not need more than a few passes to sharpen the blade.
Pull-through knife sharpeners include replaceable sharpening stones in natural stone as well as ceramic, diamond and other materials to give your knife a quality edge. Pull-through knife sharpeners are usually recommended for sharpening knives that are quite dull. Whether or not they are also effective at creating a very sharp edge depends on the material used for the sharpening stones. Diamond and ceramic are harder than natural stone, so they will be more effective at sharpening dull knives.
In varying grits, a pull-through knife sharpener can be used to sharpen a dull knife or refine a relatively sharp blade and for the final honing step of sharpening your knives. Most pull-through sharpeners include more than one sharpening stage. For example, nearly every pull-though model includes a coarse stage and a fine stage. Some also include another slot specifically for sharpening scissors. Others include a pre-sharpening slot, which can be very useful for grinding the edge on very worn knives or those with nicks in the blade before moving on to the regular sharpening process using the coarse slot.
This simple method for knife sharpening is very easy to use and compact. A pull-through knife sharpener can be used for kitchen knives and cutlery as well as hunting and sporting knives and other blades. Any straight-edge knife, even those with serrated blades, can be sharpened using a pull-through sharpener. Pull-through sharpeners are often a good choice for quickly sharpening your blades.
