Sharpening Knives

I have Henckel knives that were dulling, so I bought a sharpener last year. Althought they are very sharp after running them thought the sharpener, they seem to fade quickly. Basically when you sharpen for the first time, you are changin the edge on the knife...so once you commit, you're all in. I guess it's better than taking them someone every time they need to be touched up. I don't know.

The understanding of how a sharp edge is formed is confusing for some.  Learning how to align the burr on the edge is the key no matter what system you use.  Learning how to hone an edge is the most important part of the process.  If you have good quality blades you only need to use you steel or hone device to quickly resharpen an edge.  About once a year I grab all my blades and touch them up on my Japanese water stones which are the best sharpening stones around. A good knife should never be abused and I do most of my cutting and chopping on a Boos wooden board.  My wife and children never touch my knives because I have asked them not to because they are very sharp and they are not skilled enough to use such sharp blades.  I have provided them with knives to use that I keep sharp enough to cut up apple and veggies with.  About 10 years ago my wife almost took off the tip of her index finger with one of my knives.  There is a lot of info on the web regarding sharpening knives.  Use your common sense and stay away from fancy machines or gadgets.  Simple is always better, 

What kind of knives do you have?

Well known cook - food expert, Alton Brown, mentioned he took his 6 knives to a professional sharpener once every 6 months. I would assume he used a honing steel often, maybe even a strop. For him, a professional w. lots of skill and equipment was the right choice.

But I do suppose Mr. Brown was using fairly good knives. Commodity knives (I have several old Chicago cutlery and Dexter-Russells) will take a pretty good edge, but even w. honing, need to be sharpened frequently with daily use.(They are beaters. Mash them into bones, hack at hard squash) It might be worth the $150-ish for a decent electric sharpener to keep knives like those in good condition. After a few years, the blades will be significantly reduced in size, and have a different shape.

But if you are only using the knives a few times a week, it might be cheaper to just buy a new one once a year. Myself, I would by a manual sharpener like a Furi Diamond Fingers for knives like those. Cheap, easy to use, and will bring a standard stainless knife to sharpness w. just a few passes. And, certainly, hone w. every use. And buy a couple of now very cheap ceramic knives for fine cuts on very soft foods.

Finer knives often have more acute bevels than what home electric sharpeners provide. They also have steels than can take and hold a finer edge than what the sharpening machines will deliver. A good Shun that has gone dull can be improved, but will not be as good as what can be done w. a manual set-up.

I might trust a finer blade to someone using a higher end mechanical sharpener like a Tormek running Japanese water stones, and operated by someone w. a couple of years of experience.

Assuming you don't want to learn to sharpen your own blades manually, quality knives are worth mailing to a pro, and then carefully honing the knives by yourself. Some good blades require a ceramic hone, as they are harder than average honing steels.