sharp Mino Plus 3 Ceramic Water Sharpener 550 - Black/Red

This is the perfect partner to compliment a set of global knives to keep them at their very best. Very easy to use and clean. The handle gives a firm grip and protects you from any accidents while using. Replacement sharpening stones are easy to source should they get worn. Sturdy construction means it is going to last, and the sharpening is made as simple as possible due to the knives being offered up at the perfect angle. I've recommended this item and it's two stone version to so many people. Those who have bought it, have never regretted it. I've used this on the global knives and others with success every time.

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.

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 have been a professional chef all my working life and I am now 70. I have seen(and bought) a lot of knife sharpeners over the years and the only ones that have worked well have been electric and very expensive. I was looking for something that wasn't too expensive and easy to use. I have a variety of knives both top end and utilitarian. I decided to give this a go and it arrived today. What I would say is that if you are looking for Samurai Sword levels of sharpness there is no doubt that a selection of (pretty expensive) whetstones are what you need. I just wanted something that worked and I didn't have to think about and for me this worked very well. I spent the afternoon sharpening a variety of knives(20) including 3 Global knives I have had for years, the Global knives came up really sharp but they needed a little bit more than the suggested (8 strokes on each wheel. I then sharpened a variety(20) of Carving, Boning, Steak and general utility knives which needed about 20 strokes on each wheel and this worked very well. The instructions do say that knives( other than global might need 2 lots of 15 strokes to bring them to sharp and this is what I found. All in all this worked very well for me and I would recommend it. I would imagine that after the knives are sharp, you could use the yellow wheel to maintain the edge just as you would use a steel

I have two sets of knives at home - Wustof and Tojiro. I do alot of cooking at home and to be honest, I prefer to chop with my knives rather than at times, using a mini food processor or the like. Having attended cooking school in my spare time, I was told that if you have a blunt knifes, the best way to sharpen your knife is to use a water whetstone but to get the proper edge on a blade, this will mean you'll need at least 3 whetstones with a coarse, medium and fine grit in order to bring the "edge" back on a blunt blade. Once sharp, the idea then is to maintain the edge buy using a sharpening steel to hone the blades each time after use. 3 whetstones? What a palaver and I dont have room in my kitchen to store 3 whetstones. Maybe if i'm in a professional kitchen, but i'm not, I'm just a home cook. Then I read about the Minosharp 3. It has 3 water whetstone rollers - coarse, medium and fine and the wheels are replaceable too! The device is simple to use on both my Wusthof and Tojiro knifes and they are now extremely sharp. I did have reservations at first that it is only for Global knives but it works just as well on my knives which have both European and Japanese blades. How does it work? You lift up the clear plastic lid, fill it with cold water, close the lid and run your knife through it 8 or 9 times starting with the coarse wheel, then the medium wheel and finishing with the fine wheel. The wheels are colour coded and angled too so that it will give about a 12-15 degree angle on the edge. Brilliant! The only downside I cant say about this device is that it does leave a little scratch on the side of your knife. This is a minor issue as your knife will still be super sharp. Also, it doesnt sharpen right to the tip, about 0.25cm is missed due to a lack of contact with the other side of the roller. This again is a minor issue as the rest of the blade is super sharp and unless you want to buy and store 3 whetstones in your kitchen, this is an acceptable compromise. One final note, beware of the Minosharp 2 roller device. It only has coarse and medium wheels so unless you have a fine grit whetstone at home, spend the extra cash and get the 3 wheel one. Overall, I cant recommend this item high enough for the home chef, indeed, I'm suggesting it to all my friends and family. It keeps your knives really sharp and is effectively a water whetstone in a pull through format. I guarantee you wont regret it and a great Christmas present too since a sharp knife is much more safer than a blunt one, provided one uses correct chopping technique.

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 have owned the 2 wheel Minsharp for 20+ years, paired with a set of Global knives and a Global whetstone. I recently had to look at replacement wheels for this original version and came across some reviews that extolled how much better the newer version was, so I plumped for a purchase. It is definitely better; the wheels are considerably larger, indeed the whole unit is larger and in my mind easier to handle, 10 -20 runs through each of the coarse/medium/fine wheels and I'm slicing through tomatoes with no problems! The overall large size makes it easier to handle and keep stable, the larger wheels and hence larger slots for the knives make them easier to control, the difference in sharpness is very noticeable, I feel much more inclined to use this regularly to keep the edge than with the previous 2 wheel version and it is so much easier than a whetstone for close to the same result.

My friend who I visited has a large selection of knives and asked him what he used to sharpen his knives with. He replied if the knife is really bad, I use a Minosharp to get it to the point where I can use a steele. If it really really bad I have a proper electric sharpener, then use the minosharp! Bought it and it worked well, razor sharp knives again and i use a steele to keep the edge. Was not until I was walking around a department store and saw it a lot cheaper. Oh well, you live and learn.