Review on Wedgek Angle Guides Sharpening Knife by Will Schimmel

After only two sharpening sessions, I find wedges to be an important tool for saving time and reducing wear and tear on my kitchen knives. Keeping sharp whetstone kitchen knives is an absolute pleasure, but finding the right angle to sharpen ANY knife can be tedious and time-consuming. Wedges eliminate both problems. For many years I have been sharpening my knives with inexpensive pull-through sharpeners and more expensive three-stage electric sharpeners. The wear on the knives was dramatic and the results were pretty bad. When my electric sharpener started scratching my best knives, it was time to try whetstones. The hardest part of sharpening a whetstone is finding and maintaining the right bevel angle. The angles specified by the manufacturer become unusable as metal is removed by both the broach and the electric sharpener. I've been tracking these angles for quite a while, returning to sharpening with a whetstone after a decade-long absence. The wedges helped me easily find the current bevel angles on my knives. Mark the edges with a marker, place the wedge on the sharpening stone, and then lightly scrape the stone with the knife 3-4 times. I then used a magnifying glass or a jeweler's loupe to examine the rim. If there is a mark on the edge and obvious nicks on the bevel, this is a too-flat corner. When there is a clean edge but the bevel mark is too steep. Repeat this process with a few more wedges to find the angle that gives a clean drop from the start of the bevel to the edge. Pay attention to the angle of the bevel and the knife. For example, a vintage chef's knife that I really like almost made me give up sharpening with a whetstone. The published bevel angle was 13 degrees. With wedges he tested a temperature of 18 degrees! Five minutes later, on a 1000 grit whetstone with an 18 degree wedge for reference, this knife was razor sharp, better than I can ever remember. Whether you've invested $30 in whetstones or over $100, buy yourself a $13 gift to save time on your efforts and the wear and tear of kitchen knives. Nothing I have PERSONALLY used to sharpen knives in decades comes close to the sharpness of a whetstone. And nothing I've done in the last year sharpening a whetstone has been as efficient and quick as using wedges to set and maintain the bevel angle while sharpening.