I started this “gift guide” years ago after watching a woodworking TV personality’s “gift guide” for one of his sponsors. Clearly, he’d been given a list of worthless garbage products that were severely overstocked.
I thought: What if some poor spouse actually took this clown’s advice?
Our gift guide is – as always – unsponsored. Toolmakers who ask to be included in the guide (and they sometimes do) are automatically excluded from it. We don’t make money from these recommendations – there are no affiliate links. We bought all of these items with our own lunch money and have been using them in the shop this year.
Finally, we try to recommend small items – things that your kids can afford to give you. And I usually throw in one high-price item, in case you’ve been extra good this year.
I’ve been doing this guide for many years. You can read past recommendations here. There also are several earlier years of the gift guide on the Popular Woodworking site. But good luck finding those. You’ll need a crowbar.
I hope I have listed enough caveats to tamp down the usual questions. Let’s get started.
AccuSharp Knife Sharpener
Might as well start with one that will make the sharpening experts howl. For many years I have sharpened all my shop knives and kitchen knives with this humble and inexpensive sharpener from AccuSharp.
You can find these for $10, and even the low-rent model will last a decade. And you can buy replacement abrasive guts when they wear out. The “professional” one shown here costs $5 more and has more metal components. But the result is the same.
The things are dead-nuts easy to use. Hold the knife flat on a table with its edge facing up. Pull the sharpener over the blade (the plastic scabbard protects you). It will refresh an edge in three or four strokes.
What I adore about this sharpener is that it will bring a dead knife back to life. Just stroke the blade some more until you get a good edge.
Some of you might be wondering why I prefer this gizmo to a knife steel or stones. The answer is simple: speed. When I’m cooking I don’t have time to stone my knives. I need to get that tomato dissected ASAP. And the edge from the AccuSharp is better than serviceable.
Same goes with my shop knives. When I’m opening boxes or whatnot, I don’t have the time to pause and stone my pocket knife. So I grab the AccuSharp and am back to work in seconds.
And because it’s easy, all my knives stay sharp.
I use this sharpener on all my knives, except for my laminated Japanese ones. Those have to be stoned.
I know there are people who find Zen in sharpening their knives, perhaps by the campfire. I am not that guy.
Available everywhere.
— Christopher Schwarz
To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.
I’m so bad at knife sharpening it’s worth a try.
I’ve used one of these so long the price has more than doubled. Simple, quick and effective.
You had me at “make the sharpening experts howl.”
Thanks Chris. I bought some sort of dual knife sharpener at Woodcraft a number of years ago (one is coarse via carbide and the other fine via ceramic) similar to yours and liked it so much I got one for the kitchen. Use it the same way you do. Kitchen and pocket knives. Better to have a good sharp blade all the time versus a dull blade most of the time and really sharp blade some of the time.
I took a finger to the bone when a cheap one of these rotated in my hand and I ran my fist down a freshly sharpened blade. Ever since, I’ve had a strong aversion to any sharpener where I move my hand to the blade, not the blade to a stone.
Thankfully, the handle in the picture looks better than the one I used.
Every time I see some ridiculous method for sharpening kitchen knives on YouTube ( like putting a steel in a drill, obviously no idea what a chefs steel does) I recommend buying one of these. They work great. I used to have a need to trim shims between hollow metal door frames and concrete walls. I bought a cheap chisel and just ran the edge into the concrete by angling one leg flat against the flat side of the chisel I give it a few swipes and it would cut good as new.
I’ve always wondered what you used for kitchen knives but didn’t want to ask and open that can of worms.
Internet crowbar deployed! Through the magic of the Wayback Machine, here are the gift guides from 2013-2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181217132118/https://www.popularwoodworking.com/editors-blog/the-anarchists-gift-guide-archive/
Hard to believe I have been doing this for nine years. Thank you!
I’m drawn to a selection from the 2017 list: “Old Man Schwarz’s No Kill Mutton Tallow” I was all in but then I noted that the label said “bespoke” – now I need at least three….
Easily done!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/anfswp8utoaw4l4/Mutton%20Tallow%20label2.pdf?dl=0
I use the Bahco version of this type of edge sharpener on my kitchen knives. Works wonderfully, and I have even used it on the blade of a vintage Stanley utility knife (the old 299 model).
Bahco is a brand available in UK, EU, AU and NZ countries.
I love mine. Simple, cheap, and very effective!
Chris, I’m thankful you posted this about the knife sharpener. I have 3 sharpening systems that belonged to my dad who was a master at sharpening a knife, but I have not been able to get them to work well. So I just keep getting “sort of” sharp knives. I found the one like in your picture on Amazon (of course) as no one in my area had one. And with a few strokes I had a very sharp knife. Gracias!!
Oh man, so right, this thing is great. I’m one of those obsessive knife sharpeners but my equipment is at a mountain house. Here in a city apartment with a block of dull knives and a dull Leatherman in my pocket I just bought this goofy thing. It quickly and aggressively takes off metal at just the right angle. No it doesn’t give me the polished to bragging rights perfection that my other systems do but it is actually better for kitchen knives that lots of people use, not just me, where super sharp is a hazard. And it does one other thing, unless you have some way to follow up the sharpener and hone the knife blade, it will have a tiny, microscopic ragged edge, like a random serrated edge that you can’t really see. And that improves the way your knives cut in many circumstances. Think of a serration helping to start a cut in a tomato skin rather than a smooth blade squishing down on it. Perfection is overrated. This is really a terrific hack.
Thanks for the recommendation. It works as advertised; cheap,quick, and easy to use. I bought one for myself and it worked so well that I am buying one for my son.