Chef’sChoice Professional Electric Knife Sharpeners AngleSelect for 15- and 20-Degree Straight-Edge and Serrated Knives with Diamond Abrasives & Precision Angle Control, 2-Stage, Metallic

I'm very pleased with this sharpener. I was debating between this one (model 1520) which is a 2-stage system that can sharpen at 15 or 20 degrees, and the Trizor model, which is a 3-stage but can only sharpen at a 15 degree angle. I went with this since some of my knives are better suited for a 20 degree angle (plus the fact that it was on sale for 50% off, making it less expensive than the Trizor).Usage is about as simple as it can be, and the guides ensure the knife is held at the correct angle. The instruction booklet provides detailed instructions on how to use it for a variety of different knives, and how to maintain the sharpener (which is pretty easy).Operating sounds when a knife is not being pulled through are limited to a low hum. It does make a fair amount of noise while sharpening, but that's to be expected from any sharpener. The machine has a nice, solid heft to it.The results have been outstanding. I'm sure hand sharpening with a whetstone would be even better, but since I don't have the knowledge on how to do that properly (nor am I willing to spend the time learning) this hits the mark for me: easy to use, and the end result is a scary sharp knife.You can also use this to create a three-bevel (Chef's Choice calls it a "Trizor") blade by starting with the 15 degree slot and then using the 20 degree slot for just a quick pass before final honing in the third slot. Instructions are provided in the manual. I tried it, but didn't find there to be much difference in sharpness compared with just a plain 15 degree sharpening. But, it's nice that the option is available for those who want to use it or experiment.An excellent, easy to use sharpener that produces great results. Five stars.

Bought this to replace a similar Chef's Choice that had been in the family for 32 years and had finally developed bearing noise when running and was obviously about to go. It was an expensive splurge then and an expensive splurge now, but worth it. Over the decades this device has been refined and this new one works so much better, with fewer steps, 15 degree support, and brand new sharp cutting wheels! The only thing I miss from the old one was the magnetic blade guides which the knife angle. This one uses a spring tensioner. Not as elegant or easy to use, but works fine and doesn't magnetize your knives either I guess.

Instructions were easy to follow and it took me only a couple of passes to master the technique which is very simple. If you follow the instructions you will have extremely sharp knives. I tried an expensive Torek system but that required so much more skill and time and mess, then I tried a Lansky manual system which worked pretty well but very time consuming moving from stone to stone. This Chef's Choice was very fast and I got incredible results on the first try. Better than any sharpener I have ever used. I sharpened all our kitchen knives in record time. I took 4-5 passes with each knife and did the same with the stropping wheel. I sharpened 9 knives including 2 serrated. They are all as sharp as when they were new. Don't forget to clean the metal waste magnet on the bottom. I removed it and cleaned it with an old tooth brush. I was amazed at the amount of metal shavings after 9 knives. I never mastered the art of sharpening knives but this machine requires very little skill for dummies like me to get extremely great results. Wish I had found Chef's Choice years ago. Would have saved me a lot of frustration. Definitely worth the $.

Received this July 24th 2014. Couldn't wait to test out the 1520 on some of my knives of yesteryear. I have knives from graduate school, when I was a young pup, which could have been used as spoons- very glad I hung on to them. I have a Chicago cutlery 7 inch knife that was in this category and is now almost as good as my Global G-46 (oh! And btw if you want a knife that is truly outstanding and will be squabbled over by your heirs it is the G-46 - another review for later!)The 1520 worked wonders on the knives that I sharpened. Took about 30 minutes for 8 knives (after I had read through the instruction manual). I started out by trying to cut a piece of printer/copier paper - the Global G-46 knife which is about a year old and the massive Lamson-Goodnow knife were able to cut the paper. I also used a plum (no tomatoes). Only the G-46 was able to cut the thinnest slice off the plum. A couple of others could cut thicker slices and some couldn't cut through a plum without crushing it significantly! The goal with a very sharp knife is to get me a slice off a plum (or tomato) that is thinner than a sheet of paper. At the end of this first foray into knife sharpening every single knife I sharpened with the 1520 could cut the perfect slice off a plum.A very good product with a minor issue! More about this at the bottomThe device is "assembled in U.S.A". Not sure if that is a euphemism for packaged in a box here in the states! Comes with a 3 year warrantyA couple of provisos: you CANNOT sharpen ceramic knives or scissors with this.The instruction manual is well written and lucid - a rarity in our age. It may be available on their website (can't link to one for you - amazon deletes the link!).There are six grooves, in three groups, that are available for sharpening knives. The first group is for Asian knives (like the Global G-46). The second is for American and European knives. The last group is for the final honing and polishing after you are done with group 1 or group 2.Each group has two grooves. Think of each groove as a v shaped piece of plastic you put your knife into and pull through. Most knives have a left side of the blade and a right side. You alternate between the groove, first pulling through the left groove and then the right, within each group.I took the Chicago cutlery knife (mentioned earlier) and decided to try and convert it into an Asian blade (If you look at a knife as you are cutting something, the very top of the blade is blunt and thick, the sharp edge forms the bottom and tapers. The taper is 15 degrees for most Asian knives. American and European knives have a 20 degree taper. Asian blades tend to be sharper but thinner because of the difference in the taper.) In about 5 minutes it was razor sharp and now had the 15 degree taper. I was frankly very surprised that I got the perfect edge where none had existed for over 14 years.A negative: The grooves are plastic and I found that by the time the knives were on the honing wheel they were cutting into the plastic that forms the wall of the grooves. The actual sharpening occurs in the valley of the groove and there is no plastic there. Still I had to be careful when inserting the knives into the grooves so as not to keep cutting the plastic as I pulled it through.You may want to do a search for Chef's choice 115 as well - not sure if it offers the two different knife type options (Asian & European).