First, however, let’s go over the basics. The J.A. Henckels Twin Sharp Duo has two sharpening slots. Although this commonplace for electruc knife sharpeners, it is somewhat uncommon for manual knife sharpeners. The first slot houses stainless steel wheels for roughly sharping and honing the blade. The second slot contains ceramic wheels for finer sharpening. The sharpener works best for standard blades. I do not recommend sharpening Asian blades with this sharpener. The sharper is incompatible with serrated blades, as well.
Using the J.A. Henckels Duo Knife Sharpener is a breeze. The ambidextrous set up makes sharpening just as easy for left handed people as righties. Just like most knife sharpeners in this class, you gently pull the knife towards you to begin the honing process. The main difference is the aforementioned dual sharping process of a coarse and finishing slot. Sharpening a knife is a surprisingly quick process. Most blades are done in no more than ten or twenty pulls. Another advantage is that the rubber lined bottom prevents the slipping problem that plagues many counter top knife sharpener.
The results of the Twin Sharp Duo are impressive. You’ll find that your blades are near-factory sharp after a sharpening session. Admittedly, it does not leave knives as sharp as, say, some of Chef’s Choice premium electric knife sharpeners. But remember that these are 4-8 times as expensive as the Henckel, so there is definitely a lot of bang for your buck with this model.
In closing, the main advantages of the J.A. Henckels Twin Sharp Duo Knife Sharpener are its style and price. It is a knife sharpener that you will not need to hide in a junk drawer. It looks nice enough to proudly display it on the counter top. And the price is very competitive with other manual knife sharpeners and, of course, far less than a quality electric knife sharpener. And it will do a pretty good job of sharpening your knives, too. We give it a “buy” recommendation for the consumer looking for a nice looking knife sharpener.
