There are hundreds of different sharpeners out there and many different ways to tackle the task. Here are a few basic things I think are Does and Don’ts.

• Power. Don’t use electric or powered sharpeners. They may be quicker but that just means you can ruin your knife at high speed.

• Practice. If you’re not sharpening a lot it’s best to practice a bit. Most sharpeners will take a little practice to get the feel for what works best. Don’t start with your prized knife and don’t get frustrated if it’s not the perfect process right out of the box.

• Price. I know not everyone has a pocket full of cash but don’t go into finding a sharpener thinking you can spend $20. I also don’t think you should spend the over $500 many of these quality sharpening systems will cost you. Just understand that sometimes you do get what you pay for.

• Guide. Get something that has a fixed guide and will hold your blade at an exact angle. This should include a clamping mechanism. If there is some sort of an angle guide, that helps but still allows for some change in angle. This may not give you the best results.

So which sharpening system do I like? I have purchased well over $600 worth of different sharpening systems. All using my own money for research. Some are terrible and some are great. The great ones usually come with a big price tag. There is one system that I think balances price and performance. It also is able to sharpen very small knives which is something the vast majority of these systems can’t do.

The Sharp Worx Master 2 with the narrow precision clamp will handle any sharpening task you have. I’ve posted about it on my social media and the owner of the company reached out after he saw I liked the product. Sharp Worx is a small Texas based company. He offered me a discount that I can pass onto you. Follow the link below and purchase the bundle as set up in the link. Once it’s in your cart you’ll save 30%.