A Furi of Sharpness: Keeping Knives in Shape

I am not a competitive person.  For proof ask The Kid, who used to get so annoyed with me because I wouldn’t play checkers – capturing men upset me and having my men captured upset me even more.  So it’s not out of competitiveness, but rather a sense of tickledness, that I say, “I beat Rachel Ray!”  Well, I beat her at only one thing, but I beat her by a fair measure: I had my fabulous FuriTechnics TechEdge Pro Knife Sharpening System before she did.  Okay, she’s got her name on it now and now the sharpener comes in RR’s signature orange, but so what?  I’ve probably had sharper knives longer than she has!  (That's an RR version in the photo; my original model is in Connecticut.)

Actually, I saw the sharpener when its Australian designer, Mark Henry, was touring America with his prototype and for me it was love at first sight.  At last, I, who in addition to being non-competitive am a coward when it comes to handling lethal objects, could have sharp, sharp knives without having to use the dreaded steel or the gotta-get-it-precisely-right-or-you’ll-ruin-your-knives stone.

The sharpener – more technically, the system – looks like a lyrical piece of modern sculpture.  The curved part is a hand-protecting base with a clever contraption that holds the removable business ends of the system, all of them designed to be foolproof (ie, you don’t have to adjust a thing).  There’s a restorer that gets the angle on your knife into just-so condition; a springy diamond-coated sharpener; and a honer, which I think of as a polisher and use everyday – actually, several times I day:  whenever I pull down a knife, I give it a couple of slides through the honing gizmo. 

Good tools make me happy (I’m sure I’ve said this before) and I find cutting with a sharp knife a pleasure, efficient too:  sharp knives cut faster and everything they cut looks better.  This might sound ridiculous, but I think that even if your knife skills aren’t Iron-Chef worthy, you end up feeling better about your cutting chops when your knives are sharp  - at least I do. 

Comments

[barbara]

I don't have the sharpener but when my son left home I bought him a Furi knife. He returned home recently to live while studyingI get to use his Furi knife, which I love. I have been sharpening it with an ordinary knife sharpener. His former flat mates went out and bought themselves their own Furi knife after he left!

[Cheryl]

Okay, you've all sold me on the knife sharpening system. But I don't really need Rachel Ray's name on it. Is the Füri Ozitech Diamond Fingers Pro Knife Sharpener the same thing? (It looks like its not the system, just the knife sharpener, but its only $30 on Amazon, compared to Rachel's which is $99) Thanks.

[Dorie]

Buzz, you're right that I don't care about logos and celebrity endorsements, but there is a difference between the $30 and the $100 versions on amazon. It's not so easy to see in the pictures, but the less expensive tool is a fold-up sharpener that has only one set of "fingers", and the more expensive tool is a tabletop sharpener with three attachments for shaping, sharpening and honing. The "baby" version is very cool and will keep your knives in tip-top cutting shape with litte effort. Until I got my tri-part sharpener, I was using only the diamond fingers that are on the $30 version and cutting away very happily.

[Buzz]

Interestingly, the old black version is around $30 on Amazon, but the new Rachel version (orange) is $95 - both approx - hmm.... Is there a difference we mortals can't see, or am I (like you) most likely to be happy with the non-vanity version?

[Dorie]

Kelly-Jane, the sharpener is really easy to use -- all you've got to do is run the knife blade through the "fingers". The great part is that you don't have to worry about angles, the big word in knife sharpening.

Rona, I think Sur la Table has the sharpener and I know you can get it on amazon.com.

I got an email from a friend saying that she thinks she might buy the system for her husband for Father's Day, since, she writes, "like you, he's obsessed with sharp knives". It didn't occur to me until later in the day that of course her husband cares about sharp knives -- he's a surgeon!!

[Rona]

I must have one. I have a steel but have never mastered (or remembered) the correct slice and dice sharpening technique. A dear friend gave me the Chef's choice sharpener (those things that were popular a few yrs ago) but that also requires some coordination.
The Furi system sounds foolproof. Are they available in most stores?

[Kelly-Jane]

I'm not sure I've worked out how to use that yet! Wonder if they'll catch on here... they sound like a great tool.