As Seen On TV Samurai Shark knife/scissor sharpener Review

I do lot of cooking. To fillet fish or cut raw meat, you need a sharp knife, otherwise you'll hack it to pieces. However... I don't have the money to invest in super sharp professional knives. I have I guess you would say, low to moderately priced knives in a block. They always need sharpening before cutting anything with precision. What came with the knife block was a textured, long, metal cylindrical thing with a wood handle. This was the knife sharpener. I also have one of these things which is a flat rectangle. They should call those knife ruiners. Unless you get the angle of the knife right and swipe it in one fluid motion keeping that same angle, you will make the knife dull, or end up getting pits in the blade. And you'd better watch yourself with butcher knives. Getting too focused on getting the angle right can make you miss the fact that you are about to slice your hand open. I don't know how anyone uses those things correctly.

How about electric can openers with the supposed knife sharpener on the back? Threat level red! You will never be able to use the knife again after it goes through that thing.

I saw Billy Mays (R.I.P.) on the TV selling a knife sharpener called the Samurai Shark. I bought it from the TV ad (which is something I never do because of the exorbitant shipping rates). Of course, I bought one and got one free, which is another thing they love to do. It's a plastic device shaped a little like a fish. Where the mouth is are what look like three little teeth. On the tail end is a retractable triangle shaped sharpener.

You hold the Samurai Shark flat against the edge of your counter/table. There is a ridge on the underside to help you stabilize it, so it won't slip around once you apply pressure. You take the blade of the knife to be sharpened and run it between the little teeth in a vertical motion. The sharpener teeth are angled, so you just run the blade. The angle is already figured out. Also, the blade is far away from the hand that is holding the Shark down, so no accidental wounding.

Some people hold the Shark in their hand and run the knife through. You need a lot of pressure applied to the knife to sharpen it correctly. Doing that is probably more dangerous than using a traditional knife ruiner. Hold it flat on the counter. It's safer and that is how it is meant to be used.

The little retractable triangle sharpener that comes out of the Shark's tail can be used to sharpen scissors. The surface of that is angled, too. Getting the hang of sharpening scissors with that takes a few tries, but once you get it, it works quite well.

I think this works quite well, and the ease of use is excellent. You can breathe new life into cheap knives and scissors. You can cut meat with precision after only one or two runs of the blade through the Samurai Shark. This tool cannot be used on knives with serrated blades.

I would only use the Samurai Shark on cheap knives when you need precision cutting. If you sunk the cash into chef's quality knives, you should know how to use the knife ruiner. I love mine and I still have the free one in its original packaging!