It doesn’t matter if you’re a casual cook or an aspiring chef. Your kitchen deserves sharp knives, no matter how frequently you use them. The easiest way to keep them in pristine conditions is with a knife sharpener, such as the Brod & Taylor Professional.
Manufactured in Austria, this knife sharpener knows how to stand out. It boasts a unique design; it’s easy to use and just as effective as other top-rated kitchen tools.
It’s compatible with all knives in your drawer, straight or serrated, and can even hone both single-bevel and double-bevel edges. Wondering if it truly is a cut above the rest? Find out in our Brod & Taylor knife sharpener review.
The Good
Uniquely beautiful design
The Brod & Taylor is not your average knife sharpener. It has a stylish look that pairs with all countertops and kitchen designs. It consists of a thick stainless steel panel that serves as a base with two spring-mounted sharpening bars that allow for seamless manual sharpening.
This design, however, goes beyond aesthetical considerations. The V-shape of the bars makes it suitable for honing European-style double-bevel knives, which have both sides grounded, not just one.
You can also achieve various types of sharpening, such as coarse sharpening, honing, or polishing, by simply positioning the knife with the tip up, down, or parallel to the countertop, respectively.
The tool also works wonders for single-bevel, Japanese-style knives. These knives are usually much sharper than the European-style ones and allow for longer cuts, but they are more delicate and more difficult to sharpen. Nevertheless, the Brod & Taylor makes it all possible to sharpen the blades easily even if you don’t possess super-chef skills.
Ease of use
With many brands now proposing various types of electric knife sharpeners, you need a good reason to invest your hard-earned money in a manual tool. However, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to use. It works incredibly well for serrated and straight blade knives alike, and all it takes is up to 8 strokes to turn the blades from dull to razor-sharp.
Performance
Design and ease of use are insufficient when assessing how good or bad a knife sharpener is. What truly matters at the end of the day is the performance of the tool.
And we must say the Brod & Taylor knife sharpener truly is performing.
As mentioned above, it can be used for coarse sharpening, honing, and polishing. To assess performance, you must know what to expect from each choice.
Coarse sharpening is dedicated to those knives that are incredibly dull. Its purpose is to turn the blade sharp again; thus, this process will remove metal from the edge, so you’ll notice metal shavings on the counter after sharpening your knife.
Honing and polishing are not sharpening techniques. The first is used for the daily maintenance of the blade and is typically performed after you’ve used the knife to realign its blade. Polishing is usually used by chefs for making an already sharp blade even sharper.
This operation is performed before using the knife, so you can slice easily through whatever you want to cut.
You won’t notice any metal shavings when honing or polishing the knife – metal isn’t supposed to shave off during these procedures – but you can test the effectiveness of the sharpener by checking how sharp your knife really is using a sheet of paper.
All you have to do is simply cut the paper at a straight angle. If the blade is sharp, it will slice cleanly through the sheet. Several tests performed after using this knife sharpener suggest it really is as effective as it could be.
The Bad
Design lacks
The Brod & Taylor knife sharpener can conquer even the toughest hearts with its fantastic aesthetic appeal, but you’ll soon realize the design lacks an important element. Namely, a shaving tray. This isn’t a major flaw, and you can simply place a tissue under it while coarse sharpening your blades, for quicker cleaning of the mess. However, this would have been a nice touch, considering the product’s price.
Price
Talking about the price, this knife sharpener is expensive compared to its manual peers. Sure, it’s made from steel and tungsten carbide. It looks gorgeous, and it’s durable, but there are a lot of promising sharpeners that come at more attractive price tags. This doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Considering its advantages and unique design, this sharpener has no real competitors, and it’s worth every dime.
Verdict
Efficient and elegant, the Brod & Taylor knife sharpener is an excellent choice if you need such a tool for your home or restaurant kitchen. We like that it’s compact and well-constructed, surprisingly efficient and very easy to use. While it is more expensive than other knife sharpeners, it truly stands out from the crowd. A suitable choice for all home or professional chefs who don’t mind a higher price tag as long as they get the utmost quality and performance.
