Best Knife Sharpeners Australia 2026:
Electric or Pull-Through, and What Each One Takes Off

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to amazon.com.au. If you buy through one of these links iFix may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn't change which products we recommend. We focus on what actually lasts based on 16 years of repair-shop experience.

Why a sharpener matters more than the knife

A blunt knife is the most common tool problem in any kitchen, and it's rarely the knife's fault. Every cut rolls the very edge over a little, and after a few weeks of use the edge is folded and flattened instead of keen. A sharp knife goes where you point it. A blunt one needs pressure, and pressure is what makes a blade skid off a tomato skin or an onion. Keeping the edge up is the lowest-cost upgrade you can give a kitchen, and it makes a mid-priced knife cut better than an expensive one left blunt.

I've picked six sharpeners here from $31 to $88 at time of writing, all sold new by Amazon AU. Four are handheld pull-through sharpeners from Global's Minosharp range, Furi and Scanpan, one is a manual three-stage diamond sharpener from Chef's Choice, and one is an electric Davis & Waddell. Five of them rank in Amazon AU's Manual Knife Sharpeners category, at #9, #18, #19, #141 and #143, and the electric one ranks #348 in Speciality Appliances.

I left out whetstone kits, which do the best job of all but take real practice to use well, and grinder attachments for powered belt sharpening systems, which are a workshop tool rather than a kitchen one. I also skipped knife and sharpener sets, because the knife is the bit you should choose on its own. Everything here is a sharpener you can use on a kitchen counter in a couple of minutes.

Most of the electric sharpeners on Amazon AU don't list their wattage, voltage or plug at all, and several came from sellers I couldn't confirm were supplying Australian stock. That's why there's one electric pick here, sold by Amazon AU, rather than three. The manual ones have no motor or cord to fail, and for most home kitchens they do the job just as well, more slowly and with more control.

Edge angles: 15 degrees or 20

The edge angle is the most important number on a knife and the one most people never check. It's the angle each side of the blade is ground to, measured from the centre line. Japanese-style knives like Global, Shun and most santokus are usually ground at around 15 degrees a side, which gives a finer, sharper edge. Western knives from German makers are usually closer to 20 degrees, which is a little less keen but tougher and slower to dull.

A sharpener grinds the edge to its own angle, whatever the knife started at. Put a 15 degree Japanese knife through a 20 degree sharpener and it'll come out with a thicker, blunter edge than it was made with. Put a 20 degree German knife through a 15 degree sharpener and the first few goes take off a lot of steel reshaping the edge, and the finer edge may chip on hard foods like pumpkin. Matching the sharpener to the knife matters more than any other choice here.

Among the picks, the Global Minosharp 2 Stage lists a 15 degree angle and the Scanpan Classic 3 Step lists 20 degrees. The Chef's Choice ProntoPro covers both, with its listing saying it suits 15 and 20 degree class knives. The Furi, the Minosharp3 Plus and the Davis & Waddell don't state an angle on the listing, so check the manual or the maker's site before you put a good Japanese knife through one.

If you don't know your knife's angle, the maker's website will usually say. As a rough guide, if it's a Japanese brand or the box says santoku, gyuto or nakiri, assume 15. If it's a German or a supermarket-brand Western chef's knife, assume 20. Mixed drawers are common, and they're where a two-angle sharpener like the ProntoPro earns its price.

Ceramic, diamond and tungsten: what the wheels do

What does the cutting inside a sharpener decides how fast it works and how much steel it takes. Tungsten carbide blades, like the first stage of the Scanpan, scrape a new edge on quickly and aggressively. They're good at bringing back a very blunt knife, but they remove the most metal and leave the roughest finish, so they're best used sparingly rather than every week.

Diamond abrasives grind fast and stay flat for a long time, because diamond is harder than any knife steel. The Chef's Choice ProntoPro uses diamond in all three of its stages, with micron-sized diamond in the last one for polishing, and the Furi uses eight diamond-coated fingers. The Scanpan's middle stage is a diamond steel for honing. Diamond is the right choice for harder Japanese steels, which can glaze over softer abrasives.

Ceramic wheels are the gentlest. They take off less steel per pass and leave a finer edge, which is why they're the usual final stage. The two Minosharp picks are ceramic water sharpeners: you fill a small compartment with water, and the wheels run through it as you sharpen. The Minosharp3 Plus listing says that water keeps the wheels cool, and it also carries the steel dust away instead of letting it clog the ceramic.

Stages exist so you don't use the coarsest abrasive every time. Coarse is for a blade that's properly blunt or has a small nick, and fine or polishing stages are for touching up an edge that's only lost its bite. Most weeks, a knife that's kept up only needs a few passes through the fine stage. Going straight to coarse every time is what wears good knives down years early.

What a pull-through sharpener does to a good knife

Every sharpener removes steel. That's how it works: it grinds away the folded, worn edge until there's fresh metal meeting at a point. A pull-through sharpener does that fast and with no skill required, which is its whole appeal, but it does it with less control than a stone in experienced hands. A good knife sharpened sensibly will last decades. One dragged through a coarse slot every few days will slowly lose width and develop a dip near the heel.

The dip happens because the heel of the blade, closest to the handle, often can't reach the wheels properly in a pull-through slot, and the bolster on many German knives gets in the way. Over years, the middle of the blade gets ground and the heel doesn't, so the knife stops meeting the board along its whole length. Pull the knife through slowly and evenly from heel to tip, and keep the blade upright in the slot, and it takes far longer to show.

Light pressure is the other habit that matters. The wheels do the work, and pushing down hard just takes more steel and can chip a thin Japanese edge. A few gentle passes beat one heavy one every time. When the edge catches on a fingernail or slices paper cleanly, stop. More passes after that just remove metal for no gain.

Serrated bread knives need a different approach. Most pull-through slots will grind the tips of the serrations flat rather than sharpen the scallops. The Chef's Choice ProntoPro is the one pick here whose listing says it sharpens serrated knives, and for any of the others I'd leave the bread knife out of it. A serrated knife used only on bread stays sharp for a very long time anyway.

Electric sharpeners: motors, cords and a 10A socket

An electric sharpener is a small motor spinning abrasive wheels or belts behind guided slots. It's faster than a manual sharpener and needs less effort, which suits people with weak grip or a big drawer of knives. The trade-off is that a motor spinning a coarse wheel takes steel off quickly, and it's easy to overdo it. With an electric sharpener, a couple of passes is usually enough, and the coarse slot should be the exception.

The Davis & Waddell D1517 is the electric pick. Its title lists two grind settings, coarse and fine, plus slots for scissors and screwdrivers, non-slip feet and a removable drawer that catches the metal filings. Its feature list is thin, though: it gives a 1.67 kg package weight and China as the country of origin, and no wattage, voltage, angle or warranty. That's typical of electric sharpener listings on Amazon AU, and it's why I'd check the manual and the plug when it arrives.

Sharpeners draw very little power compared with a kettle or a toaster, so they won't stress a 10A wall socket. What matters is the plug and cord. Check that the plug has Australian pins and that the RCM mark is on the plug or the rating label underneath. If an electric sharpener arrives with an adaptor in the box or a foreign plug, send it back. A small motor fed through a travel adaptor is a fire risk sitting on your counter.

Keep the filings drawer emptied. Metal dust is conductive, and on poorly sealed sharpeners it can work its way past the wheels into the motor housing over time. Unplug it, tip the drawer into the bin and wipe around the slots with a dry cloth after every few sessions. Never rinse an electric sharpener under the tap or put it in the dishwasher.

Honing between sharpens

Honing and sharpening aren't the same job. Sharpening grinds new metal. Honing pushes a rolled edge back into line without removing much at all. Most of the bluntness you feel after a week of cooking is a rolled edge, not a worn one, so honing first and sharpening only when honing stops working is the way to make a knife and a sharpener both last far longer.

Some of the picks do both. The Furi listing says its diamond fingers set the bevel and hone at the same time, and the Scanpan's second stage is a diamond steel that hones. A fine ceramic stage on the Minosharp picks works as a light hone too. A few passes through the finest stage before a big cooking session usually brings a knife back without touching the coarse stage at all.

A good board helps more than people expect. Glass, stone and ceramic chopping boards blunt an edge in a few cuts. Timber and soft plastic boards are kind to it. Scraping chopped food across the board with the edge, rather than the spine, also rolls the edge over fast. Flip the knife and use the back.

Storing knives and the rest of the kit

How you store a knife decides how often it needs sharpening. Loose in a drawer, it knocks against other steel every time the drawer opens, and the edge chips. A block, a magnetic strip or a blade guard keeps it off other metal. The dishwasher is worse again: the heat, the detergent and the rattling against cutlery all dull an edge and can loosen handles. Hand wash, dry straight away and put it away.

Most of these sharpeners are hand wash only, and the Minosharp 2 Stage's listing says so plainly. Empty the water compartment on the water sharpeners after use and let them dry upside down, because standing water and steel dust leave a grey sludge on the wheels that slows them down. Replacement ceramic wheels are available for the Global Minosharp 2 Stage, according to its listing, so it's a sharpener you can keep going rather than throw out.

A sharp knife pairs well with good kitchen gear. If you've spent money on a decent set of stainless pans or a food processor, a sharpener is the low-cost piece that makes the everyday prep work around them easier. For purees and soups a stick blender does what no knife can, but for everything you chop by hand, the edge is what matters.

Choosing between them

For a drawer of Japanese knives, a 15 degree sharpener is the safe starting point, and the Global Minosharp 2 Stage at $31 is the best-ranked pick here. For German or supermarket Western knives, the Scanpan Classic 3 Step's 20 degree angle suits them better. For a mixed drawer, the Chef's Choice ProntoPro's two angles are worth its $88 at time of writing. If grip or speed matters most, the electric Davis & Waddell does the work for you.

Look at how often you'll actually sharpen, too. A compact Furi lives in a drawer and comes out for a quick touch-up. A water sharpener needs filling and drying, which is a small extra step but leaves a finer edge. An electric sharpener needs a spot near a power point. The best sharpener is the one you'll pull out every couple of weeks, not the one with the most stages.

If an electric sharpener stops spinning, starts sparking or smells hot, unplug it and stop using it. Most of the faults that come into our Erina workshop on small motor appliances are a worn switch, a damaged cord or dust in the motor, and a sharpener is no different. Manual sharpeners have nothing to fail but the wheels, and on the ones with replaceable wheels that's a small fix.

The 6 picks, $31 to $88

Prices are Amazon AU at time of writing (2026-11-08) and move week to week. Ranks are Amazon AU category sales ranks, checked the same day.

Side-by-side comparison

What we see fail in the workshop: knife sharpeners

Manual sharpeners have almost nothing to break, so the faults are mostly worn or clogged abrasives. Electric ones add a motor, a switch and a cord, and those fail the way they do on any small kitchen appliance. Here's what usually goes wrong and what you can check yourself before you throw one out. Most of it comes down to dust and wear.

Decision tree: which one should you actually buy?

• Japanese knives and a small outlay? → The Global Minosharp 2 Stage at $30.95, the best-ranked pick here, with ceramic water wheels at a 15 degree angle.
• Want something compact for a drawer or a camping kit? → The Furi Pro Diamond Fingers at $45.41, with eight diamond fingers, a folding handle and a 25-year guarantee.
• German or Western knives? → The Scanpan Classic 3 Step at $42, with tungsten, diamond and ceramic stages at a 20 degree angle.
• Good Japanese knives and want the finest edge? → The Minosharp3 Plus at $57.95, a three-stage ceramic water sharpener built around Global knives.
• Weak grip or a big batch of knives and scissors? → The Davis & Waddell D1517 at $84.95, the electric pick, with coarse and fine settings and a filings drawer.
• Electric sharpener stopped spinning or smells hot? → It's usually dust in the motor, a worn switch or a damaged cord. Bring it into our Erina workshop and we'll find the fault and tell you if it's worth fixing before you spend anything.

Frequently asked questions

Are electric knife sharpeners bad for knives?

Not if they're used lightly. An electric sharpener spins its abrasive faster than you'd ever pull a knife through a manual one, so it removes steel quickly, and heavy or repeated use of the coarse slot wears a knife down years early. One or two light passes, with the coarse setting kept for blunt knives, is fine. The bigger risk is the angle: if the sharpener grinds at 20 degrees and your knife is a 15 degree Japanese blade, it'll thicken the edge whatever kind of sharpener it is.

What angle should I sharpen my kitchen knife at?

Match the angle the knife was made with. Most Japanese-style knives, like Global and Shun, are ground at about 15 degrees a side, and most German and Western knives at about 20 degrees. Among the picks, the Global Minosharp 2 Stage lists 15 degrees, the Scanpan Classic 3 Step lists 20 degrees and the Chef's Choice ProntoPro handles both. If you don't know your knife's angle, the maker's website will usually say.

How often should I sharpen my knives?

Less often than most people think, if you hone in between. For a home kitchen, a few passes through a fine stage every week or two keeps an edge going, and a full sharpen with a coarse stage is only needed every few months, or when honing stops bringing the edge back. Using a timber or soft plastic board, hand washing and storing knives off other metal all stretch the time between sharpens.

Can I sharpen a serrated bread knife in a pull-through sharpener?

Only if the sharpener says it can. Most pull-through slots will grind the points of the serrations flat rather than sharpen the scallops between them. Among the picks, the Chef's Choice ProntoPro is the one whose listing says it sharpens serrated knives. For the others, leave the bread knife out. A serrated knife used only on bread stays sharp for a very long time, and when it does go, a tapered ceramic rod does the scallops one at a time.

What's the difference between honing and sharpening?

Sharpening grinds away steel to make a new edge. Honing pushes a rolled or bent edge back into line without removing much metal. Most of the bluntness you feel after a week of cooking is a rolled edge, so honing brings it back. Some sharpeners do both: the Furi listing says its diamond fingers set the bevel and hone together, and the Scanpan's middle stage is a diamond steel for honing.

Is an electric knife sharpener worth repairing?

A good one often is. There's not much inside: a small motor, a switch, a cord and the abrasive wheels. Most faults are steel dust around the motor, a worn switch or a damaged cord, and those are usually modest repairs. Worn wheels can sometimes be replaced. If the motor itself has failed on a low-priced unit, compare the quote with a new sharpener, and if it smells hot or sparks, stop using it and have it checked before you plug it in again.

Related buying guides