No, I’m not reviewing a Lady Gaga song (thanks for the pop culture reference gag kids!), but rather the knife sharpener you might have seen advertised on television lately. No best kitchen gadgets list is complete without including a knife sharpener. One of the many things that can ruin your experience with cooking in a kitchen is having a dull knife; I’m the one that does 99% of the cooking in my household, so I know this pain well. I’m also the best ice cream maker in the house. It’s extremely frustrating to take everything out for a nice dinner for the family, and then find out that your knives are too dull to properly cut things, and only end up messily ripping them. For anyone that takes pride in the food they prepare, this is enough to make you want to pull the hair from your head. I’ve tried plenty of knife sharpeners in the past, and all work to one degree or another, so why am I choosing to spend my time reviewing one that just seems so simple? Read on to find out. For the rest of your kitchen, you should also read our review of the naked lady ceramic mug.
At first glance, you might not even recognize the Edge of Glory as a knife sharpener at all (like the iDevices Kitchen Thermometer that can be mistaken for something else)– it surely doesn’t look like any that you’ve no doubt seen on cooking shows or in movies. It actually looks almost like something you might see in a child’s room, with the suction cup base and rounded edges – that is until you look at the business area where the sharpening gets done. Knives are sharpened by two tungsten carbide bits positioned in a perfect “V” shape; just pull your blade through in the direction of the arrow a few times, and they’ll be as sharp as they’ve ever been (if not sharper). A good knife sharpener like this one will ensure foods don’t get stuck in quality pot stirrer like the Ardente Gourmet Stirrer Color Black.
That suction cup on the bottom I mentioned earlier? That’s another really neat design feature here as well – by pressing it onto a counter, and then pulling a tiny lever on the side, you in effect make it a part of that counter. To put it simply – I pushed my Edge of Glory against a smooth steel door and pulled the lever. Then I grabbed a hold of it, and pulled my legs up off the ground to see if it would move – it stayed completely attached without even the slightest hint of sliding. Now before you ask, I am a hefty man weighing in at just under 250 lbs. If the Edge of Glory can support me without issue, surely you have no worries of it slipping during use!
On the commercial they show a person running a credit card through the Edge of Glory, and then using it to slice up a tomato. I thought that it had to be a trick, because ripe tomatoes are easy to cut normally, right? Well I went to my garden and picked a few to try this all out. When I used a standard credit card (actually a gift card, but same idea), it did not cut a tomato, but it did smash and tear it pretty good. Okay, baseline established – time to see if the Edge of Glory held up to the claims. Four quick swipes through the sharpener, and I could actually see a visible edge on the card; nothing as sharp as on a knife mind you, but it looked good to me. I moved to a new tomato and tried it out, and to my surprise the card actually cut through it with ease.
I was sold after that, and started running almost every knife I had through it – even my small hunting knives, and the “cheaper” brands that I was given from Wal-Mart. I also took this to the local Dairy Queen (exchanging free sharpenings for free ice cream = win – win), and they were amazed as it took big nicks out of their knifes – things that apparently had been there for a long time and through many hand sharpenings. All in all, I was quite impressed with the Edge of Glory – I would have rather the body be made of something a bit sturdier than plastic because it feels a little cheap. Also, should the need come up, there is no way to change the carbide inserts (at least none that I could find), but I suppose you could just buy another one for the cost and hassle not being able to change them saves you.
Editor’s Rating:
[rating:4.5/5]
Excellent
Bottom Line: The Edge of Glory is one of those kitchen gadgets everyone should own – it’s small, convenient, and so easy to use that you’ll wonder how you survived so long without one.
Pros:
- Extremely strong suction cup prevents slipping
- So compact that it’ll fit virtually anywhere
- Four to six swipes is all it took to sharpen any knife I tried
Cons:
- The plastic body of it feels somewhat cheap
- No way to change out the carbide inserts if one should break
You can pick up the Edge of Glory from their site for only $10.99 ($17.98 with shipping)
Related Articles:
