Seen a few YouTube vids of this that say it’s very good and easy to use, if a bit spendy for the pro version.
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You’d be more likely to cut yourself on a brick than some of the knives in our kitchen drawer 
…but I got the Minosharp for my Miyabi knives 
That looks interesting, the want sap rises
Any fans of natural stones on here?
Have three Llyn Idwals, a couple of Charnley Forests, also various Arkansas stones picked up over the years.
Also got an array of Japanese waterstones, but find I like - and use - the natural stones more. I’m using them with water, rather than oil.
I’m not entirely sure what my stones are made of, but guessing they aren’t natural in the same way. All Shapton, one a normal one, and one is a Shapton glass for the fine edge
Bought one of these, probably the best kitchen gadget I’ve ever bought:
Easy to the point of foolproof. Perfect ‘cut-squishy-tomato’ edge every time.
When you’re tired of wasting time and money on all the alternatives, buy one.
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I’ve got the IKEA version:
Works great, and only a tenner.
I have a set of Japanese stones too, and an angle guide, and with a fair bit of effort can get my knives scary sharp, but I’ve come to the conclusion that as long as I can slice a ripe tomato easily, I don’t really need any more than that, and the IKEA one achieves that really quite easily.
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Whoops, yes, forgot I had a glass Shapton, think its 8000.
I think they’re made from Saphire or something. They work very well.
What I’m using at the moment is DMT diamond stones, down to Extra Fine, then I move on to a Llyn Idwal bench stone, then a very fine Charnley Forest, which seems in the same ballpark as the Shapton.
The stone I’d like to find is a white Arkansas, the sort that is translucent like grease. These were used for sharpening surgical knives, and I believe that particular vein (see what I did there?) is no longer producing any stones.
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My glass one is 3000 grit, which is as high as you go. I was also advised the glass ones perform closer to a 3500 regular stones. 3000 seems to be the right balance between sharpness and edge retention for the level of use I get from them, but that’s an awful lot more than most people.
Grits seem obsessive until you appreciate things like razor strops, which (potentially, in skilled hands) put a mirror polish to an edge.
Commonly they’re made of leather, but my favourite is a commonplace fungus called ‘birch bark polypore’:
If this appears on a birch tree, the tree is a goner, and the fungus grows to quite a size as it eats the dying tree from the inside out. Like most bracket fungi it’s a tough thing (you’d certainly not want to eat it!) with an amazing surface texture like ultra-fine suede.
In the dim’n’distant days of yesteryonk a trade existed collecting large examples of these, carefully trimming them into small, flat blocks and gluing them to long paddle-like boards for barbers to put the final hone on straight razors - finer even than leather. Can’t find a pic, but a lot like this one (which appears to be another unusual material - bone or horn):
Foo ain’t nothing new…
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That might be very good, but its not what Ive seen.
Just looked at my Shapton, its 16000, 0.92 micron grit size.
Unless it’s for a scalpel or maybe a straight razor I see no point in going above 6000 grit, at the most, in fact for kitchen knives even that’s OTT in my opinion.
Well, yes, I’m not using it for kitchen knives.
Violin knives, plane blades and paring chisels and gouges. Scalpel sharp is just fine with me.
Saw these guys featured, on an old cookery show.
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The plan to pop into Borough Kitchen shop near Bridge on my recent train trip darn souff was thwarted by late running trains. However a quick look at their webby saw the Wustorf Amici chefs knife on sale. Normally sells at 264 quid, on sale at 150. It’s the same as the classic chefs knife but with a fancy italian handle, hell of a premium at 264, but much less so at 150.
It will be a nice all round kitchen knife. I’m not a fan of the jap varients, just to fragile for general use. I will buy one of their traditional offerings at some stage, these are specialist knives designed pretty much as one trick ponies. One or two of them tickle my fancy.
In the meantime, incoming.
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I’ve got the classic ikon, which I think is the same steel, different handle, great knife. Lovely balance to it.
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I need to send my Wusthof 23cm classic chef knife back as it has developed a crack in the blade 
As it’s only 18 months old I’m hoping for a new knife or a voucher for one (have read good things about their cust service so 
)
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I know you had the same / similar issue with the global knives. - do you put them in the dishwasher?