Sharpen Your Knives Easily With A Handheld Home Depot Find

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Few things are more annoying than trying to cut things with a knife that just won't cooperate. A dull knife not only makes cutting jobs harder but, at times, unsafe as well. Luckily, though, you do not need any fancy or expensive tools to sharpen your dull knives. You can do it right at home with simple handheld tools like the Milwaukee compact jobsite handheld knife sharpener. Currently selling at Home Depot for about $15, the Milwaukee compact jobsite handheld knife sharpener is a small pull-through sharpener that is designed to help you easily sharpen your knives at home.

The sharpener has a plastic body with a large finger loop. This gives users a secure, controlled grip while working on a blade. As for the size, the sharpener measures about 1½ inches long, 3½ inches high, and ½ inch wide. This means you can easily carry it in your apron pocket or knife case when you're cooking outside or on-the-go — or in your toolkit or camping gear to keep your pocket knives and utility knives sharp. However, despite its small size, it packs three different sharpening surfaces: coarse carbide, fine ceramic, as well as a diamond-grit surface, and according to the manufacturer, the sharpener is compatible with most knives.

Buyers seem mostly happy with the Milwaukee compact jobsite handheld knife sharpener as well. Its reviewers on Home Depot consistently praise the sharpener for its small size, multiple sharpening surfaces, and ability to touch up different blades quickly. One buyer even wrote that for a work knife, you can't beat this sharpener. That said, not all reviews are positive. For instance, some buyers noted that the sharpener is difficult to hold, whereas a few others mentioned that it does not sharpen the knives properly.

If you want to get the most out of the Milwaukee compact jobsite handheld knife sharpener, you must understand that its three surfaces are not meant to be used interchangeably. They all have different jobs. The coarse carbide sharpening surface, for instance, is meant for setting a new edge on a knife that has become particularly dull or damaged. Milwaukee recommends making four to six pulls through this slot when necessary. Once the knife has gone through this slot, you can move on to the fine ceramic slot, which finishes the edge and gets it ready for cutting. As for the diamond-grit surface, it is meant for freestyle sharpening of specialty blades.

It is also important to note here that if your knife is only lightly dull, it probably does not need to go through the coarse carbide sharpening slot. It can be sharpened directly with the ceramic slot. This not only saves time but also keeps you from removing unnecessary material from the blade of your knife. Other than that, another thing you can do to avoid removing unnecessary material from the knife is to sharpen using light pressure.

Pressing hard is a common mistake many people make with pull-through sharpeners like the Milwaukee compact jobsite handheld knife sharpener, and it can even result in an injury. Lastly, do not assume that every blade should go through the pull-through slots on the Milwaukee handheld knife. For instance, if you want to sharpen a serrated knife, you will need to do it using the sharpener's honing rod, one serration at a time rather than pulling it through the sharpening slots. Also, remember not every dull knife is worth saving. So, make sure you know when it is time to replace your knives as well.