When is a sharpener a deburrer ?

[Crusty]

I have several knife sharpeners based on that basic design and some work to varying degrees, but I'm a fan of the similar Rada knife sharpener, which looks like something you could make in the shop in about 15 minutes, because it works for my kitchen knives and resharpening a knife takes only a minute.

For a long time I thought, like you, that it simply deburred the very apex and my results grew poorer with time. Finally one day in anger I jammed the blade down hard into the crotch and pulled it through a few times and lo and behold I had my razor tomato knife back again. Mind you it's not putting a precision edge on the blade but rather more like a micro rip saw that works especially well for most kitchen cutting. After several years I still consider the Rada sharpener one of my best ever $6 purchases and I even give them out as small Christmas presents.

Noga makes a general deburring kit that I covet but don't yet own because of the price.