Edgecraft Chef'sChoice 315XV Instructions page 4

polishes the edge to a finer finish at a slightly larger angle. In both Stage 1 and Stage 2 the left
side and right side of the blade are sharpened separately, which allows you to hone and strop
each type of Asian knife correctly. The contemporary Japanese blades and Chinese cleavers
should be honed and stropped on both sides of the blade. However, the traditional single bevel
Japanese blade, such as the sashimi blade, must be sharpened and stropped primarily on the
front side of the blade, which has the very large factory bevel (Bevel A. See page 9, Figure 9b for
further details).
The Model 315XV is equipped with a manually actuated diamond dressing pad that can be used,
if necessary, to clean any accumulated food or sharpening debris from the ultrafine abrasive
surface of the Stage 2 polishing/stropping disks. We strongly urge that you always thoroughly
clean your knives before sharpening them. Unless you are a heavy user, you should go months
or even a year or more before you need to dress the stropping/polishing disks. Only if you sense
a distinct decrease in polishing efficiency in Stage 3 is there any need to use this convenient
feature described on page 10.
Never operate the sharpener from the back side. Use just enough downward pressure when
sharpening to ensure uniform and consistent contact of the blade with the abrasive disks on
each stroke. Additional pressure is unnecessary and will not speed the sharpening process.
Avoid excessive cutting into the plastic enclosure. Accidental cutting into the enclosure however
will not functionally impact operations of the sharpener or damage the edge.
Try a practice pull through the sharpener before you turn on the power. S lip the knife blade
smoothly into the left slot between the left angle guide of Stage 1 and the plastic knife holding
spring. Do not twist the knife. Move the blade down in the slot until you feel it contact the
diamond disk. Pull it towards you lifting the handle slightly as you approach the tip. This will give
you a feel for the spring tension. Remove the knife and read the instructions specific to the type
of knife you will be sharpening.
SharpenIng the ContemporarY euro/amerICan and
Before sharpening your knife, refer to Description of Contemporary 15° and Traditional 20°
blades, pages 9 and 10, to confirm which type of knife you have and that you do in fact have
a double faceted blade. All double faceted Asian blades and newer Euro/American blades are
defined as contemporary blades. Most of the popular Asian blades such as the Santoku currently
sold in the United States are the double faceted contemporary design.
uSe honIng Stage 1
a. Pull the blade alternately through the left and right slots (see Figure 3) of Stage 1, making about 3 pair of
alternating pulls, taking about 3 seconds for each pull. Check the edge carefully to confirm the presence
of a burr (see Figure 4), which will be quite small since the Stage 1 abrasive is quite fine. To check for
the burr, move your forefinger carefully across the edge as shown in Figure 4. (Do not move your finger
along the edge—to avoid cutting your finger). If the last pull was in the right slot, the burr would appear
only on the right side of the blade (as you normally hold it) and vice versa. The burr, when present, feels
like a rough and bent extension of the edge; the opposite side of the edge feels very smooth by
comparison. When a burr exists along the entire edge, proceed to strop and polish again in Stage 2.
aSIan StYle KnIfe
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