Sabatier Edgekeeper Self Sharpening Knives

Sharp knives are a pleasure to use in the kitchen, but I have feeling that most folks don't recognize when their knives need sharpening. The dulling process happens pretty slowly, so it's not like one day you're slicing through carrots like a pro and the next day you're struggling to cut through a hard boiled egg.

What I hear often is that someone will get a new knife and they'll be all giddy about how sharp it is compared to the old ones they have. It's not that the old knives were always sup-bar. It's just that over time, they got dull, and the new knife is perfectly sharp.

While there are a ton of different sharpening tools, it seems that most folks don't own them, they don't use them, or they don't know how to use them. So their knives just get duller and duller.

When I heard about the self- sharpening knives from Sabatier, I was intrigued. How does this magic work? I imagined the knives coming to life at night and getting to work on keeping that sharp slicing edge.

So I said, yes, send me samples. I received the 8-inch slicer, the 8-inch chef's knife and the 3 1/2 inch paring knife to test. They came securely packaged, and each included a sheath. I unpackaged, inspected, sliced, and even took a knife to a friend's house to get a second opinion.

Alas, the magic is not quite as mystical as I imagined. Each of the knifes sheaths has a little embedded sharpener, so every time you insert the knife or take it out, the blade runs through that sharpener.

Well, sort of. If you slide the knife into the sheath with the top edge (the flat unsharp side) sliding against the sheath, the sharp edge of the blade doesn't make much contact with the sharpener. So you do need to pay attention to how you're sliding the knife in and out of the sheath. It's not difficult, and it's certainly not necessary to slide against the sharpener every single time. But if it's your goal to keep the knife sharp at all times, it's a good idea to get into the habit of letting the blade contact that sharpener regularly.

For me, that took a little bit of thought to make it a habit. I don't use a lot of sheaths - my favorite knives are on a magnetic hanger, and other knives are in a block - but when I use a sheath, I tend to try to keep the blade from scraping the sheath. So I had to remember to run the blade along the sharpener, and in the case of knives with a curved edge, I had to make sure the whole length of the blade contacted the sharpener. Once it became a habit, it was easy peasy.

I think this is a genius idea, particularly for people who don't want to deal with sharpening knives regularly and for people who are intimidated by the idea of doing their own sharpening. Even better, these knives are affordable. Most of them are under $20, so these would be great for new kitchens, vacation homes, for a take-along knife in the picnic basket, or in a desk drawer at work for apple emergencies.

Who's it for: Everyone needs a good knife, right? But these are particularly good for people just starting out, or for anyone who's averse to sharpening their knives with a stand-alone sharpener.

Pros: It really works.

Cons: I haven't had these long enough to know how long the sharpener will remain useful. I imagine it will be years, but not generations. On the other hand, the knives are not expensive, so I don't think anyone will expect to pass them down to grandchildren.

Wishes: A self-sharpening steak knife set would be kind of sweet. Does anyone ever sharpen those? And having sheaths to store them would be better than a box.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.