Kitchen knives often lose their sharpness over a period of time and become dull. It is a common sighting to see a box or a drawer full of dull old knives in a kitchen. People unknowingly end up crushing their food with a knife instead of cutting it.
The Bavarian Edge is the latest offering by Bulbhead. It’s a kitchen knife sharpener you may have seen in an infomercial, and like many As Seen on TV products, it comes with a lifetime money back guarantee.
The product is used for sharpening and maintaining dull knives. It eliminates the need for traditional knife sharpeners like stones, rods, blocks and even electric sharpeners.
Quick Overview
It is a small, portable and lightweight product which can be placed anywhere in the kitchen but you need to make sure that you place it on a flat surface. The sharpener consists of two movable arms made of tungsten carbide and connected through a spring mounted on a plastic unit.
A kitchen knife can be easily sharpened by placing it in between the arms and horizontally moving it back and forth for five to six times approximately. It is recommended not to over sharpen beyond a few times.
The metal in between the arms actually sharpens the knife blade. While running the knife through the sharpener, the user would need to hold the product with the other hand for stability.
Major Selling Points
The spring mechanism in the arms provides a great sharpening experience. The arms are flexible and follow the contours of the knife which results in better quality when compared to a regular fixed knife sharpener which may destroy the knife.
The “Edge” allows the user to sharpen coarsely and finely at different angles. To finely sharpen the blade, the user will have to hold the knife handle a little lower than the tip. To coarsely sharpen, the user would need to hold the knife handle a little higher than the tip.
The product also allows the user to sharpen the knife at a 35-degree angle for single beveled edge knife wherein the user may sharpen at 35 degrees keeping the knife position towards the right if the bevel is on the right and the knife position towards the left if the bevel is on the left. The same process will be followed for a single serrated edge knife.
It does not require you to apply heavy force. Just about a slight downward pressure along with smooth horizontal movement is fine.
It is a very low maintenance product. The user would just need to clean the entire unit with a damp cloth especially removing the shavings from the arms.
The Bavarian Edge knife sharpener is a mechanical device which makes it long lasting when compared to an electrically operated sharpener.
What’s Great
The sharpener gives great results with serrated knives. A serrated knife when sharpened through the Bavarian Edge (whether straight or at a 35-degree angle) shows considerable improvement in sharpness.
So if you have a large number of costly serrated knives in your kitchen, then this sharpener can be value for money. Besides that, even butter knives work better when sharpened through a Bavarian Edge.
What Needs Work
It cannot be used to sharpen ceramic knives and scissors. The sharpener may not give great results for a Japanese knife and for heavy metal steel knives
One needs to be careful when holding the unit with another hand while sharpening because it doesn’t have a handle. Also, it is not meant to be washed in a dishwasher or with harmful chemicals.
The Bavarian Edge vs the Priority Chef Sharpener
The Priority Chef knife sharpener is structurally very different from an Edge. The Priority Chef sharpener is stylish and sleek in design when compared to a Bavarian Edge. However, the Edge scores over the Priority Chef in terms of flexibility and portability.
The Priority Chef has wheel blades and a handle mounted on a stable base. The handle and the base provide safety and stability when the user holds the unit with his hand while sharpening. This feature is missing in Bulbhead’s sharpener where the safety is compromised and the user has to be careful with his or her steady hand.
The Edge may be good for home use and Priority Chef may be more suitable for commercial use. In fact, the Priority Chef is ideal for restaurants and hotels where the need to quickly sharpen a large number of knives is high.
Also, those people who have a habit of applying extra force on sturdy knife sharpeners may like Priority Chef more compared to the Bavarian Edge.
The Final Word
The Bavarian Edge sharpener certainly does its job, but it may not be suitable to bring life back to a completely dull and dead knife. Pricing wise, the product is rather budget friendly.
Though it is claimed in the advertising material that it also polishes the knife, so far it has not been verified by customer feedback that can be found online, other reviews, or demonstration videos. Use this for more for sharpening a blade than polishing it.
Overall, the Bavarian Edge knife sharpener works well for regular maintenance and honing of standard and beveled knives with average wear and tear. It’s fantastic for sharpening serrated knives.