Why I buy this one ?
- Help to maintain the correct angle for sharpening knives when sharpening with a whetstone
- The angle is between 10 and 15 degrees
- The guide rails are sold as a set which includes a small and large guide
- It is recommended that you pull a clean towel through the guide rail after rinsing
- If you fail to remove all the residue from the guide rail, the residue may scratch the knife the next time the guide rail is used

Amazon.com offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : Too low to display Usually ships in 1 to 2 months

What our customer's say!

"Work like a charm for 2/3 of the knife", These guide rails are great. Because I am just starting to sharpen my own knives, it is very difficult to keep a proper angle. Rather than practicing on my good knives and destroying them, I would rather learn using the help of the rails.

The plastic lining keeps the knife held securely and does not scratch or damage the knife. The only problem I had with them is that the angle is only maintained when the rail is placed near the handle. The rail does not fit properly when one moves it away from the handle. This makes it difficult to sharpen the third of the knife closest the tip. I had to sharpen this portion without the guide and I don't think I did a very good job. At least 2/3 of the knife is sharpened.


"No longer will scratch your knife.", These will no longer scratch your knife. There are now white plastic pieces sandwiched in each guide and these prevent the metal of the guide from touching and scratching your knife.

"Average at best", If you want an extra gadget to take up space in your kitchen, then go ahead. Otherwise, I would stay away from this one.

"essential for a really sharp edge", People who criticise this product simply don't know how to use them. My own experience as an amateur, who wants really sharp kitchen knives, is as follows:
For sharpening kitchen knives to that really razor sharp edge, you must use sharpening stones (I recommend Japanese waterstones, Shapton, Ice Bear or King brand - all readily available) starting from medium grit and progressing to fine then extra fine grit. The final grit should be at least 6000 grit. Personally, I use a Shapton 12000 grit final stone, and finish off with gentle stropping on a leather strop, with Cr0 powder on it. This gives a true razor edge. We are talking about an edge of 0.5 micron width. This is the same as the best quality razor blade.

When sharpening blades to this fine an edge, it is critical that the blade MUST be kept exactly at a constant angle to the stone (usually about 15 to 20 degrees). The difficult part for most of us is to hold that constant angle just using your un aided fingers. Unless you are a real expert, you will be like me - unable to maintain that exact angle constantly when sharpening freehand. Because human hands and fingers are too flexible!
The answer is these simple clip-on guides. They slide onto the back of the knife and hey presto - there is your fixed angle. You can slide the guide onto the straight part of the knife (nearer to the handle) to sharpen it, then move the guide onto the curved part near the point) to sharpen that part of the knife. This means that you are sharpening the knife in sections.
The current guides (made in China) have plastic sleeves which prevent scratching the knife, older guides with no plastic can easily be made non scratch by installing your own sleeve from a cut down plastic milk bottle, folded in half and pushed into the guide.
I have used these guides on my Global knives and other Japanese kitchen knives and have found that the knives are much much sharper than new.

Incidentally, these guides, when used as directed, will give a blade edge angle of about 10 degrees. This different from what most sharpening advice (including Global's own)which is normally about 15 to 20 degrees. No matter - the more acute angle gives a much sharper edge.
Also I recommend using a ceramic "steel" in particular the Kyocera CSW-18 which has a super fine grit and is far superior to diamond "steels"

If you've read this far you might be interested in doing some net research on knife sharpening. There are some very good tutorials there.
A "must buy" book is Chad Ward's "An edge in the Kitchen". This book has just been released. Available from Amazon and highly reviewed. Chad tells you all you ever need to know about selecting, using, and sharpening kitchen knives.

"You're better of just practicing", Sure, they keep the knife at the right angle, but they only work well on the straight part of the blade. Where the curve is and where the blade gets more narrow the guide makes the angle steeper, which isn't good for the edge. You're better off just practicing and getting good at sharpening without the guides.

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