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Amesser A-65 vs Kitchellence 3-Stage Manual Sharpener Side-by-Side Comparison
Our Verdict
- Performance (50%)6.3/10
- Design (15%)9.3/10
- Ease of Use (35%)8.8/10
- Performance (50%)6.9/10
- Design (15%)9.2/10
- Ease of Use (35%)9.8/10
Without the brand names printed on the products, we wouldn’t be able to tell the Amesser A-65 and the Kitchellence 3-stage sharpener apart. In fact, they received equal ratings for design and ease of use. The Kitchellence, however, stood out when it came to actual performance.
Both sharpeners are made with quality materials and boast a robust build with a weighted, though tapered, base and ergonomic grip. They have identical slots in their working sections, with substantial sharpening rods.
It’s not surprising that the two took roughly the same amount of time to sharpen a knife and achieved the same level of keenness in our maximum sharpness test. The Amesser seemed more aggressive to the knife’s edge, though: It removed a lot more material and also left a much rougher edge compared to the Kitchellence, hence the lower performance rating.
It might have been a matter of individual products but as far as our testing went, the Kitchellence proved to be the better of the two.
Amesser A-65 3-stage Knife Sharpener’s Performance
- Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon (35%)5.2/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)7.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)7.7/10
- Material Retention (25%)6.0/10
- Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon (35%)4.8/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)7.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)7.7/10
- Material Retention (25%)9.0/10
Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon
- Sharpening Time: 2 minutes
- Cutting Feel: Swift and smooth
The Amesser clocked 120 seconds to restore a blunted blade back to use on a lemon.
This is double the ideal time (60 seconds), but is still within acceptable ranges. It’s actually a few seconds faster than its identical cousin, the Kitchellence. If your kitchen knives are regularly maintained, you should be able to get them ready for a cooking session within 30 - 60 seconds on this sharpener.
- Sharpening Time: 2m 05s
- Cutting Feel: Swift and smooth
We spent 125 seconds with the Kitchellence to bring a knife from uselessly dull to cutting through a lemon in one single draw. The cut was effortless and did not require significant hand pressure.
The sharpening time is rather slow; but note that we blunted the knife to an extreme degree for the test. Most cooks wouldn’t wait until their knives become so dull. If you maintain your blades properly, you should be able to make them serviceable after about one minute on this device.
Maximum Sharpness Achieved
- Sharpening Time: 6 minutes
- Sharpness Level: 8 - (Chicken breast, two swipes)
On a ripe tomato, there was no need to apply any extra effort. The tomato split cleanly without leaving behind any trace on the chopping block.
The next checkpoint—chicken breast with skin—was a slight challenge. The test knife did well on a small piece, as indicated in the video. However, on a larger piece of breast, it failed to sever the tough skin and slippery fat in one go, hence our final score of 7.0.
- Sharpening Time: 6 minutes
- Sharpness Level: 8
After sharpening on the Kitchellence for 6 minutes, the knife slid through a ripe tomato effortlessly, so we went on to try it on raw chicken breast with skin. It went through the chicken breast in two slices.
This isn’t an exceptional result, but the knife was only at Level 8 when brand new, so it’s safe to say the Kitchellence almost brought it back to its factory level.
Edge Smoothness
Here are the magnified shots of the test knife after sharpening with the Amesser A-65.
The edge came out straight and well polished with minimal signs of chips, burrs, or other defects. In comparison to the other handheld sharpeners we’ve experimented with so far, this sharpener did a good job of straightening and restoring the edge. And it’s no surprise that the result is almost a mirror image of what the Kitchellence produced.
The Kitchellence produces some of the smoothest edges among pull-through devices we tested. Thanks to its stability and the thickness of the sharpening rods, it was easier to maintain a consistent pull force through each draw. As a result, the edge came out smooth and even from tip to heel.
We could find no remaining burrs or metal flakes on the edge. The ceramic rods in the final stage did a good job straightening the edge and removing little burrs.
Material Retention
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute
- Target Sharpness:
You can bet that all knife sharpeners grind away a certain amount of material from the blade to reform the edge: the only difference is the length they go to. In just one minute, the Amesser A-65 took a heavy toll on the knife’s edge, as evident by the pictures here.
We were rather astonished how this tri-stage sharpener managed to shear off almost as much metal as ones with fewer stages. Indeed, the quantity of swarf collected was somewhat similar to that produced by the Sunrise Pro and KitchenIQ.
So, if you do purchase the Amesser A-65, it’d be a good idea to use the second stage only on really dull knives. For milder cases, the ceramic rods in the third stage would suffice.
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute
- Target Sharpness:
The Kitchellence’s substantial sharpening rods and blades are braced tightly together so they sharpen very well, but don’t remove much material from the knife edge at a time. The ‘swarf’ is more fine dust than chips, hinting at a fine edge.
This is mostly thanks to the design of the tungsten carbide blades themselves. However, the Kitchellence is also one of the rare cases where the bulky diamond rods really work to ‘prepare’ the edge for the peeler slot.
Amesser A-65 3-stage Knife Sharpener’s Design
- Build Quality (75%)9.2/10
- Grip (25%)9.5/10
- Build Quality (75%)9.3/10
- Grip (25%)9.0/10
What’s in the Box With the Amesser A-65 Manual Knife Sharpener
- Amesser sharpener
- Instruction manual
- Protection glove
- Thank-you note
The cardboard package includes the sharpener, a cut-resistant glove, a user’s guide, and an appreciation card from the manufacturer. This product is under warranty for up to 18 months.
- The Kitchellence sharpener
- 1 x user’s guide
- 1 x safety glove
The Kitchellence comes in one piece, with a solid ABS plastic body. It has a distinctive matte finish that’s very soft and comfortable to touch.
The package includes a glove and a user’s manual that offers instructions on how to sharpen metal and ceramic blades.
Dimensions
- Length:7.9" (20.1 cm)
- Width:1.9" (4.8 cm)
- Height:2.9" (7.4 cm)
- Weight:6.4 oz (183 g)
- Length:8.1" (20.6 cm)
- Width:1.8" (4.6 cm)
- Height:3.0" (7.6 cm)
- Weight:6.4 oz (181 g)
Build Quality
This sharpener is well put together and feels sturdy. Shake as hard as you might, and everything stays perfectly intact as if the whole thing is made of one solid block.
At one point, we plucked off the working section and took a quick peek inside the base. It has a metal piece attached underneath and weighs 6.44 ounces, accounting for the majority of the sharpener’s total weight.
The working section has several contact points that lock into the base and click when assembled correctly. Sadly, this part isn’t available for purchase or replacement. Once it breaks, you’ll have to toss the whole thing in the trash and get a brand-new unit.
We’ve had our hands on a few others that look very similar to the Kitchellence, and they were all lightweight and shoddy. So it was a nice surprise how well-built the Kitchellence is.
The device is made of high-quality ABS with a nice finish. It’s solid, sturdy, weighted, and every part fits together tightly and seamlessly. It didn’t create the rattling sound heard on many others as we shook it or used excessive force to sharpen.
The only thing we didn’t like about the build is the tiny and somewhat flimsy silicone pad underneath the grip.
Grip
- Material:ABS plastic
In general, the Amesser’s handle offers a great sense of comfort and safety. You can skip using the glove if you want to: the handle’s material feels soft and grippy, while the size is just about perfect for a good, strong grasp. The icing on the cake is a series of finger nubs running along the handle’s length.
- Material:ABS plastic
Among all the devices we tested, the Kitchellence offers the best grip. It has an ergonomic handle with finger nubs. The cover is a special kind of ABS plastic that feels like a matte silicone — it’s so comfortable on the skin a lot of the time we just skipped using the glove altogether.
Working Section
- Levels of Sharpening:Prepare, Sharpen, Polish
- Abrasive:Diamond-coated rods, tungsten steel blades, ceramic rods
- Mechanism:Pull-through
- Sharpening Angle:20°
Each stage of the working section features ordinal numbering and some visual cues that display the slot’s material and function.
The sharpening process begins with the Prep stage whose main purpose is to straighten the knife’s edge. Following that is the middle stage, used to sharpen the edge. Meanwhile, the final stage is meant for honing or giving a slightly blunt knife some light touch-ups every once in a while.
On the whole, the Amesser A-65 should handle most types of kitchen knives.
- Levels of Sharpening:Coarse, Medium, Fine
- Abrasive:Diamond rods, tungsten carbide blades, ceramic rods
- Mechanism:Pull-through
- Sharpening Angle:20 degrees
The Kitchellence sports three stages of sharpening, marked with the numbers 1, 2, and 3. The Coarse slot (1) removes small imperfections and preps the edge, the Medium slot (2) removes more material and sharpens the edge, and the Fine ceramic rods (3) offer a final polish.
Though the working section is easily removable, replacements are not sold separately. So once the rods have worn out and the tungsten blades are no longer keen, the whole device will just end up in the trash bin. That being said, with its thick rods and quality build, we suspect it will last for years.
Those larger, more robust sharpening rods separate the Kitchellence from other pull-through sharpeners such as the Cubikook or Wamery. They feel firmer and more sturdy, and the larger size also means they may last longer.
Base
- Material:ABS plastic
- Feet Type:Non-slip rubber base
The Amesser’s base is a checker-patterned pad that gradually tapers toward the direction of the handle. The pattern helps with creating friction and thus preventing the device from sliding across the countertop during sharpening; however, it does pick up residue and specks of dirt.
- Material:ABS plastic
- Feet Type:non-slip rubber base
The device tapers at the base and has a patterned pad underneath it. The pad is soft, thin, and doesn’t help much with keeping the device stable.
Amesser 3-stage Knife Sharpener Review
- Slot Arrangement (10%)10/10
- Insertion (20%)9.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)9.5/10
- Stability on a Clean Surface (40%)9.0/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (20%)7.5/10
- Slot Arrangement (20%)10/10
- Insertion (20%)9.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)9.5/10
- Stability on a Clean Surface (40%)9.0/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (20%)7.5/10
Slot Arrangement
Like the majority of handheld sharpeners, the slot structure advances from left to right. Each slot has some handy visual cues as a brief introduction to help cooks identify its function and feature. These fine prints are easy to read and they eliminate any unnecessary guesswork that may arise in the process.
The Kitchellence has a very intuitive design, with the slots arranged in a progressive order. There are numbers engraved on the stainless steel cover on each slot, and on both sides too, so it’s more difficult to get it wrong than right. You won’t need other visual cues or instructions.
Insertion
The entries into the sharpening slots are just wide and deep enough to accommodate the blade properly but not comfortably. During the course of the test, there were occasional bumps here and there when positioning the knife into the slots.
We also noticed some wiggle room between the abrasives, resulting in the knife leaning and jigging sideways. This was also the reason why we sometimes had trouble keeping our draw straight, as you can see from these overhead shots.
The slot openings are not the widest among those we tested, but they have reasonable width and depth. Insertion was effortless and didn’t require much anticipation or forethought.
Pulling Through
On the whole, the abrasives were tight and solid. The first two stages actually felt a little heavy at times due to the nature of the material.
It’s unlikely that you’ll overshoot the blade and cut into parts of the device by mistake—the plastic frame is far enough below the abrasives to prevent that.
We like that the sharpening rods are larger on this device than most others of its type. They created a firmer, touter brace of the knife edge as we pulled the knife through. Unlike some other devices, this brace hasn’t loosen up after six months of heavy-duty use.
The U-shaped holder stays clear of the working section, so we never once cut into it even when we deliberately increased speed and lowered the knife tip at the end.
Stability on a Clean Surface
Save for some slight backward tilts, the Amesser barely moved at all. Thanks to its well-proportioned body, this sharpener was firm, steady, and stable. For the most part, you shouldn’t encounter any discernible problem with the device’s stability on a clean surface.
Despite its small and tapered base, the Kitchellence is stable when working on a clean surface. This is thanks to its solid structure and an additional piece of metal placed underneath the working section for increased weight and a lower center of gravity.
Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface
Prior to this test, we splashed a spoonful of oil and salt on the countertop surface to create an exaggerated mimicry of a real-life messy cooking area. The sharpener lost its footing, slipping and inching away from the original spot after just a few pulls.
Facing the slippery countertop challenge, the thin and small rubber feet showed their weaknesses. The working section’s location high above the base didn’t help either. As a result, the device slid and wobbled a little.
The solution is easy: keep your countertop clean and the device will be safe to use. If you have shaky hands and want to be extra safe, however, the Cubikook may be a better choice.