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Amesser A-65 vs Longzon 4-stage 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%)5.6/10
- Design (15%)9.1/10
- Ease of Use (35%)8.2/10
The Amesser A-65 and the Longzon 4-stage sharpeners are both of a decent size and solidly constructed. Both also sport a tapered base which slightly affects their ability to keep their balance during use.
The Amesser did a little better in our speed and sharpness tests, though arguably only because the Longzon was below average. On the other hand, the Longzon removed far less steel and left a much smoother and more even edge.
All in all, the Amesser is the slightly better choice. If you prefer the design of the Longzon but want better performance, check out its identical twin: the Mueller KS-4ST.
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%)1.0/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)6.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)9.0/10
- 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: 3 minutes 10 seconds
- Cutting Feel: Swift and smooth
The Longzon sharpener was disappointing in this test: It took 190 seconds on average to sharpen a dull knife to the level where it can slice a lemon with ease. Three minutes doesn’t seem so long, but when you’re repeating a motion on a small device, it can feel like an eternity.
Unlike the case with the Mueller, the tungsten carbide blades on this device offer a tight and steady brace. For some reason unknown to us, the knife edge just didn’t get keen quickly enough with it.
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: 7 (ripe tomatoes)
We doubled the time in the lemon-cutting test and the Longzon sharpener could only up the knife sharpness by one level. It cut through a ripe tomato effortlessly, and took two forceful swipes to sever the tough skin on a chicken breast. This isn’t a bad performance, per se, but we had expected more from the sharpener as it looks so well-made.
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.
We couldn’t be more impressed when we saw the knife edge after sharpening with the Longzon. It’s smooth, shiny, and balanced between the two sides — common among electric sharpeners, but a rare thing to see with manual pull-through devices. We can’t quite explain the lack of chips, grains, or unfinished shavings — we didn’t need a magnifier to see them on the edge produced by its identical cousin, the Mueller.
At any rate, if a clean, perfect edge is what you’re after in a handheld sharpener, the Longzon should be among your top choices.
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:
On most devices that employ tungsten carbide blades as the sharpening ‘abrasive’, the more material they remove, the quicker they work and the sharper the edge. The Longzon is not an exception. It took more than 3 minutes to produce a keen edge, so it’s not a complete surprise that it only removed a moderate amount of material from the edge in 1 minute.
Amesser A-65 3-stage Knife Sharpener’s Design
- Build Quality (75%)9.2/10
- Grip (25%)9.5/10
- Build Quality (75%)9.1/10
- 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 Longzon 4-stage knife sharpener
- Instruction manual
- Protective gloves
The Longzon sharpener comes in a nice cardboard box with lots of instructions and contact information printed on it. Then there’s a leaflet that features the instructions in five different languages. Two thin gloves are included in the package, presumably for protecting your hands during sharpening, though this is mentioned nowhere in the manual.
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:9.3" (23.6 cm)
- Width:1.8" (4.6 cm)
- Height:3.1" (7.9 cm)
- Weight:8.7 oz (246 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.
The Longzon sharpener has a strong build with quality materials and a robust design. Its working section, handle, and base are securely attached to each other, which helps with stability during sharpening. The design is function-oriented, but everything has a nice, flush finish. We couldn’t expect better, especially for its price.
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, TPR
The Longzon has a nice, substantial grip. There’s plenty of space for larger hands or for those who want their gripping hand to be as far away from the knife as possible while sharpening.
The upper side of the grip is a plastic that’s very soft to the touch and has decent friction. The lower side features finger nubs for a firmer grip.
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:Sharpen, Hone, Polish
- Abrasive:Tungsten carbide blades, diamond rods, ceramic rods
- Mechanism:Pull through
- Sharpening Angle:20 degrees
The working section features one slot for scissors and three for kitchen knives. Instead of a prep slot, you start sharpening your knives with the tungsten blades and use the diamond and ceramic rods for further honing.
The whole working section is covered with stainless steel, making it easy to clean should the need arise.
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
- Feet Type:EVA feet
The Longzon has a red ABS base that makes it look like a Louboutin shoe. It tapers from the working section downwards, but the base size is sufficient to keep the device in place.
It boasts two flat, but effective, anti-slip pads underneath the working section and the grip.
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%)7.0/10
- Insertion (20%)9.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)8.0/10
- Stability on a Clean Surface (40%)8.5/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (10%)8.0/10
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 Longzon’s layout of sharpening slots is identical to the Mueller, and in our experience, not ideal. We’d rather move Slot 3 (diamond rods) to the front of the row to serve as a prep slot.
Otherwise, the arrangement is simple and easy to work with — all the slots have the same grind angle and are designed for the same types of knife edge. The natural progression of coarseness (or fineness) level means you never have to pause halfway through in fear of going the wrong way.
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.
Insertion was easy with the Longzon: Its wide slots with a neat design offer enough space for the blade to get in without obstruction. You may cut into the wall if you go too fast, but that should be rare.
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.
With the U-shaped plastic frame placed too close to the sharpening rods, we ended up cutting into them after almost every swipe. Even a few more millimeters would avoid this. But other than that minor annoyance, the Longzon offers a great sharpening experience. Its blades and rods provide a steady brace with decent and stable friction that’s evident in the near-perfect knife edge it creates. It’s also effortless to keep the blade straight during sharpening — we never ended up with an uneven edge, as was the case with its Mueller counterpart.
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.
Even though the base is tapered, it’s still large enough to support the sharpener. The rubber pads offer good contact areas and great friction, so the device wouldn’t slip on a countertop. We didn’t have to use excessive force to keep it steady during sharpening, just a firm grip.
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.
The slippery countertop wasn’t much of a challenge for the Longzon either. It did glide a bit when we intentionally used more force to sharpen, but it fared well most of the time.