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Gorilla Grip vs. Zwilling 4-Stage Manual Sharpener Side-by-Side Comparison
Our Verdict
- Performance (50%)6.5/10
- Design (15%)8.8/10
- Ease of Use (35%)8.3/10
- Performance (50%)4.7/10
- Design (15%)7.5/10
- Ease of Use (35%)7.8/10
Despite its lower price tag, the Gorilla Grip’s fast speed and effectiveness garnered it a better rating than the Zwilling’s.
The Gorilla Grip is not without flaws: A tapered and bumpy base is never a good sign in the world of manual pull-through sharpeners. However, in our tests, its substantial weight allowed enough stability and balance to work with. It was rather rough on the knife’s edge but it got the job done quickly enough.
The Zwilling has an impressive build and offers two grind angle options but it took twice as long as the Gorilla Grip in our speed test. It shaved off less material but that wasn’t much consolation given its less effective sharpening.
Gorilla Grip Kitchen Knife Sharpener’s Performance
- Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon (35%)7.6/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)8.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)5.0/10
- Material Retention (25%)5.0/10
- Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon (35%)1.0/10
- Maximum Sharpness Achieved (20%)7.0/10
- Edge Smoothness (20%)7.3/10
- Material Retention (25%)6.0/10
Sharpening Time to Cut a Lemon
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute 30 seconds
- Cutting Feel: Swift and smooth
We spent 15 seconds on the Prepare slot, 1 minute on the Sharpen slot, plus 15 seconds on the Polish slot. The dull test knife came out keen enough to slice through the lemon without us applying significant force.
If you’re in a hurry, five or six swipes on the second slot should be enough to bring a regular chef’s knife to serviceable sharpness.
- Sharpening Time: 3 minutes
- Cutting Feel: Slightly forced
The Zwilling is, sadly, one of the slower sharpeners even among its category. It took 180 seconds to sharpen a sandpaper-destroyed knife to the lemon-cutting level, and even then, the cutting motion didn’t feel completely effortless. Three minutes may feel like nothing if you’re used to working with a whetstone, but for a convenient device like this one, one would expect a much shorter time.
Maximum Sharpness Achieved
- Sharpening Time: 6 minutes
- Sharpness Level: 8 (chicken breast with skin, 1 swipe)
We spent a total of 5 minutes on the tungsten carbide blades and 30 seconds on each of the remaining stages.
The Gorilla Grip sliced through ripe tomatoes and chicken breasts with skin with minimal resistance, though the slippery chicken skin did slow it down a bit. It took two to three rather heavy swipes to sever a piece of beef tendon. However, at this sharpness level, your knives shouldn’t have a problem performing most cutting tasks.
- Sharpening Time: 6 minutes
- Sharpness Level: 8 - (Chicken breast with skin, 2 swipes)
While it failed quite miserably in the speed test, the Zwilling sharpener got decent results when given more time. The test knife passed the tomato test with flying colors and could cut through the muscle and runny skin on a fresh piece of chicken breast with two light and easy swipes.
We tried it on beef tendon too, which it took two heavy strokes to sever. The device was marked as failed for this level, but we think its efforts would be sufficient for most food prep needs.
Edge Smoothness
Despite their substantial size, the ceramic rods in the Polish slot did not seem to help with smoothening and polishing the knife edge.
The aggressive removal of steel is evident on the knife’s edge — the tungsten carbide blades created small but deep waves along it. These waves should not have any negative effect on your cutting experience, but they are unsightly and will bother you if you’re a knife connoisseur.
Also, if your knife is made of a particularly hard steel, the uneven thickness of the edge may make it more prone to chipping.
Although the Zwilling peels a lot off the knife, we have to give it credit for the pretty edge it left. There are long and deep grooves along the edge—we could tell from the swarf alone—but overall, the edge is straight and consistent, and without visible chips or teeth.
However, with its ceramic blades chipped after only a few uses, we’re at best skeptical about the device’s ability to maintain delivery of this edge quality.
Material Retention
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute
- Target Sharpness:
The Gorilla Grip is aggressive: It removed a great amount of metal off the blade during the one minute we sharpened the knife with it. The Prepare slot doesn’t seem to do too much to minimize the peeling during the next stage.
Given how quickly the device sharpens, we don’t recommend more than a few swipes on the Sharpen slot unless your knife is really dull.
- Sharpening Time: 1 minute
- Target Sharpness:
For the sharpness level it could achieve, the Zwilling shaves off way too much steel from the knife. We couldn’t help but shudder at the long curls of swarf coming out of the Coarse slot.
Most other devices employ ceramic rods for honing the knife, so even though this function comes in the form of blades on this sharpener, we really didn’t expect the ceramic to be so harsh on the knife edge.
Gorilla Grip’s Design
- Build Quality (75%)8.5/10
- Grip (25%)9.5/10
- Build Quality (75%)7.8/10
- Grip (25%)6.5/10
What’s in the Box With the Gorilla Grip Kitchen Knife Sharpener
- Gorilla Grip sharpener
- Care and use instructions
The Gorilla Grip sharpener comes in a neat cardboard box with detailed instructions on how to use and maintain it. The Amazon photos really don’t do it justice: The actual device looks much sleeker, and the almond color is lighter too. It’s also easy to find your favorite color among its nine color options.
- The Zwilling 4-stage sharpener
- Instruction leaflet
The Zwilling 4-stage sharpener comes protected by a plastic blister pack, with a simple instruction manual. The device is solid and heavier than most others.
Dimensions
- Length:7.9" (20.1 cm)
- Width:1.9" (4.8 cm)
- Height:3.0" (7.6 cm)
- Weight:6.6 oz (187 g)
- Length:9.3" (23.6 cm)
- Width:1.7" (4.3 cm)
- Height:3.1" (7.9 cm)
- Weight:11.2 oz (318 g)
Build Quality
The Gorilla Grip has a better build than what its price suggests: It’s neat, weighted, and substantial, with parts fitting together firmly and seamlessly. Although the working section is removable, it feels like one piece with the rest of the device.
The minus points are due to its bumpy base and rubber pads, which could use better fitting and gluing. Also, the device’s exterior doesn’t feel as soft and comfy as those of its brethrens, the Kitchellence and the Amesser, but this aspect is negligible. The lack of a name or logo is surprising but doesn’t affect the overall quality in any way.
While its design leaves a lot of room for improvement, the Zwilling is overall a robust, well-built sharpener. Its body feels rigid and solid, the frame and paddings are made of high-quality materials, and every part fits together nicely, leaving no gaps.
Unfortunately, the device’s weakness is its most critical part: the ceramic sharpening blades.
Normally, ceramic is used to make honing rods on pull-through sharpeners, but on the Zwilling, it’s employed in the shape of rectangular sharpening blades with their own delicate edges. The chipping we found on those blades after only a few days of testing proved that this break from the norm was an error of judgment. Obviously, being hard but brittle, the ceramic blades couldn’t withstand a rough steel knife edge.
Gorilla Grip Manual Knife Sharpener’s Working Section
- Levels of Sharpening:Prep, Sharpen, Polish
- Abrasive:Diamond rods, tungsten carbide blades, ceramic rods
- Mechanism:Pull through
- Sharpening Angle:20 degrees
The working section of the Gorilla Grip features three sharpening slots that repair, sharpen, and polish your blade. Its sharpening rods are larger than those on other devices, such as the Cubikook or the Wamery. The working section sits securely on a rather tall, but heavy, heel and enjoys reasonable stability.
This part is removable and replaceable in theory, though we couldn’t find a place that sells it separately online.
- Levels of Sharpening:Sharpen, Polish
- Abrasive:Ceramic blades
- Mechanism:Pull through
- Sharpening Angle:15 degrees, 10 degrees
The Zwilling sharpener has a long working section, covering two types of edge angle: standard and Asian. We find the alleged grind angles of 15 and 10 degrees to be surprisingly small—standard knives typically come at 18-22 degrees and Asian knives, 13 - 15 degrees. An edge angle of 10 degrees is probably more appropriate for razors than kitchen knives.
Angles aside, we like how the working section is closer to the base than the rest of the device is. This helps lower the center of gravity even only by a little, and improves the overall balance.
Grip
- Material:Thermoplastic rubber
The grip of this device is very comfortable, thanks to its decent size, ergonomic shape, and quality material. Though not a closed loop, the handle forms a hook so that you can hang it near your countertop for quick retrieving.
There’s little to complain about the grip, though we thought a bigger foot would be better for stability.
- Material:ABS, EVA
The Zwilling’s grip looks and feels fancier than most other devices’, but we wish the design were more simple. The thumb holder was awkward to grasp, and both of us testers couldn’t seem to align our fingers with the finger nubs.
We also thought the space between the grip and the base to be excessive — a lower height and center of gravity would immensely improve the device’s stability.
Base
- Material:rubber
- Feet Type:non-slip pad
The Gorilla Grip has textured rubber pads underneath it to enhance friction against the countertop. The pads don’t fit into their designated slots very well, though we think that’s more a problem of aesthetics than functionality.
The real problem is that when standing, only a part of the bigger pad is in contact with the countertop, which means it’s not completely flat. We’re not sure if it’s the pad, the base, or the glue that attaches them that has uneven thickness, but this factor noticeably reduces the device’s stability.
- Material:Plastic
- Feet Type:EVA pad
The Zwilling sharpener has a solid, flat base, with a high-quality anti-slip pad underneath. But this is yet another area where it suffers from bad design.
The base is long and narrow, which is not ideal for its considerable height. The pad only partially covers the base, leaving its border hanging in the air— the pad basically adds height while further reducing the already modest width. As a result, the device is very prone to rocking.
Gorilla Grip Manual Knife Sharpener Review
- Slot Arrangement (10%)10/10
- Insertion (20%)9.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)8.5/10
- Stability on a Clean Surface (40%)8.0/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (20%)7.0/10
- Slot Arrangement (10%)10/10
- Insertion (20%)9.0/10
- Pulling Through (10%)7.5/10
- Stability on a Clean Surface (40%)7.5/10
- Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface (20%)6.0/10
Slot Arrangement
With three working slots progressing from left to right, the Gorilla Grip doesn’t require a good memory or logical skills to work with. The function of each of the slots is also engraved right next to it, so even first-time users should have no problem working out the order.
The Zwilling has more sharpening slots than most others, but its layout is straightforward. Half of the working section is for standard blades and the other half Asian, as indicated by the print underneath. The slots progress in the same order for each angle type, with their coarseness level printed on their sides.
A transparent plastic cover can be slid over the area you’re not working on, so it’s rare that you will misplace your knife while sharpening.
Insertion
Its slot openings are wide and at a reasonable distance from each other, so it was easy to place the knife in the right slot with the Gorilla Grip.
It doesn’t have the widest slot openings, but insertion is still effortless with the Zwilling. Its lowered working section and the rather spacious grip do offer a sense of confidence and safety in this regard.
Pulling Through
Similar to the Kitchellence and the Amesser, the Gorilla Grip’s solid body structure makes pulling the knife through its slots a breeze: It was easy for us to apply a steady force from the knife’s heel to its top. The friction was just right at every point along the blade. The knife did cut into the plastic parts of the sharpener at times, but it happened less often than with other devices.
The problem with abrasive blades is that sometimes they lose grip of the knife edge, letting it glide through untouched. The fact that its blades are made of ceramic instead of tungsten carbide as a typical sharpener’s would be doesn’t exempt the Zwilling from this issue.
The thick frame around the slots, while offering great support, does obstruct the knife tip at the end as the downward force is still in place. It gets nicked from time to time, though this doesn’t affect the knife edge or sharpness.
Stability on a Clean Surface
The Gorilla Grip’s base isn’t completely flat, so it wobbled as we pushed it lightly while it was placed on a table. It also has a high center of gravity and a tapered heel — big no-nos — but to some extent, the heavy weight makes up for that.
The Zwilling’s heavy weight (a whopping 11 ounces) and solidness couldn’t cancel out the effect of its massive height to stabilize the device. Nor did its narrow base and an even narrower anti-slip pad allow it to fare well in our test. The sharpener kept losing its balance.
Stability on a Wet and Dirty Surface
The slippery cooking oil and salt on the countertop didn’t seem to affect the device’s stability to a great extent. Neither did the salt pose much of a challenge to the textured rubber feet.
The oil- and salt-tainted countertop only amplified all the design problems on the Zwilling. We could only keep it in place with excessive force on the grip, and so we highly recommend ensuring your countertop is dry and clean before using this sharpener.