Zwilling 4-Stage vs. Longzon 4-Stage Manual Sharpener Side-by-Side Comparison
We put the Zwilling 4-stage and Longzon 4-Stage sharpeners through a series of tests to see how they measure up. Here’s our detailed comparison.
Specifications
Design
The Zwilling sharpener has a robust construction; its frame is made with mostly high-quality materials and has an excellent fit and finish. Its most important components—the sharpening blades—however, seem to be made of the wrong material for the job. The tall, long, but narrow body, meanwhile, makes it more prone to losing balance and stability.
The Longzon looks identical to the Mueller handheld sharpener and has a much better build and design than its affordable price suggests. There’s no shoddy parts or gimmicky details — everything fits together securely and seamlessly to serve its purpose.
We also like the device’s substantial size which allows for easy sharpening of larger kitchen knives. The inclusion of the gloves is nice, though we didn’t feel the need to use them.
Usability
Though the Zwilling’s slot layout is not exactly basic, it’s easy to work with. Blade insertion is safe and simple. However, the actual sharpening process can be a little challenging as the device tends to rock on its narrow base pad.
The Longzon is straightforward, and there are visual cues on the device if you’re not sure how to use it at first glance. Its large grip and wide working section make sharpening natural and effortless. Though we think a more modest height would make it safer to use, its stability is well above average.
Performance
The Zwilling isn’t a complete failure: It can sharpen a dead, dull knife to highly serviceable keenness. However, it lost way too many points on speed, which is a critical criterion for convenient sharpeners. Its sharpening blades left a consistent edge, but that doesn’t make up for the excessive amount of material it removed doing so. It reminded us of the Chef’s Choice 4643 in many ways.
The Longzon 4-stage knife sharpener creates one of the finest edges we’ve seen with a device of this type. Unfortunately, the edge’s functionality doesn’t match up with its aesthetics. It only became keen after more than 3 minutes of sharpening, and a prolonged sharpening time didn’t get it much further on the sharpness scale either.
Overall Scores
Pros & Cons
- Substantial weight
- Sharpens both Asian and standard knives
- Strong build, high-quality body material
- Slot cover
- Beautiful design
- Sleek design
- Substantial, accommodative size
- Fine, smooth knife edge
- Inclusion of protective gloves
- Slot for scissors
- Brittle sharpening blades
- Anti-slip pad doesn’t fully cover the base
- Awkward grip
- Tall base
- Slow sharpening
- Ineffective slot layout
Conclusion
The Zwilling 4-stage and the Longzon 4-stage sharpeners are well-built, robust sharpening devices, but that didn’t help them score well in our sharpening tests.
The Zwilling 4-stage has a solid body that is certainly made of high quality materials. Unfortunately, its fancy design features were not very useful in practice—its thin and narrow base did not help with balance, while the supposedly ergonomic handle proved awkward to grasp. The sharpener was also one of the slowest to show results.
The Longzon offered better balance and ease of use during sharpening. It was gentle to the knife and created an extremely fine edge. However, the improvement in sharpness was modest compared to other sharpeners. The device took longer to achieve sharpness than most sharpeners as well.
Between the two, the Longzon is the more acceptable choice. But there are better performers—take a look at our rating tables to find the right one for you.
Behind the Comparison
Anh Ngo is a writer with 9 years experience at different media outlets, covering from public news and events to product testing and analysis. At HealthyKitchen101, she works across different departments, communicating closely with its network of writers, editors, and health, tech, and search engine experts to provide a meaningful and pleasant reading experience for visitors.
Lap is Head of the Research, Testing, and Review Team (RTR Team) at HealthyKitchen101.com, where he directs and supervises the testing of kitchen gadgets and appliances.
