Knife sharpener

A knife sharpening apparatus comprising a housing, a honing section in said housing, a sharpening member in said honing section, said sharpening member having a flat outer face with abrasive particles mounted thereon, guide means in said honing section at a non-parallel and non-perpendicular angle to said outer face for disposing the face of a knife at an angle and the cutting edge facet of the knife against said sharpening member parallel to said flat outer face, drive means orbitally driving said sharpening member, and said drive means imparting a velocity to each of said abrasive particles which is no greater than 800 feet/minute and no greater than .+-.0.005 inches in a direction perpendicular to said flat outer face and an orbital length per revolution of less than about one inch.

In a method of sharpening a knife, the improvement being in placing the knife in a sharpener by guiding the knife against an orbitally driven sharpening member having abrasive particles on its exposed surface, and orbitally driving the sharpening member to impart an orbital motion of no greater than 3/8 inch effective diameter and an orbital velocity of no greater than 1500 feet/minute.

In a method of sharpening a knife, the improvement being in placing the knife in a sharpener by guiding the knife against an orbitally driven sharpening member having abrasive particles on its exposed surface, and orbitally driving the sharpening member to impart a velocity to each of the abrasive particles which is no greater than 800 feet/minute and no greater than .+-.0.005 inches in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the sharpening member and an orbital length per revolution of less than about one inch.