Abstract: A multi-stage sharpener includes at least one motor driven abrasive sharpening stage and one non-motor driven conditioning stage. The conditioning stage has a non-abrasive hardened surface and at least one precision knife guide which has a planar guide surface for creating a microscopic serration along the edge of a blade which had been sharpened in the first stage sharpening station. The sharpener may also include a third stage motor driven finishing stage. Alternatively, the conditioning stage can be incorporated as the knife edge modifying stage of a manual sharpener.

Abstract: A knife-edge conditioning apparatus comprises at least one precision angled knife guide with one face of the knife blade maintained in sustained sliding or rolling contact and which guides the elongated edge of the blade into sustained contact with the hardened surface of an object and positions the plane of the adjacent edge facet at a precise predetermined angle relative to the contact plane of the hardened surface made of a material of equal or greater hardness than the metal of the knife blade without any tendency to abrade as the blade face is moved along the guide with its elongated edge in sustained contact with the hardened surface.

Abstract: An apparatus for manually steeling or conditioning the edge of a knife blade comprises a precision angle guide attached to a manual sharpening steel. The angle guide establishes a guiding surface that provides for sustained sliding or rolling contact with the face of the knife blade such that the plane of at least one edge facet adjacent to the edge of the blade is maintained at a precisely established angle relative to the plane of the sharpening steel surface at the contact point of the facet with the surface of the sharpening steel.