Whilst a whetstone may ultimately give you a sharper knife, if you just can't find the time to soak one and use it, a pull-through offers the best compromise. And certainly beats not sharpening at all!

You do not need to apply a great deal of downward force – gently push the knife back and forth around five times through each stage, starting with coarse, then fine (if you're using a multi-stage sharpener) and let the pull-through gently sharpen. Follow the curve of the blade, keeping the blade edge level with the sharpener.

You will need the right pull-through for European (20° edge) and Japanese (15°) knives, as the angle with pull-throughs is set. Also, because Japanese steel is typically harder than European knives (to support the thinner edge profile), fine ceramic is generally more suitable than steel for sharpening Japanese knives, to avoid damaging the harder and more brittle edge.

We recommend Season and Wusthof sharpeners for European knives and Robert Welch and Minosharp for Japanese Knives.