Patent ID: 8430720

Claim:
An apparatus for manually sharpening the edge of a knife blade with two faces each of which terminates in an edge facet which meet to form said edge, said apparatus comprising: an elongated sharpening member having a hardened surface defining a longitudinal axis; a knife guide having a guide surface disposed at a non-parallel acute angle to said longitudinal axis of said sharpening member whereby a face of said knife blade may be placed on said guide surface to enable an edge facet of said face to be held in sustained contact with said hardened surface while said face is drawn manually along said guide surface in a transverse direction nominally perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of said sharpening member, said knife guide being movably coupled to said elongated sharpening member to permit sliding movement in first and second opposing directions extending generally parallel to said longitudinal axis of said sharpening member; and a spring mechanism coupled to said knife guide, said spring mechanism reacting against said knife guide to force said knife guide in said first direction to an upper rest position, and said spring mechanism permitting said knife guide to be displaced from said rest position in said second direction as the user applies a downward force on said knife blade as said face is held in contact with said guide surface and said edge facet is held in sustained contact with said hardened surface.