Longzon 4-in-1 Review

The Longzon 4-in-1 is a manual pull-through sharpener that has a compact profile and a fairly intuitive sharpening method. It is able to take on a variety of straight-edged blades and has a slot for scissor sharpening as well.

Performance Comparison

Sharpening Ability

The Longzon 4-in-1 managed to score above average in the sharpening ability metric, which is impressive for a product of this style and in this price range. It has three sharpening tiers, and the materials consist of tungsten steel, emery, and high-hardness ceramic material, depending on the desired abrasiveness. To give you some visuals, if you're struggling to slice through an onion, you can pull out the Longzon and make a few passes, and you will immediately notice a difference in how easy it is to cut the onion. Sure, it may not be the top choice for a professional chef, but if you can't find the time to get your knives professionally sharpened and just need something to help you get through a few tomato slices, then this is a good tool to have in your back pocket.

When measuring the grams of force needed to cut a standard material, our best-recorded result brought the chef's knife from 1260g to 372g. While not factory-level sharpness (which is about 220g), this is still an impressive jump. However, we found some variability in our results from different rounds of sharpening and even some irregularity along the length of the blade within a single round of sharpening. This inconsistency caused it to perform a bit worse in our paper-cutting test.

We strictly followed the manufacturer's instructions but felt that a few more pulls with the honing step might fix some of the blurring and inconsistencies we found. The angle guides on the Longzon are not adjustable, and at the end of the process, we found the edge of our knife to have a slightly asymmetrical bevel, showing 14.5° on one side and 13.5° on the other.

Ease of Use

If you're anything like us, you'll be more inclined to use a sharpener if it is easy to use the sharpener, and in this sense, the Longzon 4-in-1 excels. It is great for low-effort, low-stakes sharpening needs. The setup is exceptionally simple; just take it out of the drawer (because it fits in a drawer), and you're ready to go. Operation simply involves pulling the knife through each slot a handful of times and does not have any sort of adjustment period or learning curve to get through. Although, for best results, you may consider a few extra passes through the honing stage. Skill needed: 0. Time needed: almost zero. The whole process takes roughly a minute.

Not many manual pull sharpeners can produce an edge like the Longzon, especially considering how little effort it takes. However, we found the comprehensiveness of the process to be just about average. With three sharpening tiers available (coarse, fine, and polish), the Longzon has more grit options than some machines we tested, but it does not offer any angle adjustability, and the bevel is not as fine-tuned as we'd like.

Versatility

The Longzon 4-in-1 scored surprisingly well in this metric and landed just above average for the group. To judge the versatility of each knife, we took a look at angle adjustability, the range of knives accepted, whether it can handle single-sided blades, and whether it can sharpen scissors. For such a little sharpener, it punches above its weight with three sharpening tiers and a scissor sharpening slot. However, it can only handle straight, double-sided blades. So, if you were hoping to sharpen your bread or steak knives, you'd need to look elsewhere.

The lack of adjustability in the bevel angle may irk some hardcore knife nerds, but we think the average home cook won't mind too much. The feature that bumps up the Longzon's score in this metric is its ergonomics. The grab handle is well positioned, and it is overall a comfortable sharpener to use.

Storage

One of the biggest perks of having a manual pull-through knife sharpener is that it is so easy to keep handy and accessible right when you need it. No need to dig through the pantry to pull out a bulky machine. The Longzon 4-in-1 is the largest model of this style that we tested, but will still easily fit in a kitchen drawer. The bulk of the volume is in the handle, and we think the extra volume is worth it for the sturdier grip and better performance.

When considering storability, we also note how many spare parts you have to keep track of when the sharpener is not being used. The Longzon is a self-contained system with no extra parts and no cord to wrangle. It does not break down, but at this size, it doesn't need to.

Should You Buy the Longzon 4-in-1?

The Longzon 4-in-1 is a budget product, and you may not get the same results you would from a higher-end product. That said, it is not a bad little sharpener compared to others in its category, and sometimes a bare-bones sharpener is all you really need. It is the ultimate tool for the lazy chef who wants a moderately sharp knife but doesn't want to invest a ton of time, money, or effort into another appliance that they may only use occasionally. If you are tight on space, cash, or both, then the Longzon would be a good choice for you.

What Other Knife Sharpener Should You Consider?

If you need to stay within budget but you have the time and desire to master your whetstone technique, the Kerye Professional Japanese Whetstone Set is our pick. It provided some of the sharpest results in the group, is only marginally more expensive, and will still fit in your kitchen drawer. On the other side of the spectrum, the Work Sharp E2 is an electric pull-through model that tops the charts for ease of use and offers impressive sharpening ability but costs a bit more.