That is really odd as I never could get my knives sharp on stones or other sharpeners and the TriZor makes them literally razor sharp. When friends visit they bring their knives over for me to sharpen. I pick up dull knives from the thrift, sharpen them and give them as gifts to friends. I only use the right part to get the initial edge then the middle and right for periodic sharpening as needed. It also has 13K reviews of mostly 5 stars on Amazon.
I own the Chef's Choice Model 130. I've had it a while.
About 20 years ago I became kind of obsessed with kitchen knives. I read and researched everything I could about them.
What you're describing is how I sharpen my western knives on my Model 130. I use slot #3 almost exclusively, because that's all my knives need 98% of the time. On my 130, #3 is not taking any steel off! Those two wheels are simply honing the knife, which is to say, it is realigning the very edge of the blade. And by doing that, that simple act of realignment will turn a seemingly dull knife into a very sharp knife, provided the knife has been properly maintained.
And this is proven with the tomato test.
The knife sharpening thing is an extremely complex subject because it involves understanding the difference between Asian knives and Western knives, the differences in bevels, the differences in steel hardness, and how all that matters in regards to the sharpener or honing tool you're using.
My 130 is made for western knives, and as such, it sharpens at about a 22 degree bevel. I use it for my western knives. I don't use it for my Asian knives at all.
Instead I use this simple manual sharpener (or honing tool) for my Asian knives - recommended by Shun. It's made by Kai.
I don't use slot #1 though.
If I want to take steel off a western knife, I sometimes use this for convenience:
It also works nicely for honing, but again, I don't use it for my Asian knives.
The XV sharpens at 15 degrees, and the manufacturer makes it a point to make that fact abundantly clear on the face of the sharpener. That's a good thing.
Because if you take a typical western knife and try to hone it with the XV, it's not going to work very well because the blade area is too fat to fit into the slot wheel correctly. But if one uses slot #1 which grinds, one can eventually achieve sharpness, but it's at the expense of removing a lot of steel. And when one is done, it's no longer a 22 degree bevel.
The old school thinking was you don't want a 15 degree bevel on a western knife because it gets dull too quickly since the steel is soft.
But that idea has changed over the years/decades, and now it seems some manufacturers are making soft-steel western knives with 15 degree bevels! Why?
It seems the reason is, it's a sharper knife! Which is kind of obvious. But to keep it sharp, you have to hone it constantly - at least daily.
So I bought my wife a western style (i.e. soft steel) santoku a couple years ago which was actually an Asian (Chinese) knife, but it was relatively cheap. It was cheap because it wasn't made from Japanese steel. It is a softer steel, which made it cheaper. She wanted a cheap one that she could abuse.
And so, so far so good! Just hone it often. That's all you have to do. I examined it yesterday and she has no chips in it! That's because the steel is so soft. And yet it's still very sharp.
So apparently, over the years, knives have evolved to include 15 degree bevels on soft-steel western knives! And it seems to be a good thing!
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