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Phil McMahon hates a dull knife.
An inventor and entrepreneur, McMahon has devoted a lifetime to creating the better knife and the better knife sharpener, with more than 15 utility and design patents to his name and more than $150 million in retail sales in the past decade. His latest invention, Angle Pro 2, may well be the perfect knife sharpener.
The Angle Pro 2 builds on the Melbourne man's original Angle Pro, which made its debut a couple of years ago and was aimed at the professional chef and the experienced home cook.
“I sold 10,000 of the original Angle Pro in the first year,” said McMahon.
Tired of dull knives?:Melbourne-based company develops sharpener for pros and home cooks
Angle Pro addressed the problem most knife sharpeners ignore: blade angle, which can range from 13 to 21 degrees. Because most knife sharpeners are fixed angle, knives that are not the same angle can never be properly sharpened with them.
“Most home cooks have no way of knowing what angle their blades are,” said McMahon.
Enter Angle Pro, which allowed precise sharpening for any blade angle. To develop the sharpener, McMahon consulted with hundreds of professionals in the food service industry. With Angle Pro 2, he reached out to the home cooks to get their thoughts on what they wanted in a sharpener.
The Angle Pro 2, perfect for the casual cook, builds on the features of the original, but at a significantly lower price.
“Angle Pro 2 is much easier to use and much less expensive,” said McMahon.
At $20, Angle Pro 2 packs a design punch, with spring-loaded diamond pads and tungsten rods that automatically adjust to individual blade angles, assuring that every inch of the blade is sharpened properly.
Two devices in one, Angle Pro 2 allows cooks to sharpen knives by removing any loose metal burrs and straightening the blade edge. The tungsten rods shave off a thin layer of metal to reveal a brand-new blade edge.
The company McMahon started, Rhineland Cutlery, has for decades been known by chefs and cooks worldwide for its quality, German steel-forged knives. McMahon is so committed to the success of the sharpeners that last year he sold Rhineland Cutlery to concentrate on Angle Pro.
“Angle Pro is the best knife sharpener, no matter how you slice it,” he said.
For more information, see angleprosharpener.com.
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