Outdoorsmen and those who prize rust-able high carbon knives have long used various oils and polishes on their knives. It is an attention to detail most of us no longer worry about with our stainless varieties, but those with ‘the knowledge’ still do so. I consider them craftsmen who go the extra bit for perfection.
My main kitchen knives are Marks Extractors from the 1980’s when Mundial first tried to break into the higher end market. They were made in Brasil and need recurring TLC but keep their edges as well as ‘the’ Swiss and German brands.
The original Extractor range was relatively short lived, morphed into the Mundial range where they moved production from Brasil and there were QA problems for some years, and then they recovered. I believe the Marks by Mundial range is the modern evolution as they once again eye the higher end.
As for a sharpener, purists did and will cringe at the thought, but I have used a Chef’s Choice 300 (electric!) for decades. When released this sharpener was tested to be as good as most of us ever learnt to manually sharpen, although not to expert level. This seems to be the most equivalent current model for the curious. Mine dates from the early 1990’s, is 110V from the USA, and I still have my US origin KitchenAid mixer, KitchenAid blender, and the sharpener soldiering on with a voltage converter. Considering the prices to replace these irregularly used items the cost to replace them makes no sense unless they die.
