Zip Zap - A gift from the cooking gods

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Alas, no longer available unless the manufacturer has a secret location. This magnificent, artfully small, simple knife sharpener measures 5 ½” overall. The sharpening stick is ceramic with a handle of some unremarkable light-weight wood. I got my first Zip Zap many decades ago. After years of yeoman duty, it fell on the kitchen tile floor and gave up the ghost. Recently, my 93 year-old mother, who no longer cooks, offered me hers, and I was absolutely gleeful. Even today, it wouldn’t cost much if available. Around the web, you can see pictures of it; see it listed for $6.95; and hear the same thing again and again - “what happened, it seems to be unfindable.”

I cook, have good knives, and try to maintain them with various sharpeners, steels, and whet stones. I always reach for this device first. The name is spelled several different ways: Zip Zap, or ZipZap, or Zip-Zap. Let me know if you can find one.