Last updated 12.04.25 — Another five years gone by and it’s time, yet again, to refresh the KKG list of professional knife sharpening services. I’m still a very very very very picky person, so rest assured, I’m not taking my mission lightly.
Again, the seascape has changed, and I’ve needed to trawl the web for new, high-quality options. And, although there’s a bevy of fish in the internet ocean, I continue to discover that catching (and keeping) a quality professional knife sharpener is not easy. So, at the moment, I have only three top-tier services I can heartily recommend—two old and one new.
Top Knife Sharpening Services
Life is short and I have little interest in dissing sharpening services. It’s a tough enough grind as it is (pun intended!). So please know this—all three of these finalists have been tested by yours truly and are good to go. I’ve done the heavy screening and any sharpening services deemed unworthy have been banished from these pages. Who’s left are the cream of the crop (starting with my two originals):
Bozeman Knife Sharpening (bozemanknifesharpening.com)
Where: Bozeman, MT / Contact: Bob Tate
KySharp (kysharp.com)
Where: Berry, KY / Contact: Phil Fox
Sharp Stuff (http://sharpstuff.co)
Where: Spokane, WA / Contact: Steve Schmauch
What They All Have in Common
Although I still have some quibbles, and some of these sharpeners do certain things better than others, all of these top-drawer pros understand how to achieve true sharpitude. And they can do it without hurting your loved ones, er, your knives. On top of this, they are great communicators, responsive, and genuinely nice guys. They love what they do and they love making the kitchen a sharper and better place.
These knife sharpening services are all:
1) Deeply experienced. All have sharpened, literally, thousands of blades and many have been doing it for decades.
2) One-man bands—they, personally, do the sharpening themselves. They have no assistants, no trainees, no life-long buds who sub in on the grinding belts if they get buried. Nope. Nobody touches your knives but the owner/operator. (Could I be any clearer?)
3) Well-established bricks-and-mortar businesses, as well as mail-order outfits. And they have clear instructions and procedures (well, some clearer than others—oops, I’m already quibbling) as to how to send them your beauties.
Finally, and maybe most important of all, I have personally auditioned each one. Yes, pinky promise (as my teenage daughter used to say). I am not simply parroting what I’ve heard or read about or garnered from multiple websites, but sharing my own personal experience as a fellow consumer. And, this time around, believe me, it was a ton of work.
Be Careful
These three pro knife sharpening services only represent a fraction of the pro sharpeners I researched and considered. Nonetheless, I’m pretty sure there are more decent knife sharpening services out there. So just because a knife sharpener you know and love doesn’t appear in these pages, doesn’t mean they’re not high-quality. On the other hand, please please be careful who you give your knives to. (Read Finding a Professional Knife Sharpening Service for more advice.)
I’ll begin with the two knife sharpening services from my original review and then proceed to the one most recently sampled.
Very Important Note: I do not receive a penny from any of these knife sharpening services for referring customers. It’s a freebie. I also pay full-price—the same as everybody else. If for some reason this changes, I’ll be the first to let you know!
I first found out about Bozeman Knife Sharpening (formerly Seattle Knife Sharpening) by accident from a YouTube video. Early on in my knife-sharpening education, I stumbled onto a clip of a very satisfied Bozeman Knife customer showing off his newly sharpened set of Global knives. He sliced off slivers from a sheet of paper with ease and raved about the sharpitude. I was entranced.
I went to the Bozeman website and liked what I saw (literally as well as figuratively—it’s a nicely designed site). The business seemed to be a small operation by one guy, Bob Tate, which I found attractive. Personalized service.
Tate had learned his craft from Bob Kramer, one of the most well-known and highly-respected bladesmiths in the U.S.A. And—judging from what he wrote on his site—Tate seemed open and friendly. I wrote him an email or two with questions about his craft, how he ground his edges, and he answered back quickly.
Sharpening Technique
His method is slightly unorthodox, but wickedly sharp. Bob explained that he tailors the primary bevel for each knife. Starting at the edge, he grinds as steep an angle as he thinks the steel can take, and then blends it up into the rest of the blade, up towards the spine. It sounds thorough, and it is.
As he mentions on his site, it’s a 6- to 7-step process using belt sanders and polishing wheels along with sharpening compounds. On a German-style knife this often means thinning down the blade a bit and creating an edge angle much sharper than usual. Fine with me!
Shipping/Turnaround
I boxed up a bunch of my knives as per Bob’s instructions and sent them off to Washington state (long before he moved to Montana). Almost two weeks later I got them back (those days I lived on the other side of the country, near NYC). I was a little disappointed at the turnaround time—but the knives, the knives! They looked sharp.
Windup
I grabbed a newly sharpened chef knife and immediately tried what I’d seen the guy in the YouTube video do. Oh, yeah. Right through paper, not only without resistance, but not leaving any roughness either. The cut edges of the paper were perfectly smooth—like I’d used a pair of German scissors. I zipped through a tomato—the first time in years without a serrated knife in my hand. This was as true for the Henckels knives I’d sent him as my Japanese-made Global.
As if this were not enough, Bob was also big on follow-through. He recommended the best type of hone to use to keep my knives sharp as long as possible (see My Favorite Honing Steels), and even gave me honing instructions over the phone. What a guy! I was off to a great start with my first professional knife sharpening service.
Rates
Bozeman charges $2.00 per inch (of the blade), plus a $5 handling charge for each order (not each knife). Bent tips are fixed for free; broken tips are $10. For any other types of repair you should email or call.
BOZEMAN UPDATES
• In 2020 I shipped out another box of knives for sharpening and when I got them back it felt like Christmas in July. Spot-checking sharpitude (and this batch was much larger than my original) proved that Tate had not lost his touch.
• In spring of 2024, a good friend of mine who loves to cook, but had terribly dull knives, finally heeded my advice and sent his blades off to Tate. Stunned by the sharpitude, he’s now a devotee.
• If you’re hungry for more, be sure to read my two-part interview with Bob.
KySharp (as in “Kentucky” Sharp) first caught my eye, not only because it had a clean and inviting home page design. But also, on that very first page, said just the kinds of things I wanted to hear. Things like, “this [sharpening] process removes only a minimal amount of metal and gives a very strong, long-lasting edge.” Minimal metal, long-lasting edge. Bingo!
As I dug in deeper, the story only got better. The owner/operator, Phil Fox, has had a love for quality knives since he was kid, holds degrees in physics and engineering, specializes in sharpening only kitchen knives, considers himself a craftsman (not a “sharpener”), and has worked for years to discover a sharpening system that can consistently produce razor sharp edges. Double bingo!
Sharpening Technique
I emailed Phil some questions about his sharpening technique and the difference between his three sharpening rates. He explained a two-stage process, simpler than Bob Tate, but clearly high-quality. He said he didn’t differentiate between German and Japanese knives and standardly aimed for 15 degrees on every blade.
Shipping/Turnaround
While I packed up the knives—super-easy because of Phil’s incredibly clear and well-thought-out website—I mused about why a man with degrees in physics, engineering, and math (yes, I forgot to mention) would opt out of the traditional job market and hole up (with his wife and two kids) in the wilds of Kentucky sharpening knives. People never cease to intrigue. . . .
Five days later, including a weekend, I got the knives back from KySharp! Whoa. The Blue Grass State felt as close as Jersey. And—which was just as sweet—I hardly recognized the knives. All dings and bends had disappeared including a broken tip I couldn’t tell ever existed. The edges looked smooth, consistent, and polished. (Below: Unpacking my booty from KySharp.)
Windup
I immediately carved a half moon out of a folded-over page of magazine paper (a test I picked up from a Bob Kramer video) and the blade cut effortlessly, leaving a smooth edge, no raggedness. That’s the way they do it in Kentucky. “Yay, I’ve found a new professional knife sharpener!,” I silently cheered.
Rates
For his top-of-the-line Signature Service ($12), Phil sharpens at 15 degrees, adds a mirror polish bevel, and fixes anything that needs to be repaired (broken tip, chip removal, bolster reduction, etc.). His Deluxe Sharpening ($10) is the same as Signature, but doesn’t include any repair. And Serrated Sharpening ($8) is exactly as the name implies, for serrated blades only. (Which is great, because some services won’t touch serrated.)
And now for the new sharpening service. . .
Over four years back, Steve Schmauch of Sharp Stuff, left a charmingly self-promotive entry about his sharpening service in the comments section on this very web page. His creds seemed promising. But I wasn’t betting the farm—because his pricing was such a bargain, it made me wary.
Nevertheless, I made a note. And when it came time to update my reviews of professional sharpeners, I actually remembered, and scrounged up his contact info. Good for me, and you—for the dude’s got sharpening chops and is now KKG-approved.
Steve claims he’s sharpened over 100k knives which boggles even my kitchen-knife-addled mind. Yet, believe it or not, I’ve often found quantity does not necessarily guarantee quality. Fortunately for us, in Mr. Schmauch’s case, it does, and he has proved himself a top-notch sharpener. Plus, having so much experience under his belt gives him the chops to deal with problematic issues.
Sharp Stuff is located in Spokane, WA—due west and across state from Bob Tate’s old stomping grounds (when he lived/worked in Seattle). And, funny enough, Schmauch reports he has sharpened knives previously done by Tate. A tough act to follow, but, apparently—no problem for Schmauch.
Sharpening Technique
Because Steve has seemed a bit protective about the fine points of his knife-sharpening craft, I haven’t bugged him much about specifics. Nonetheless, he explains the generalities of his process on his website—three steps, low-speed, etc.—all the most important things you need to know.
He will sharpen at either 15 or 20 degrees depending on his sense of the knife and its use. But you’re welcome to specify 15 for most any knife you send him; and that’s what I did. Make sure to let him know in an email and/or in your knife package. (Below: Wusthof Classic knives after sharpening by Sharp Stuff and Henckels Four Star knives by KnifeFlight.)
Shipping/Turnaround
Steve turns his jobs around faster than greased lightening. The first batch of knives I sent him had a total round-trip—from when I dropped them off at the post office, to the day they arrived, sharp, on my doormat—of a mere five days. And the second batch fared only a day longer. Granted, I’m in the middle of the country and he’s in the Northwest. So if you’re down in Florida, you’ll probably need to add a day or two to your expectations. But he prides himself on getting orders sharpened in a day.
Windup
Schmauch’s freshly-sharpened blades were meticulous—perfectly even bevels, along with a smoothly ground-down bolster or two. And they performed just as snappily as they looked. They whisked through my two-tiered gauntlet of tests (newspaper and tomatoes) with hardly a hitch. (Go to Sharpness Test Results to find out how each professional sharpener scored.)
Rates
Like KySharp, Steve charges a one-size-fits-all flat rate: all plain knives are $7, all serrated knives are $8—regardless of length or size. Which is a bargain—until you add on a $15 handling fee (for mail orders only). This bumps Sharp Stuff up to the second-most expensive option of these four sharpeners. Is he worth it? It all depends. . . (see Money, Money, Money below).
For any repairs, Steve charges $4 extra per knife—which includes fixing a bent tip along with a variety of other issues (chips, swales, etc.). Two of the pro sharpeners covered in this review fix bent tips for free, and one charges only an extra $2. So, if you have a number of knives with bent tips only and need to scrimp, you might take this into consideration.
(Above: KKG tomato testing a Zwilling Professional S chef knife.)
Sharpness Test Results
My sharpness testing consists of two parts—magazine paper and tomatoes. The magazine paper test is an excellent starting point while the tomato test, which is much more demanding, can reveal more specifics. (For more about my methodology, click down to Sharpness Testing Method in the postlude of this article.)
Like the two professional knife sharpeners from my original review, the new sharpeners’ knives (Sharp Stuff) passed the magazine paper test with flying colors. Thus, the tomato test results are what help the most in analyzing and evaluating the sharpitude of all of the sharpening services and coming to conclusions.
A tomato test rating of:
excellent = little resistance, minimum pressure, no weak spots
good = additional pressure needed or had weak spots
OK = significant pressure demanded and/or sawing back and forth
1st Place, Top of the Class
Bozeman Knife Sharpening stays at the top, the uncontested King of Sharp. Over twelve years (since 2012) and two review updates, Bob Tate’s expertise still shines through.
Granted, I haven’t, personally, sampled Tate’s sharpening for seven years, and who knows, he might have gotten worse (yeah, right). But no one, so far, can match his razor-sharp edges and rock-solid consistency.
Bozeman Knife Sharpening
($2.00 per inch, standard rate—plus $5 handling per package)
– Calphalon santoku, 7-inch: excellent plus
– Global santoku, 7-inch: excellent to good, no weak spots, minimal pressure
– Henckels Pro S chef, 8-inch: excellent plus
– Wusthof Classic Ikon chef, 9-inch: excellent plus
(Note: Unlike all the other knives tested below, the first three knives for Bozeman were not freshly sharpened. They’d been used in our kitchen, but honed regularly.)
2nd Place, but No Slouches
Both KySharp and Sharp Stuff come in close behind Bozeman in a virtual tie. Two out of three of KySharp’s blades were uniformly excellent while Sharp Stuff’s varied between excellent and good. On the other hand, Sharp Stuff produced a boning knife that reached excellent plus while KySharp had a slicer that was only good. So they’re both, on average, in the same sharpness territory.
Like Bozeman, it’s been a while since I’ve shipped knives to KySharp—eight years gone by (since 2016). My hunch, knowing Phil has an engineering background and a passion for perfection, is that he’s only gotten better. But it’s just an educated hunch. . .
KySharp
($10 per knife at the “Signature” rate)
– Wusthof Gran Prix chef, 6-inch: excellent
– Henckels Four Star chef, 8-inch: excellent
– Henckels Four Star slicer, 8-inch: good, better mid-blade than tip
Sharp Stuff
($7 per knife—plus $15 handling per package)
– Wusthof Classic slicer, 9-inch: excellent to good; heel a little weak, tip especially nice
– Wusthof Classic chef, 8-inch (super-thick blade): excellent to good; heel weak, tip excellent
– Wusthof Classic utility, 6.5-inch: good to excellent; heel weak
– Wusthof Classic boning, 6-inch: excellent, maybe excellent plus; strong along entire edge, including problematic curved heel
Sharpness Summary
From these tests on these knives, it would appear First- and Second-Place sharpening services are not that noticeably different in sharpitude. If you are finicky and truly appreciate super-sharp edges, stick to First-Place (Bozeman). Otherwise, feel free to go with any one of these sharpeners, or let other considerations guide your choice (i.e. price, turnaround time, etc.).
Please remember that all the knife sharpening services considered in this article stand head-and-shoulders above the majority of other pro sharpening services. And all produce knives sharper than those in probably 90 percent of home kitchens in the U.S. of A.
Japanese Blades
Almost all the kitchen knives I’ve sent out to be sharpened have been Western-style knives made with German steel—not Japanese. There’s a distinct difference between German and Japanese steel that can impact sharpening and sharpitude.
German steel is softer, yet tougher, while Japanese is harder, yet more brittle. Japanese knives can usually be sharpened to a finer, sharper edge and hold it longer. But, those very same edges, can also be more delicate, more susceptible to damage. (For more on this, please see my article Best Chef Knives — Six Recommendations.)
All of the professional sharpeners in this review sharpen Japanese factory-made knives on a regular basis (Shun, Global, MAC, etc.). But only Bozeman has sharpened Japanese knives for me, personally (with terrific results).
This said, I would be comfortable sending my Japanese knives (factory-made) to any of these sharpening services.
Money, Money, Money
OK, lets do a price comparison: What would it cost to send each of these sharpening services four knives, or eight knives, two of the knives with bent tips?
Remember: Only one service, Bozeman, prices by the inch. The other two services price by the knife, regardless of size.
For shipping costs, I’ll use the current price of a USPS medium flat-rate box ($38 round-trip) which is one of the most inexpensive and easy-to-do options. Also, $100 of insurance is automatically included in both USPS and FedEx flat-rate boxes.
In the chart below, I’ve listed the sharpening services from least to most expensive. Although notice that KySharp and Sharp Stuff, in the eight knives column, should, technically, swap places.
Hypothetical Knife Packages
Four knives: 8-inch chef, 8-inch slicer, 7-inch santoku, 4-inch paring = 27 inches (w/two bent tips).
Eight knives: (2) 8-inch chefs, (2) 8-inch slicers, (2) 7-inch santokus, (2) 4-inch parings = 54 inches (w/two bent tips)
Cost Comparison Chart—Including Shipping/Insurance*
| Sharpening Service | Four Knives | Eight Knives | |
|---|---|---|---|
| KySharp (2x$12-Signature, 2x$10-Deluxe / 2x$12-Signature, 6x$10-Deluxe; plus $38) | $82.00 | $122.00 | |
| Sharp Stuff (4x$7 + $8 tips / 8x$7 + $8 tips; plus $15 hdlng fee, plus $38) | $89.00 | $117.00 | |
| Bozeman Knife Shrpng (27x$2, tips free / 54x$2, tips free; plus $5 hdlng fee, plus $38) | $97.00 | $151.00 | |
| *For shipping cost, using current price of a USPS medium flat-rate box—$38 round-trip. | |||
Cost Conclusions
When you scan the chart above, you’ll notice:
1) There’s only a minor price difference ($5-7) between the two second-place sharpening services—KySharp and Sharp Stuff. They are as closely-matched in pricing as they are in sharpening quality.
2) There’s a substantial difference between what you’ll pay the most economical sharpener (KySharp) versus the most expensive (Bozeman). The price gap between them runs anywhere from $15-29.
Which begs the 64-dollar question: Is Bozeman worth the extra moola?
My answer is. . .yes, and no. It depends on: 1) your level of cooking experience and, 2) how you treat your kitchen knives.
If you plan to use Bozeman, you really should be sure you’re going to fully appreciate his sharpitude—and make it last (i.e. protect your knife edges). Otherwise, paying a premium will be a waste of good money. And you shouldn’t use his high-performance edges to cut through anything you darn please—like slamming into frozen cookie dough (don’t laugh, one of Bob’s customers did and complained about a chipped edge).
For me, in most cases, Bozeman is absolutely worth it. But for other home cooks, this may not be the case. In the end: Know thyself and thy cheffing style.
Knife Repair Summary
If you’ve got a knife you know needs some minor repair work, here’s a quick recap of the three sharpening services’ repair policies:
– Bozeman Knife Sharpening will straighten a bent tip for free; but fixing a broken one is $10. Small chips and other smaller issues, he’ll probably do for free as well. But a “big chip” repair will cost $10.
– KySharp does not charge for repairs a la carte, but folds them into his Signature Sharpening Service which is only $2 more than Deluxe. So you pay only $2 for everything from a removing a chip or smoothing out a swale, to fixing a broken tip. Best deal ever if you’ve got some seriously beat-up knives!
(Above: Wusthof Grand Prix chef knife with ding in the cutting edge and a bent tip. Below: Same knife after being sharpened and repaired by KySharp.)
– Sharp Stuff doesn’t do any repairs for free. Even a bent tip will cost $4. On the other hand, that same $4 will cover a whole range of issues—from a chip, to a swale, to grinding down a bolster.
Important note: With all of these professional sharpeners—if you have any repair issues you are not clear about, make sure and ask ahead of time. That way you’ll avoid any misunderstandings.
Shipping Your Knives
In case you haven’t already figured it out, shipping costs are a pain-in-the-neck. And depending on how many knives you ship, they can match the cost of the sharpening itself. So, it’s worth taking a moment to come up with a plan.
One major fact to remember: Shipping, in accountant-speak, is what you call a fixed cost—you’ll pay the same price to ship ten knives as you will for one. Thus, if you want to get the best value per knife, always try to send at least three or four. Better yet—seven or eight! (Below: FedEx and USPS flat-rate, padded envelopes.)
Shipping Options
(Note: Saturday is considered a business day for all carriers.)
USPS
(Box/envelope included in rate)
• USPS padded flat-rate envelope (12.5 x 9.5): $10.85
• USPS medium flat-rate box (13.5 x 12 x 3.5): $19.15
—
Priority turnaround: 2-3 days. Ship Friday afternoon, arrives Monday or Tuesday.
$100 insurance included
Priority Mail Flat Rate Products
FedEx
(Box/envelope included in rate)
One Rate (flat rate in U.S.)
• FedEx bubble pack envelope (reuseable): $12.60
• FedEx small box (12.5 x 11 x 1.5): $15.10
• FedEx medium box (13.5 x 11.5 x 2.5): $19.00
—
2-day, 3-day the same price. Ship Friday afternoon, arrives Tuesday (end of day).
$100 insurance included
FedEx One Rate Shipping
UPS Ground
(Supposedly, UPS supplies free boxes. But I did not find that to be the case in the stores I visited. Perhaps you need to create an account and order them online.)
• Large padded envelope: $16.45 (est. shipping only—no flat rate)
• Small box (same as padded envelope): $16.45 (est. shipping only—no flat rate)
—
UPS Store large envelopes: $3.00
UPS Store small box (12.25 x 9.5 x ??): $3.50
—
4 days turnarround. Ship Friday afternoon, arrives Wednesday (end of day)
$100 insurance included
UPS Domestic Shipping
(Below: FedEx [small, medium] and USPS [medium] flat-rate boxes along with newpaper-sheathed chef knife.)
Shipping Recommendations
Currently, the two best shippers seem to be USPS and FedEx. Both offer flat rate boxes which can, not only save you postage, but eliminate the need to buy a box (around $3.50).
I love flat-rate shipping because it relieves you of the stress of wondering what kind of bill you’re going to rack up. You’re guaranteed up front. Once you choose the carrier and box size, you know no matter how many knives you stuff into it and wherever you decide to ship it to (Montana, Kentucky, etc.), it’s going to cost exactly the same.
USPS’s largest Medium Flat Rate box (see above), the size I recommend, will fit a whole lot of knives. I’ve personally packed as many as twelve, over half of them 6- to 9-inch chef knives. And the cost? Only $19.15. That’s lit (as my daughter’s gang would say)! I shipped a box all the way across the country from Westchester, NY to Seattle, WA for only $19.15.
FedEx’s medium box (see above) is not quite as big, but about the same price. Buuut, if you don’t need that much space, you can use FedEx’s small box instead and save $4 each way. It will easily fit four to five 8-inch chef knives along with a couple of paring knives. Using the small FedEx box will slash your total, round-trip, shipping costs to only $30, beating out USPS by $8.
You can pick up flat rate boxes (and envelopes) at any post office or FedEx store for FREE. Can you beat that?
Packing Your Knives
The simplest and cheapest way to pack up your kitchen knives is to wrap them in newspaper. Wrap each knife separately and secure with tape. (Don’t put anything special on the point.) There are styles and techniques of wrapping, but any kind of wrap that thoroughly protects the edge and point from doing any damage will work.
Here are two video links that show contrasting techniques—one on Bozeman’s site and another on Sharp Stuff’s. Steve at Sharp Stuff recommends wrapping your knives in an old towel. Personally, I prefer newspaper (Bob Tate’s method) because it’s more compact, more flexible, and will tend to weigh less.
Final Wrap-up
To some, it may seem like a suitcase of money, a luxury, to send their kitchen knives out to a professional for sharpening. But it really isn’t. Not when you understand that:
• Your knives are the most valuable tools in your kitchen—yes, even more than your pans. Because if you try creating a meal without a knife, you’ll be ripping apart fruits and vegetables with your fingers!
• A quality professional knife sharpening job can last an amazing amount of time. It all depends on how well you treat your beauties when you get them home. Depending on use, your newly-sharpened blades could stay sharp for three years or longer. . .
There are just three things you must do to make your kitchen knives’ sharp edges last:
1) Not slice or chop on anything other than the right kind of wooden or plastic cutting board.
2) Not use your knives to power through frozen food, bones, or anything else they were not designed to do.
3) Hone them regularly with a ceramic hone.
If you take, say, Bozeman Sharpening’s price (the most expensive) for eight knives ($150) and divide it by three years—you pay $50 a year. For keeping your kitchen knives super-sharp 24/7. Doesn’t that seem worth it?
• • •
P.S. If you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to enter them in the comments section at the very bottom of this page!
POSTLUDE . . .
Japanese Knife Sharpening Services
Every knife sharpened (with one exception) in my knife-sharpening odyssey was a Western/German, factory-made blade. But there’s a whole world of Japanese-made traditional knives out there that need sharpening as well. Most of these are forged knives produced by bespoke Japanese bladesmiths (which Global is not). And they should only be sharpened by a specialized service—usually using water stones (often a combo of motorized and manual). I do not currently own any of these thoroughbred Japanese knives, so this particular market is outside my personal experience.
But if you own a traditional, or bespoke, Japanese blade, here is a list of Japanese knife sharpening services with excellent credentials and huge reputations. They are not cheap—but you are probably getting a half hour or so of a master sharpener’s expert care. If you value your Japanese knife and wish to use it for years and years, do not skimp!
Korin [korin.com]: Written and talked about everywhere, they are the name brand in Japanese sharpening—located in good old NYC. Recommended by the The Wall Street Journal and, apparently, everybody in the known world.
Carter Cutlery [cartercutlery.com]: Created by the legendary bladesmith, Murray Carter, the twist being he’s an anglo who studied in Japan 18 years. He mastered age-old Japanese knife making and sharpening techniques and became a 17th generation Yoshimoto Bladesmith. Fascinating story. Still sharpens everything himself.
Bernal Cutlery [bernalcutlery.com]: A foodie fixture in San Francisco—their sharpening page has “super-high-quality” stamped all over. My email chats with them have seemed to confirm this.
(Important update: I ended up sending Bernal a batch of six paring knives with a lone boning knife. Sorry to say, the results were inconsistent and underwhelming—from good to excellent to ok.)
Canada Knife Sharpening
After the U.S.A., my Canadian visitors number the most. So here’s a couple of knife sharpening services I can recommend North of the Border:
New Edge Sharpening [halifaxknifesharpening.com]: I met the owner, Peter Nolan, online a few years back and have been quite taken with his dedication to the craft of sharpening. He sharpens by hand, only using Japanese waterstones, so he should be on my “Japanese Knife Sharpening Services” list above as well. He’s a humble student of the age-old craft. Located in Nova Scotia.
Tosho Knife Arts [toshoknifearts.com]: Both partners have solid credentials and much promise and specialize in handmade Japanese knives. Located in Toronto.
Sharpness Testing Method
This is where the knife nuts will all gravitate and everyone else just glaze over. . .
In the early days, when a batch of blades came in from a professional sharpener, I’d grab some magazine paper and sliver off corners with the newly-sharpened edges. Cool. Nine out of ten knives would perform excellently and whizz right through. I could tell all the knives were in the proper sharpness universe and certainly sharper than knives in at least 95 percent of all U.S. home kitchens. But I still felt I was skimping on analysis. I wanted a more accurate, and more consistent, basis of comparison.
After some trial and error, I’ve come up with a two-part system. . .
part one: Magazine Paper Test
First, with each knife, I try to carve half moons through loosely folded-over magazine paper (as already mentioned—something I culled from Bob Kramer). The object is for the knife to enter and exit the paper without resistance and remove a complete half moon (really, more like an orange slice shape). Ideally, the edges of paper the knife cuts through should be smooth without any toothiness, thus, confirming a extra level of sharpitude.
In short order I’ve discovered the magazine paper test is not demanding enough. Although once in a while I might find a knife that has a problem with exiting the paper, in general, most knives that come back can carve full, and pretty smooth, half moons. Darn. (Below: sharpness test with magazine paper.)
part two: Tomato Test
Second, I’ve added the classic and most knife-problematic vegetable to the mix—the tomato. (Yes, I know, it’s really a fruit.) I’ve quickly discovered tomatoes are much much better at revealing how sharp a blade is. Unquestionably more exacting than paper. Good, but I’ve needed to codify my procedure—because I wasn’t being nearly consistent and detailed enough in my recording of tomato data. (Wow, do I sound like a knife nerd or what?)
Number One, my tomatoes weren’t all the same exact type or in the same ripeness. Big diff, folks. And Number Two, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to exactly what kind of resistance, or lack or resistance, the knife edges were giving me all along the entire edge. Plus, I wasn’t applying the exact same types of cuts or being diligent enough about exerting the same amount of pressure. Ha!
But learning from these initial attempts, I’ve finally come up with a finalized series of parameters for testing knife sharpitude with a tomato.
Tomato Test Parameters
#1) The tomato: The best tomato—because it’s the most challenging—has proven to be a common, ripe, hothouse tomato. The kind most grocery stores sell all year round and come quaintly displayed in vined bunches. No plum tomatoes, too firm. No other kind of tomato in general, too firm. And no tomatoes that haven’t softened into ripetude.
#2) The cut: Every cut needs to be a push cut. First, because it’s a cut that demands the most from the cutting edge, and second because it’s fairly easy to track and control.
#3) Edge consistency: Multiple push cuts are needed to determine whether the sharpitude is consistent along the entire edge. To suss out weak spots. So I perform a minimum of three push cuts, each starts from a different area of the blade—tip, belly, heel. (Have you nodded off yet?)
#4) Pressure/weight: Ideally, a finely-sharpened knife should take very little downward pressure (or hand/arm force) to break through the skin of the tomato. And it should be one, uninterrupted push. Any need to saw back-and-forth is evidence of inferior sharpitude.
Unfortunately, because of the varying weights of the knives themselves (some widely), downward pressure is often the trickiest element to gauge. Larger, and older, knives that carry more heft always seem to slice more effortlessly. So be it . . . just something to be aware of.
SHARPNESS TESTING SYSTEMS Interestingly enough, in one of my queries to the pro sharpeners, I had asked one if he tested his edges to confirm their sharpness. And he’d said, early on in his practice, in an effort to precisely quantify how he was doing, he’d tried out the Edge On Sharpness Tester. But he had found the device so inconsistent that he quickly sold it and has since simply relied on his fingers, his eyes, and, in a pinch, shaving a few arm hairs—methods which seem to be the norm for most pros.
(Below: KKG’s journey through the Tomato Test for sharpness.)
Kitchen Knife Supply Pipeline
The whole knife gathering, mailing, receiving, and evaluating process has become more complicated than it was when KKG first started. The main problem being that, from my own kitchen knife collection, I can’t scrape up enough knives that badly need sharpening.
My solution? Offer free knife sharpening to my friends and borrow their kitchen knives!
The only mildly horrifying thing is discovering what sad condition many of my friend’s kitchen knives are in—nicked edges, bent tips, scratched up blades. Poor babies . . . but excellent trial-by-fire for new knife sharpening services.
Kitchen Knives List
Which knives I sent where. . .
Bozeman Knife Sharpening
Henckels Professional “S” chef, 8-inch
Henckels chef, 6-inch (natural wood handle)
Global G-48, 7-inch
Sabatier slicer, 8-inch
Calphalon santoku, 8-inch
Henckels Professional “S” paring, 4-inch
Henckels Four Star paring, 3.5-inch
KySharp
Wusthof Grand Prix chef, 6-inch
Henckels Four Star chef, 8-inch
Henckels Four Star slicer, 8-inch
Sharp Stuff
Wusthof Classic slicer, 9-inch
Wusthof Classic chef, 8-inch
Wusthof Classic utility, 6.5-inch
Wusthof Classic boning, 6-inch
Wusthof Classic utility, 5-inch
Wusthof Classic paring, 4-inch
69 Responses
Thank you for the great reviews!
I was wondering if you’ve received any feedback on, or have an opinion about, Zwilling J.A. Henckels in-house knife sharpening service. I have a large collection of Four Star II knives—most of which are in new or like-new condition (they all still have the red/black stickers on the handles), but they aren’t particularly sharp. Their service is fairly affordable, compared to the services you’ve reviewed, which I’m not sure I can afford. That said, I’d hate to send in a bunch of “new” knives and have them botch the job since, like you, I am very, very, very picky.
I’m also curious how different can I expect the knives to appear after professional sharpening. Will my “new” knives still look factory new or should I expect them to look like they’ve been altered? Many thanks for you help. :-)
Hi John!
Sorry, but I have no feedback on Zwilling Henckels’ knife sharpening service. As a matter of fact, after doing a thorough Google search, I couldn’t even find it. But no matter. . .
My experience in life dictates that, in general, you get what you pay for—and knife sharpening is no exception. Depending on the knife, Henckels’ service may be able to match their factory edges. And since you are talking about Four Star II knives, not any of Henckels’ Japanese-made blades, you may fare decently. But factory edges are often hit and miss and rarely the cat’s meow. Not a good match for a “very picky” home chef.
Of the knife sharpening services recommended in the article above, D&R is the closest to a factory edge and, thus, my least preferred. All the others—Seattle Knife, KySharp, RazoEdgeKnives, Art of Sharp—would clearly beat a factory edge.
My take? I would always opt for using fewer knives, but with sharper edges. Quality over quantity every time. So, if it were me, I would get three or four knives excellently sharpened and use them (and hone them) regularly, rather than have half a dozen or more blades with so-so edges. And, BTW, if you send your knives to Seattle Knife Sharpening I guarantee you will thank me for the rest of your life. I am not exaggerating.
As far as how different your knives will look, they will look different—especially with Seattle, since he goes further up the side of the knife in order to blend in his primary bevel. That’s the nature of getting a knife sharpened—whether you do it yourself or someone else does it. (Actually, D&R will probably look the least different since he tries to match the factory edge.) But once you start slicing and dicing and feeling such little resistance, you will totally forget about the way they look :)
Best, KKG
I just received my knives back from D & R Sharpening and could not be happier with them. The knives are sharper than they have ever been. The turnaround time was very quick – just over a week until I received them back in the mail. I haven’t used the other knife sharpening services mentioned here, but I would definitely give D & R a thumbs up.
Thanks, I have never had them sharpened at all, so I don’t think they are worn down, although they are 10 years old. I have the hone that came with the set. I have used it but never seemed to make a difference, I even watched a video on a TV cooking show once. UNTIL I watched yours, you showed a different technique. I tried your way, and even though they are 10 years old and never been sharpened, WOW is all I can say. It really made a difference. Thanks for that honing video! I am considering sending them out to the place you sent yours, but there is a place in Grand Rapids called Williams and Sonoma that does sharpening, but I wonder if they know what they are doing. Any comments on places like this?
Kit, I can’t speak for every Williams-Sonoma store. But my impression is that the kitchen goods stores do not use high-quality sharpening services. They seem to be more interested in selling customers knives than getting their knives properly sharpened.
If they were my knives, I would send them to one of the pro sharpening services I recommend. Seattle Knife Sharpening is the very best, but a bit pricey, especially when you figure postage. One of the new sharpening services I’ve added, Art of Sharp in Chicago, is nearer you, would do a fine job, and save you a little money.
Best, KKG
Hi, not a professional chef, just love to cook. I have a set of Wusthof Classic knives. I am frustrated that I can not seem to get them really sharp. Are they worth spending money on or should I replace them?
Hi Kit,
You’ve come to the right place! And your experience reflects my own frustrations. Learning how to sharpen a knife properly to a fine edge is a task that takes much patience and training. I’d rather leave it to a pro.
And now your question. . .
1) Wusthof Classic knives are definitely worth spending money on to get super-sharp. The quality of the steel in the blade will enable them to take a sharp edge and hold it—especially if you hone them regularly with a ceramic hone. This is not Japanese-knife sharp, but definitely sharp enough for most kitchens.
2) The only reason your knives would not be worth getting professionally sharpened would be if they had been worn down a lot (mainly from sharpening, or worse yet, improper sharpening), OR, had deep dents in their edges that would require taking a lot of metal off in order to sharpen properly. (I show an example of this in my article Finding a Professional Sharpening Service.) In this case, you might consider starting from scratch. But you could decide on this on a knife-by-knife basis.
3) All of the sharpening services on this page should send your knives back to you as sharp as or (more likely) sharper than they came from the factory. So got for it!
4) Read my article Kitchen Knife Sharpening Action Plan and Do What It Says to Do!
5) Since you love to cook, for the fun of it, you might want to try out a Japanese hybrid chef knife. Check out some of the terrific deals available in Quality Kitchen Knives on Sale.
Best of luck,
KKG
I have been sharpening knives for about 15 years and I use a Tormek machine because the wheel travels thru water and that keeps the blades cool and I can control the angle that I want. I do sharpen serrated knives, but I know that there must be a better method then I use. So. . .does anyone have a method that they use that works really well, other then using a file and doing each serration individually?
Hi Gene,
This web page is mainly for consumers looking for a quality professional sharpening service so that they can compare notes and share tips. But other sharpening services have already gotten into the act, so I suppose you’re welcome to give it a shot :)
—KKG
I tried a 14″ Freidrick Dick steel hone on a Kanetsune 240 mm VG10 laminated gyuoto, noticed a few chips, I didn’t hone very hard, quit using steel on VG10.
I find it easier to sharpen my own than the process of sending them out. I used to buy blades, put handles on them, and make sheaths. My glass business took off and I quit “making” knives. I still have a few friends that occasionally ask me to sharpen their knives, none of which are really hard steel, so I use the belt sander and buffing wheel on them. I try to evaluate the condition of the edges to determine what kind of angle to sharpen their knives. One friend uses his pocket knife to cut anything, sometimes I think including bricks. He gets a fairly obtuse angle.
You made me smile while imagining someone cutting bricks with a knife:) He’s lucky to have you as a friend! —KKG
I have several Japanese laminated blades with VG10 and SG2 cores. I have not had good results with a steel and VG10 and have quit using one on my VG10 and SG2 knives.
I have two Smith’s 11 1/2-inch diamond stones, a coarse and a fine. I haven’t needed the coarse on my knives, but previously could have used it if I had it. I follow up the fine stone with leather strops imbedded with 1 micron and 0.1 micron diamond dust. The length of these stones is useful for removing a belly or straightening a wave in an edge (by going mostly lengthwise across the stone with the blade), and then using a more traditional angle to finish the edge. Usually my touch-ups are done with the leather strops.
I sharpen to a thin angle, have an end-grain board, and am very careful not to abuse my edges. I sometimes sharpen my “normal steel” (440C, AUS8, 1095, etc.) knives on a belt sander (wetting the blade each pair of strokes) and finish with green chrome on a buffing wheel. Either technique, scary sharp.
Hi Chef Jeff,
Thanks for sharing the techniques you use to keep your knives “scary sharp!”
RE honing/steeling VG10 blades: Were you using a steel hone or a ceramic on your VG10s and SG2s? Because for over two years I’ve honed my Japanese Shun Classic (with a VG10 core) with a DMT ceramic hone and had wonderful results. It’s kept the blade reasonably sharp and not inflicted any damage. If you were using a ceramic hone, I’m guessing our different responses may be due to that fact that you demand a higher degree of sharpitude in your kitchen than I do :) Otherwise, you may want to give a ceramic hone a try sometime!
RE sharpening: As I freely confess on these pages, I’m a whimp when it comes to doing my own sharpening. As a stay-at-home Dad who cooks, runs a biz, and tries to keep his house properly maintained, using a honing steel is all I have time for. And, judging from reader’s comments, I think most visitors to this site are in the same boat. They would be doing well if they simply honed/steeled their kitchen knives on a regular basis :)
Best, KKG
Hey there,
As it’s been a few years since you wrote the original article, I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on the durability of the edges you got from each company. You gave some predictions in your article, just curious if reality has met your expectations and which blades have dulled the most after the first year, etc, etc.
I’m especially interested in whether D&R and Just Knives wore in the same way—they seemed to be roughly equal in initial sharpness. If they’ve proved to be equal in durability, I’d see no reason not to go with the cheaper option. I’d also like to know if Seattle stayed sharper longer as predicted, and whether you’ve had any instances of damaging your knives due to his thinner technique. I think that could be the last piece of the puzzle when it comes to selecting which company I want to use. Thanks!
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for your inquiry. Good question! Unfortunately, I cannot give you a definitive answer about the durability of D&R and Just Knives sharpened edges. I have not tracked them that closely, but, my general impression is that they are very similar to each other.
What I can tell you, without a doubt, is that there has continued to be no comparison between their edges and those of Seattle Knife Sharpening. Seattle’s edges were not only the sharpest, but have lasted and lasted—way beyond what knives from the other two outfits would ever be capable of.
The reasons are 1) geometry and 2) finish.
1) Geometry: Seattle does not use the typical primary bevel that most Western knives come from the factory with. Bob Tate creates one, continuous bevel from the spine to the edge. This gives his knives a thinner edge that stays sharp much longer. And, no, I have not run into any problems with his edges being too thin or too delicate. But I do NOT abuse my knives—I treat them with care.
2) Finish: Seattle goes through more steps in his sharpening process and brings his knife edges to a much finer, much more polished, final edge. Way beyond your average factory edge and way beyond most other professional sharpeners—other than traditional Japanese hand sharpening on waterstone.
So, if you are like me, and really appreciate quality and want your kitchen knives to stay sharp as long as possible, I would highly recommend using Seattle. They are unique!
Please make sure to check out The Power of Honing a Knife where I show what one of my chef knives can still do three years after being sharpened by Seattle Sharpening. It’s pretty impressive. (Of course, I’ve honed regularly with a ceramic steel.)
Best, KKG
Hi Knife Guru,
Thanks for this great article on reviewing online sharpeners. I have been sharpening for years, but recently had a friend help me build up a website. I sharpen pretty straightforwardly using the Edge Pro method mainly. I listed your article on my smart sharp blog. I think a lot of my friends/family/clients would be intrigued to see what’s out there.
I like all the comments that pile up on your article. You’ve got quite a complete list of the online sharpeners around that are quality. Thanks for this. Be well!
Eric
Hi Eric,
Thanks for checking in!
I must admit I had to chuckle when I read on your website how you strive to match the exact angle of the knife you’ve been given. I don’t want a sharpening service to match my factory edge, I want them to improve on it! (See my article Best Chef Knife — Don’t Overrate the Factory Edge where I spout off more about this.) But I hear you loud and clear about only taking off the minimal amount of metal necessary. That’s a must.
Best of luck with your business and new website! The Edge Pro system is probably the way I would go if I ever managed to carve out the time to sharpen my own kitchen knives :)
Best, KKG
All my knives are Cutco products. Are you familiar with the brand? Do you have any suggestions on sharpening these knives? Thank you.
Hi Sondra,
Yes, I’m familiar with Cutco knives. But I must admit they’re not my favorite brand. There are other brands I much prefer that are better value for the price and will hold their sharpitude longer. See my article Best Chef Knives. . . for more details.
Nonetheless, there is one neat thing about Cutco — any knife you buy from them they will sharpen for free forever! Here’s the link:
https://www.cutco.com/customer/sharpening.jsp.
Otherwise, if you send your Cutco knives to any of the sharpening services I’ve reviewed in the above article, they will do an excellent job!
Best, KKG
Hi, Nate:
Just wanted to add that I recently had a very good experience with Razor Edge Knives (razoredgeknives.com) located in Greenville, SC. So, they may be a good option for your readers located in the Southeast U.S. I sent them six of my good kitchen knives—Wusthof and Henckels—including two serrated edges. For a very reasonable price, they put a very sharp edge on them and polished the blades. Turnaround time, including shipping, was one week.
I am a home cook trying to learn and improve my skills, not a trained chef, and really appreciate your articles and videos. Based on your info, I recently purchased the ceramic steel you recommend which I had always lacked the confidence to try.
Keep up the good work!
P.S. I am not affiliated with REK in any way. Just found them via Google and decided to try based on other reviews and because they are located closer to me so shipping time would be less.
Thanks, Walter, for the feedback and the tip! I took a quick look at Razor Edge and they look pretty solid. If I ever get any free time again, I might try to review them :)
The only thing I might mention is that, on their German knives at least, it looked they were ending in a very short primary bevel which is not my favorite style of sharpening. (It’s the way kitchen knives come from most manufacturers though.) My favorite style is what Bob Tate of Seattle Knife Sharpening does and that is to blend the primary bevel entirely into the side of the blade so that it’s just one long, continual bevel. The reason I like this unorthodox style (and why Bob employs it) is that it makes for a very thin edge that lasts and lasts. (With proper honing, of course.)
—KKG
I think it’s a bit unfair to compare these services based on how subjectively sharp they returned your knives. That one was sharper than the others was likely due to a judgement call and not to skills or techniques. All these guys are capable of sharpening blades to the point where you are not going to be qualified to bicker about them, unless you’re a professional sushi chef (in which case, you’re doing your own knives every night).
Mr. Tate most likely thinned your edges to a more acute bevel angle than the other two. He chose performance over durability. The others would have done this had you requested it.
I would imagine the real differences between the three are matters of service and value. They can all sharpen the hell out of a fancy knife.
Thanks for your opinion, Paul, but I heartily disagree!
There is a distinct, qualitative, difference between what Bob Tate at Seattle Sharpening does and what the other two services do. Have you read my interview with Mr. Tate — Interview with a Sharpening Service. . .? Do you realize he was trained by Bob Kramer one of the master knifesmiths of the world? I have a chef knife that Tate sharpened over three years ago that still cuts paper. (Of course, I treat it right and hone regularly.)
That’s not to say there’s anything shabby about the other two services. As a matter of fact, Dave Martell of D&R Sharpening is a highly-respected master of Japanese sharpening techniques on waterstone. But he has two discretely different services he offers: 1) what he calls “Regular Sharpening” (for Western knives made of German steel) and 2) “Hand Sharpening” (for Japanese Western style knives, made of Japanese steel). When I sent my knives to him a few years back, all my knives were German. And when I asked Dave about how he would sharpen my Henckel’s knives, he said he preferred to do them the standard way (how they usually come from the factory), with a narrow bevel sharpened at 22 or so degrees.
Contrastingly, Tate’s technique is to create one extremely long and gradual bevel starting from 1/2 to 3/4 of-the-way up the side of the blade (depending on the knife). He does this on both Western and Japanese-Western style knives. On your average chef knife, the bevel may begin an inch away from the actual cutting edge. This ends up giving you an edge of 15 degrees or sharper, and yes, the edge will not be as indestructible as a typical factory edge. But, if you know better than to use your chef knife to power through chicken joints, the edge will hold up just fine. Especially if the knife is made of German steel (which is tougher than Japanese).
If you have a passion for quality (and I think you do, judging from your website), you owe it to yourself give Seattle Sharpening a try!
—KKG
P.S. I’d be a little careful about specifying bevels with sharpening services. Trying to create the kind of bevel that Tate creates, without having had plenty of experience, could result in permanently damaging a knife.
Hi Nate:
My husband and I have a mobile sharpening business located in Hudson, New York. We use the Edgemasters system mounted in a Dodge Sprinter and service restaurants within an hour of us, as well those home kitchen chefs who appreciate the value of a good edge. Hudson is a hot bed of the farm to table movement and full of foodies. Our business is only a year old but we have quite a few chefs who are very loyal and will only trust their knives to us.
I have found your website to be very informative and interesting. I just put a link on our FB page to your article on choosing a knife because we are asked quite often which are the best knives. I want to thank you for your thoughtful opinions. I think I will be tapping your site pretty often.
We are 2 hours north of Manhattan. Perhaps you will give us a try for future sharpening needs.
Eileen Sheets
ProSharp Mobile Sharpening
Thanks, Eileen, for checking out KKG! Yes, Hudson and Duchess County (NY) are one of the places to be if you’re serious about food. I just ordered Modern Farmer magazine that’s centered in Hudson as well. Maybe some day I’ll take a looooong drive up your way and check out the whole scene :)
Best, KKG
Dear Guru,
I’m trying to help out my sister. We’re both getting up there in age (I’m the young one at 63!), but I try to build or fix whatever she needs on the farm. Her son gave her a set of Henckels Eversharp steak and kitchen knives. I’m sorry, but to me they seem the most worthless group of knives I’ve ever used! If they cut at all they just tear through stuff—but most of them don’t cut worth a darn! This Thanksgiving they just tore the turkey apart—more like pulled turkey than cut pieces! Geez, that was an abuse of good meat!
Recently, I bought a Work Sharp Ken Onion edition knife sharpener for my military, work, and hunting knives. Seems to get a really nice edge to my knives and keep them that way for a long time. Can I use that belt sharpening system to sharpen those crappy Henckels steak knives? (I’m half convinced I should grind off the serrations and start over on them—but before I go nuts, could you give me some suggestions how I could sharpen her knives up?) Would it ruin crappy knives to try to slowly grind on a better edge?
Geez, that would be great. I appreciate your time.
Best regards, Ken Johnson
Ken,
I’m sorry but I am not, nor do I claim to be, an expert on the nitty-gritty details of knife sharpening. That said, from what I understand about sharpening, trying to sharpen a serrated edge is extremely challenging and, no matter how much of an expert you are, will not yield the amount of improvement gained when sharpening a normal edge. To add to this, the knives you’re talking about have a micro-serrated edge which would be impossible to sharpen and keep the serrations. You would have to simply grind off the serrations which would be pointless and would make the knives worthless.
Henckels makes a vast array of kitchen knives that vary greatly in quality. And Eversharp is a stamped, inexpensive, low-quality line. So, please don’t get the wrong idea that Eversharp is the best Henckels can do. That would be totally inaccurate. For more about what Henckels lines I recommend, please see my article on best chef knives.
Best, KKG
Sharpening serrated knives is actually quite easy as you can sharpen the flat side and leave the serrations intact. However after multiple sharpening with this method, the serrations will disappear.
This is one of the more in-depth articles I’ve read on knife sharpening services and sharpening rates which a lot of people forget to compare. Above you mentioned how Seattle’s prices were more than Just Knives and I know you hit the nail on the head when you said it was due to how the knives were sharpened.
I have a knife sharpening service and offer 3 different edges that I can put on knives and charge accordingly. I’d say 90% of services use some sort machine to sharpen their knives and charge a bracketed rate or a 1$ per inch. Machine sharpened edges are a” quick and dirty” way to sharpen a blade, but are quick for the sharpener to do. There are a few disadvantages to sharpening a knife this way such as removing more blade steel than necessary. A hand sharpened edge is more time consuming. It does result in a much more refined edge, as you mentioned, because of the slower more detailed process. Is it worth it?
What I advise people when they ask is to tell me about their knives. Generally, if the knife is old, poor quality or beat up, I suggest a machine sharpened edge as the knife probably won’t hold an edge for very long regardless-it’s what most people consider to be sharp anyway. For “good” knives to very high end cutlery I firmly suggest having the knife sharpened by hand. I try to inform the customer as much as possible about what I can and can’t do to their knives.
I also have a mail-in knife sharpening service at http://www.eliteedges.com and do charge for return shipping but don’t understand why some other services charge a handling fee on top. All of the packages go out at the same time so there is no real added cost. Anyway good article and please advise your readers to compare services, methods, and prices to get the most for their money.
Dan—thanks for your comments and observations!
Let me just clarify, in case somebody gets the wrong impression, that Seattle Sharpening does NOT hand sharpen. Bob uses a series of variable belt sanders and polishers that have been customized. And when I asked Bob about hand sharpening versus machine, he felt the most important element in the whole process was the skill and perfectionism of the human doing the sharpening. (If anyone’s interested in hearing more from Bob, read my in-depth interview with Seattle Sharpening.)
Best, KKG
P.S. KKG visitors: For the record, I have not used EliteEdges or reviewed them. But they sound like a high-quality outfit—thus, I have supplied their hyperlink above for my readers to click on and check out for themselves.
I would like to comment on the machine versus hand-sharpening methods. Yes, some machines will remove a lot of metal and leave a poor edge at best.
However, after 40 years of making and sharpening knives, I believe that I can obtain as good of an edge with my 2- by 72-inch belt grinder as the ancient masters could with their waterstones. Today’s belt technology is really fantastic.
Sure I could sharpen knives by hand, but would have to charge a much higher price for it and still not have the ability of removing that blob of metal on some chef knives, called a bolster, that is directly in the way of sharpening and also leaves the blade off of the cutting board. I usually hollow grind most of it away and it looks clean and professional.
Sometimes knife sharpening is more like knife restoration as I take out the blade sway, restore the rocker edge, lower the bolster, regrind or straighten the tip, thin the edge back a ways and of course put on a screaming sharp edge.
I have serviced many happy repeat customers for the past 20 years at Bronk’s Knifeworks, Country Village until they decided to sell my shop to a condo developer.
My new sharpening shop is presently located at 19510 Bothell/Everett Hwy.
I have long been under the impression that machine sharpening generates too much heat and can damage the metal’s temper. For the guru and the pro sharpeners, what are your opinions about that issue?
Hi Brad,
I touch on exactly what you’re talking about in my article Finding a Professional Sharpening Service. This is one of the main reasons it’s so important to find a credible pro sharpening service and was a driving force behind creating this website.
It all depends on: 1) what kind of machine and belts the pro sharpener is using, 2) how fast the machine is running, and 3) the skill/know-how of the operator.
All pro sharpeners that I use, or recommend, run their sharpening belts (or wheels) at much slower speeds than if they were doing serious grinding. Some have specially customized machines. This helps control the friction/heat as well as ensure the machine doesn’t take off any more metal than is absolutely necessary. A pro might also use a machine that water-cools the wheel/belt and, if not that, regularly dip their blades in a water bucket to cool them off. For traditional Japanese blades, there is a waterstone wheel that can be used that operates at very low speeds, sort of like a record player. (After using the wheel, a Japanese sharpener may then continue with manual sharpening at higher grits.)
It’s all about controlling the heat. But there’s no reason why a skilled operator, using the right machine, can’t sharpen a kitchen knife to a razor edge without ruining the temper.
Dan, of Elite Edges, feels he can produce finer, more perfectly polished edges, using hand sharpening. He is welcome to his opinion. . .and it may be be the best route for traditional Japanese blades. But, regardless of this, I don’t believe he is saying that a machine-sharpened approach MUST destroy the temper.
If you’re hungry for more, you might want to check out my two-part interview with Bob Tate of Seattle Knife Sharpening!
Best,
KKG
I’ve been a knife maker for the past 37 years and have sharpened thousands of knives over those years professionally as well.
Born and raised in Montana, I moved here to Country Village, Bothell, WA in 1995 and set up a knife shop where I still work today.
I’ve known Bob Kramer for as long as I’ve been here and now share a shop with mastersmith Michael Rader who makes beautiful kitchen cutlery as well.
I make a few kitchen knives from 52100 and other steels, but work mainly on my Xross Bar Lock folders these days.
Nice to meet you, Lyle! After taking a quick tour of your website, it looks like you’re the real thing. . . :)
Country Village sold part of the village, that my knife making shop was located on to a developer, and I have been displaced. My new digs are at 19510 Bothell Everett hwy, Bothell, WA.
It has been a good move in many ways as I’m more visible with a street sign and I have been blessed with very good ratings.
2017 looks like it will be a banner year and I will be pressed to keep up with the knife making part as the sharpening side has increased greatly.
Thank you Nate for sharing!
Fantastic article and so easy to read.
Iam waiting for more!
Cheers
Luc
Thanks, Peter, for your feedback! One of these days when I find time to write a review of Japanese-style sharpening services, you’ll be on the short list for consideration :)
I’m loving your site, very interesting and full of useful information.
You mention Tosho Knife Arts in Toronto. While I have not used them for sharpening since I do my own, I have heard nothing but great things about them and Dave Martell speaks highly of them. Another place in Canada is Knifewear, Kevin the owner is highly respected in the sharpening world, I’ve seen their work and would trust Knifewear completely.
I personally do not charge for chips, nicks and tip repairs, it’s all just part of the service in my opinion. If people are good enough to trust me with their knives, it just makes sense for me to return the favour by sharpening them to the best of my ability. If that includes some chip repair so be it, so $1.25 an inch it is. Regardless of whether or not the knife looks like it was dragged behind a car for an hour.
Regarding Korin….Master Sugai is my idol :)
I used Bob Kramer for sharpening my knives when he was in Seattle and Bellingham, WA, and I could visit and talk to him. When Bob stopped sharpening, I followed his advice and have been using Bob Tate ever since. I agree with all you said about him. My one additional comment is that for a Seattleite, or even an occasional Seattle visitor as I am now, the turnaround is one to two days and no $10 fee if you can drop off and pick up at one of several UPS stores.
Thanks for chiming in, Randy! You’re lucky you live within driving distance of one of my favorite knife sharpening services (Seattle Knife Sharpening). I’m envious :)