My kitchen knives have got to the point where daily honing or stropping no longer gets them as sharp as I’d like. I can sharpen them myself on whetstones but don’t have the free time to sort out a dozen or so knives.
Additionally I have a chef’s knife that’s absolutely buggered (it was my mothers, she tried to cut a frozen salmon with it, buckled the edge, chipped the edge, and then dropped it on the floor, in surprise, and bent the tip). It has little monetary value but huge sentimental value (she died during the COVID years and this was her favourite knife).
How have people found knife sharpening and repair services? Ideally UK based, with actual recommendations, but I’m open to experiences from further afield.
Many thanks, in advance!
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I’d really recommend investing in a system. I’m personally a big fan of the Edge Pro Apex systems; they pay for themselves in money saved if you’re taking knives to get them sharpened, and a lot of these places are just putting them in grinding tools anyway.
Sure, it’s a crutch for skill, but it also makes sharpening so much faster, that they save a lot of time, too.
I have stones from 200 up to 4000. My wife once dropped a $200 Miyabi dead-straight into the wood floor and snapped off the tip. I figured I could hardly make it worse, so I took the 200 grit and just went to town on it, brutally reprofiling a new curve and point; then sharpened it up progressively until the edge is as good as it’s ever been. It’s not a perfect curve - not quite a tanto, but I’d have had to take way more metal off to get a smoother curve, but you wouldn’t notice it I didn’t point it out.
My point is, I’m absolutely shit with sharpening technique, and would never have been able to do that without the system, and it really does save a ton of time. I mostly just polish my knives now, almost never using less than 600 grit. It’s easier to touch them up frequently than fully sharpen them infrequently, and sharpening systems make that easy.
That’s just my opinion: if you’re going to spend a hundred bucks paying someone to sharpen your knives one time, spend $2- or $300 and get a decent, easy to use sharpening system instead.
Makes sense but I just don’t get on with those gadgets.
I got a take you might not mind doing. Keep a simple small bench grinder for knives in your kitchen. Tabletop model, dual disc one for honing or polishing and other for sharpening. Its super quick to do in seconds.
Flip the switch, touch it up at any angle you want, flip off the switch, wipe the blade or rinse.
I hate sending my items off for time and cost reoccurring. I’m not a connoisseur. I’m a user. A good steel should do the work, minimal maintenance, stays sharp. Like most people we got shit to do. This is the best solution I’ve thought of.
