sharpening stone and knife blade

Last updated 10.09.19 — When choosing a professional sharpening service, it’s essential to do your homework. Because there are lots of companies charging comparable prices, but not always offering comparable quality. Remember that time you made copies of your front door key, and even though all the key cutters charged a going rate, the first one you went to made lousy keys and the second terrific ones? It’s the same with professional sharpening services. And while spending a premium (especially for sharpening Japanese knives) definitely offers you access to a higher level of expertise, it’s no iron-clad guarantee in and of itself. It’s best to be well-informed—about the sharpening service you will be sending your knives to, about the sharpening process in general, and about your knives.
 

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Bob Kramer 8″ Carbon Steel Chef’s Knife by Zwilling J.A. Henckels
This is currently the knife I most want to buy. Bob Kramer, a world-famous American bladesmith, has teamed up with Henckels to produce a knife that uses the same fine-grain steel his handmade knives use. Except instead of having wait in line to buy it in a lottery or an auction for thousands of dollars, you can buy it whenever you like for a few hundred. Oh, it doesn’t have the fancy-schmancy Damascus steel patterning, but it will slice like a banshee and snuggle in your hand like a highschool sweetheart. Can you tell I’m in love?
 
Bob Kramer Carbon Steel chef

What Can Go Wrong

While a top-notch professional sharpening service is a cook’s best friend, a second-rate one is their natural-born enemy. Here’s how an inferior sharpening service can sabotage a knife. They can:

1) Not grind it sharp enough. Duh. This is small potatoes, compared to the others.

2) Grind it unevenly. Which will a) not allow your knife to work at its optimum level, and b) require unnecessary extra grinding to get it fixed.

3) Grind it more than it needs to be ground—thus, shortening the lifespan of your knife. (Every time you sharpen, you take metal off the blade.)

4) Grind it too hot, so the edge is weakened, compromised. The steel is permanently damaged and loses its ability to stay sharp. Time to buy a new knife!

Need I say more? Please do your homework. (Or better yet, check out my Reviews of Professional Knife Sharpening Services.)

SHARPENING WEAR AND TEAR  The three chef knives below have different degrees of wear from sharpening—from least to most (top to bottom). The blades, when they were brand new, would have been very close to the same shape and height/width. But now you can see the knife on top is clearly taller/wider and has more of a curve to it’s cutting edge. The other two are narrower and the curve of their cutting edge has been flattened out. It’s most noticeable in the bottom knife, in the final third of the blade as it nears the tip.

three-chef-knives_wear-tear

Know Thy Knife

It’s pretty important to understand the style of knife you own before getting it sharpened. It can 1) help protect you from wasting time (and money) with unqualified sharpening services and 2) give you more options as to how you sharpen it. Here’s a quick primer:

There are, basically, two different styles of kitchen knife made today—German (aka Western) or Japanese. There are also a lot of blends of these two styles into models you could call hybrids. Although each of these two major styles fashion knives with their own distinctive shapes and sizes—the most fundamental difference between them is the steel they’re made of.

. . .if you’re sending out a Japanese or hybrid to be sharpened, it’s wise to be sure the service has experience with sharpening this kind of knife.

German-style blades are thicker and made of a softer, but tougher, type of steel. Which traditionally requires them to be sharpened at a wider angle (20–22 degrees). Japanese-style blades are thinner and made of a harder, yet brittler, grade of steel. Which allows them to be sharpened at a steeper angle (11–15 degrees). Hybrids tend to have the thinness and edge of a Japanese blade, but the shape of a German, and are usually sharpened at the steeper, Japanese-style angle. (See my article Knife Edges 101.) To add to the mix, some Japanese knives are only beveled on one side (like a chisel), and some have asymmetrical bevels, which demand a highly customized approach to sharpening. (Odds are, if you are not already aware of it, you don’t own this type of blade. So don’t fret about it.)

Although Japanese-style knives are all the rage and popping up like mushrooms, the great majority of knives people own are still German-style blades. That’s the status quo (at least in the West). Thus, the great majority of knives handled by sharpening services are German-style as well. Which means if you’re sending out a Japanese or hybrid to be sharpened, it’s wise to be sure the service has experience with sharpening this kind of knife. Better yet, they should be familiar with the specific brand you’re planning to send them. In general, this shouldn’t be a problem. Most of the services I have dealt with were very open to answering questions on the phone or through email. But be aware—there are some unscrupulous outfits out there that will claim they can sharpen anything. The last thing you want to do is send them your custom gyoto from Seki City (Japan).

WHAT’S YOUR KNIFE? Henckels and Wusthof are the two major makers of German knives while some of the major Japanese brands are Global, Shun, Masahiro, MAC, Tojiro, and Kasumi. Most of these manufacturers also make hybrids or are hybrids (like Global). Most French, English, and American-made knives are German-style knives (although that is changing). For more info on six major brands read Best Chef Knives—Six Recommendations.
 

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Pro S Fillet Knife, 7″

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For those of you who fillet your own fish, you’ve got to have the right equipment. If you’re scraping by without a dedicated fillet knife, or your old one isn’t up to par, you should take a look at this Henckels Pro S model. It’s slim, but strong, and should last a lifetime. (If you’re careful, you can also use it to debone chicken.)
Henckels Pro S Fillet Knife

Cutlers and Grinders

The grinding service collects, sharpens, and returns the knives en masse once a week or so. . .
Another major issue to be aware of when deciding on a sharpening service, is the difference between a commercial grinding service and a professional cutler. The first is used mainly by butchers, fishmongers, and super-commercial kitchens (aka Wendy’s, Applebees, Red Lobster, etc.) who generally use fairly inexpensive and disposable knives. The grinding service collects, sharpens, and returns the knives en masse once a week or so, and often even supplies them as well. Very industrial, very standardized and efficient. The second (a professional cutler) is used mainly by restaurant chefs and consumers and is designed to handle high-quality cutlery with delicate blades. More care, more quality. Guess which one you want?

Not to confuse the issue—but some sharpening services do both kinds of business. If this is the case with a service you’re considering, they might be fine, but proceed with caution. Try asking them some questions from the list I’ve supplied at the end of this article. If they begin to balk, or simply don’t respond (if you’re doing it via email or something), then they’re probably either 1) not as much of a cutler as you desire or 2) not big on customer service. Both are negatives in my book. Unless there are other compelling positives for keeping them in the running—like they’re just down the street, or a foodie friend of yours raves about them—I would look elsewhere.

belt-sander and buffing wheel

Tools of the Trade

If you take your knives to a knife sharpening service, odds are they will be sharpened on a machine-powered system. The standard process for cutlers these days is to use a belt sander in combination with a buffing wheel. Another common method is an aluminum-oxide wheel (running at a slow speed) cooled with water. Depending on the condition of the knife or the modus operandi of the service, the knife might go through a couple of different grits of abrasion (from 150 to 600) before being finished, or buffed/polished. (Photo right: A typical belt sander with a buffing wheel.)

If you own a traditional Japanese or Japanese hybrid, you have another option for sharpening—a Japanese water stone system. Japanese knives were traditionally sharpened on these stones which look like western whetstones, but are much finer and softer and come in an incredible wide array of grits—from 500 grit (course) to 10,000 (super-fine for polishing). Professional Japanese knife sharpeners usually use a powered water stone wheel that rotates at a slow speed and dips the stone in water as it spins around (horizontally). Then, they may finish off by doing the final polishing work by hand on a regular water stone. If you own a traditional Japanese knife, this method is probably the wisest way to sharpen it correctly while preserving the integrity of the knife.

There are a number of first-rate sharpening services that offer water stone sharpening through the mail. To be honest, this is a bit outside my area of expertise, mainly because I do not presently own any traditional Japanese knives. Nonetheless, from my in-depth research, I know of at least three top-notch services I can recommend. (See the end of Reviews of. . . Sharpening Services.]

Man Over Machine

My experience has been that the most important factor in producing a sharp knife is the expertise and dedication of the person sharpening it.
My experience has been that the most important factor in producing a sharp knife is the expertise and dedication of the person sharpening it. Equipment can only take you so far, and the equipment needed to sharpen a knife well doesn’t need to cost thousands of dollars. It can be gotten for a couple hundred. What can’t be bought is the sharpener’s skill and passion for the work. So that’s what you want to look for when finding a sharpening service.

Added to this, there’s a broad array of varying levels of perception, approach, and sophistication in professional sharpeners and their clientele. An edge that works fine for a line cook at Applebees, might not be adequate for a sashimi chef at Japonica. Or an experienced home gourmet with a Murray Carter gyoto might be much more exacting than your young mom with a Wusthof Classic and a million other things to be concerned with. Thus, though there are many viable sharpening services out there promoting their wares, one size does not fit all. Find a quality outfit. Find the one right for you. (And don’t forget to check out Reviews of Professional Knife Sharpening Services for some solid referrals.)

Suggested Interview Questions

Here’s a list of questions that might be helpful for interviewing prospective knife sharpeners. Pick the ones that work best for you.

  • How long have you been sharpening? How did you get into it? How were you trained?
  • Who’s doing the actual sharpening? How large a crew? What is their training?
  • Describe the process of sharpening an 8-inch blade chef’s knife with your system. What machinery/equipment do you use?
  • Any problems you might you encounter?
  • What if an edge needs to be completely reprofiled?
  • On average, how long should it take? What’s your typical turnaround?
  • Do you sharpen all knives the exact same way? Or do you adapt to the style of the knife? Or to the condition of the knife?
  • Do you put a straight knife edge, or do a secondary angle? Convex? Anything else?
  • Do you do Japanese-style knives? What brands are you familiar with? Have you worked on ______ knives?
  • How do you recommend a customer maintain a blade you have sharpened? Why do you recommend it?
12 Comments
  1. Would like to trade links as I think you have a very relevant and well-done web site.

    http://www.bronksknifeworks.com
    http://www.proknifesharpeners.com

    • Thanks much for the seal of approval, Lyle! As I have mentioned in an earlier comment in this thread, you seem like a seasoned knife sharpener (and smith) with excellent credentials, and I would encourage anybody in the Seattle area to check you out.

      Best, KKG

  2. Great info! I’ve been a sharpener for over 35 years and will be 56 years old this year. I truly enjoy sharpening and completely agree with the information given about knife sharpening. And the author definitely did his homework, or has had hands on experience, for many years. Great work.
    Sincerely, John (of John’s Quality Sharpening Daytona Beach, FL)

  3. Can you recommend a reliable place to send my knives to get them sharpened that meets your criteria?

  4. Hello there, this is Eileen from ProSharp Mobile Sharpening.

    Those are excellent questions to ask a sharpener before handing over your favorite knife. A knowledgeable, experienced sharpener will be happy to consult and answer all your questions beforehand. It’s also important for your sharpener to examine each knife under some magnification to determine the angle of the edge and its history of use, or abuse. That can help him determine just what the knife needs to be brought up to optimum performance.

    When sharpening with a belt sander ProSharp uses 400, 600, 800 and 1000 grit belts, as well a leather belt with diamond rouge. Not every knife needs all of these. How the knife is being used and the quality of the metal determine what grits will yield the best edge. For some knives its best to finish with a water stone.

    So I heartily agree with your statement that equipment will take you just so far, equally important is the dedication knowledge and skill of the sharpener!

  5. I think it is really great that you go over some of the problems that a chef can face if they choose the wrong knife sharpening service. After all, considering how expensive some professional kitchen knives can be, you’ll want to make sure they are doing it right!

  6. Thank you for the article. I had my Wusthof Grand Prix II knives professionally sharpened and when I got them back they were very sharp, which was great. The personal challenge I found was that the logo and writing on the knife blades were, now, faded. Like they sanded/polished them off. Is that normal?

    • Hi Brendon! Yes, it’s totally normal. All my blades look that way. Even if the professional sharpening service didn’t touch the main part of the blade with a grinder, it would be next to impossible for them to avoid it with their buffer.

      Who did you end up using BTW? Hopefully one of my recommended dudes :)

      Best, KKG

  7. I just found this page and really appreciate the good information on it. I just started my own sharpening business, after being trained and working for a master sharpener for the last few years. I am in the St.Charles, MO area: Don’s Sharpening Services.

    • Hi Don,

      I don’t usually allow anyone to offer their services on this website. . .but I’m going to make an exception this time around.

      Please realize, all KKG visitors, that I am not endorsing Don’s Sharpening Services. He may be great, he may not. . . :)

      Best, KKG

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