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!
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.
Rather than the Apex, consider holding your nose and grabbing a Ruxin Pro instead which is a Chinese knockoff of the same, and works (in my experience) just as well. The Apex has a rather eye-watering retail price but you can get a Ruxin for around $40 and it’s even compatible with the original stones if you’re so inclined. If you decide it’s not for you then you’re not out any appreciable amount of cash, but even if you ham-fist your way through your first sharpening job you’re already ahead versus sending away for a commercial service.
The Ruxin/Apex is basically idiot proof only with the caveat that you’ll want to stick a piece of painters/masking tape on your blade where the clamp grabs it if you really want to be positive you won’t leave any marks on the flat of your blade.
The coarse stones that came with mine can grind out and reprofile a damaged edge frighteningly quickly, especially on kitchen knives which are quite thin to begin with.