Japanese Knives revisited - disappointment

First of all, I am not disappointed in Japanese knives, I am with the owners.

This applies to the folks that I run into only, not everyone of course but there is a  pattern and to be honest it really pisses me off.

I am aware of people who have these beautiful knives that do have a lot to offer to their owner. These people are proud of them, they are eager to display them and show them off but they let them get dull.
Then, they let them STAY dull and that is what I just don't understand.

They do the research, search online and spend good money on a hand made Japanese knife and in a month it is no better than a 50 dollar Henckels that is sharp, seriously.  I actually find it offensive to the makers of the knife.

These knives are very easy to sharpen too, that is the strange thing about them. Just yesterday I ran into someone who owns a knife that I can only dream of having and it was dull. I know what he spent on the knife and it just blows me away.

Either learn to sharpen it or give me the freaking knife to take care of. I think cooks are becoming lazy in terms of their care for their knives, they see the Steel as the answer and mistakenly believe that that is all they need to do. It makes them feel good about themselves, they got that sharpening crap out of the way.

I have a lot of respect for cooks and chefs, they work so hard and it is often the case that they just don't have the time.

Sharpening their knives should be part of their daily chores, set aside 3 minutes before the shift, take out that 2k stone from soaking and use some trailing strokes on the edge to maintain it. Then have it sharpened every now and then, you hone then your sharpen, hone -sharpen -hone-sharpen.

I just don't get it.

Having said that, some of this goes back to the fact that knife owners don't trust folks like me to touch their knives.

Now if I was in their shoes, and a guy came in with a business card and said "I sharpen knives" and knowing I had a dull knife with no idea how to sharpen it. I would at the very least check the person out, ask around, does he have a website, any testimonials?

And Yes......that is a glass of Scotch in the picture above, Ardbeg, my fav.

:)

You folks make my day,,,,,,,,,every day.
Thank you.

Extremely respectfully
Peter Nowlan
sharpenerpeter@gmail.com