Tip Repair tips

Here are some before and after shots of a Grohmann Chef knife that I was given recently.

Here is the same knife about 15 minutes later:

It's important not to let the knife get too hot on the belt sander during the process. This is the only type of work that I use any electric on. I have some very nice diamond belts that simply do magic on knives. It can be a little scary, I'm removing metal from a clients  knife so I work very slowly and only take just what I need from the damaged tip to repair it. Too much heat build up can ruin the knife so that is a very important tip to remember when attempting this. Slow and steady is the trick, it's not rocket science either.

It is very satisfying work though.  Here is another tip for you:  don't use the end of a knife to pry apart frozen food.

Beautiful Knives

Now here are some nice quality kitchen knives at Thornbloom in Halifax. Some very nice folks working here.


Kitchen knives


I am a very lucky sharpener to have the support of local high quality kitchen product stores like Cucina Moderna, Thornbloom and Paderno. I got my start at Paderno, all because of a very nice, very professional man.

CHEF's knives revisited

To all you professional Chef's out there, first of all, thank you for what you do and for for being here at my Blog. I know that to hand over your knife or knives to someone else to sharpen is undoubtedly a decision borne out of necessity. You just don't have the time to do it yourself but  you  need the knives to be be taken care of.I get that and I appreciate you reading this.

You're knives are important to me as well, you need to know that I think of sharpening every day, it is an obsession of mine. How many other people do you know talk about sharpening as much as I do...I ask you, how many ?

You have taken a career path that involves the use of knives like no other profession. It is only natural that you want the tools of your trade, the knives that you covet and paid a lot of money for to be sharp. Can you make them sharp, of course you can. However, are you obsessed with making them sharp, have you left no stone unturned in your quest to discover techniques and products that can take them well beyond the the level of sharpness that you may be used to. Food preparation is your life, that's your focus. I don't need to worry about food, my wife does that, I just need to target the edge of your knife, the bevel and anything else about the knife that will enhance the quality of your life when it comes to food preparation.

If  the cost of sharpening is an issue for you, this is definitely not something you should worry about. Remember, I have a professional career in the Navy, I am not feeding myself from the profits of knife sharpening. If you have dull knives but you are worried about the cost of sharpening, you are making an error. You need to talk to me about that, it is more important to me that you have a sharp set of tools than the payment, seriously.
Remember, the fact that you have trusted me with your knives is not something that I take for granted, I know it is difficult to hand them over to someone else to sharpen. If you are hesitant because you are skeptical as to the quality of the sharpening; think of this. You may own a Wusthof, Global, Henckels, Shun, MAC  or some other very  nice knife. Well that knife was made and sharpened in a factory. If you think it was sharp when you first bought it, imagine what somebody who loves hand sharpening knives as much as I do can do with that knife. If you are reading this it means you are interested, think no more. Give me just one of your knives and I'll do it for free. If you are not absolutely thrilled at how sharp it is then you just forget about me. When I am done with your knife you will be very pleased. I can say this with confidence because of the love I have for sharpening and the quality of the products I own to do the sharpening. That beautiful Henckels that you bought was not sharpened by some old fella with OCD, remember that :)  A  robotic arm placed the blade of your knife into a grinding wheel, it did that to your knife and a hundred more in the same hour. I love Henckels, don't get me wrong, in fact I have asked for a new Henckels for Christmas but I guarantee, the first thing I do will be to sharpen it.

Do your dull  knife a favour, introduce it to me.

The Beast

I recently had the opportunity to be given a beautiful, Henckels Twin Cermax knife to do, this knife is extremely hard (66) and was in relatively bad shape after an encounter with a different sharpening device. It was scratched which is just cosmetics really but the micro edge had many nicks along the length of the blade which had to repaired before any actual sharpening could be done. Considering the hardness of the steel, this was indeed a challenge.

BEFORE

It really is quite a beautiful knife though and the owner was quite upset at himself for running it through something that this particular knife really did not like at all.
This is the result of 2 hours of work, I loved every minute of it.

AFTER

I love this type of work on a knive and much appreciated the opportunity to get my hands on a such a beautiful knife.

Polishing and scratch removal

The knife on the left is a 20 year old knife that until recently was quite badly scratched. Scratching occurs over time and is not necessarily a sign of neglect, it is merely a result of the knife being used for what it was designed for. Some scratching however is the result of the knife being run through an electric grinder and sometimes this can result in deep scratching along the bevel. I don't like scratches on my knives as is the case with most folks.

How do I remove them you ask?
The process I use involves using wet/dry sand paper in a progression of grits that range, for my purposes from 320 to 2500. It can be a little tricky in that you don't want to end up having to polish the entire blade to make it look the same. Unless the owner wants that or as I did, I wanted a mirror polish applied to the entire blade as seen in the Grohmann above. 

You can actually see the reflection of the camera in on the blade, it now rests proudly among the other knives.

The process of  removing  scratches is not something that produces the exact same results every time, it depends on the depth of the scratch and sometimes the direction. However, it is a very rewarding process when it turns out.

FAQ

I've decided to create a FAQ based on some questions that I have had from clients and also questions that I would ask if I were to contemplate handing over my knives to a stranger who says he can sharpen them, here goes: (This is a living document, it will continue to expand as I get new questions and find answers)

• Question: What is the cost of sharpening a knife and how did you decide on that price to charge people?
• Answer: Prices range from $6.00 - $20.00 per knife and it depends on the length of the blade which ultimately determines the time I spend sharpening it. Price is also based on what the desired outcome is. A 3" paring knife is with an Essential Edge is going to be $6.00, it is just not worth my time to do it for any less. The products I use wear out, they are abrasives and are expensive, for that $6.00  the knife gets an edge that will be surprisingly sharp and treated to the highest quality of stones on the market. (The time I spend on that little knife and the money I get from it is less than minimum wage). At the other extreme, he $20.00 Executive Edge, is a knife that has the "royal" treatment in terms of products and applied edges/relief face/stropping etc.  Prices are somewhat negotiable as well and my customers know that. No one has an issue with my pricing, in fact, the majority of customers are surprised it is not more. I offer several types of discounts as well.

• Question: What makes your knives so sharp, anyone can say they can make a knife sharper than it was when first purchased, i.e. the factory level of sharpness?
• Answer: A combination of being obsessed with delivering a level of sharpness that is intense in terms of the knifes ability to effortlessly slice food.  The use of products that are unique and created specifically to abrade metal uniformly when applied at the correct angle. The desire/passion to skillfully take a knife from the state of being so dull that your child could play with it to a level of sharpness that will make you bring it out to show your friends at every available opportunity. A device that forces me to maintain a precise angle of your/my choice and maintain contact at exactly the right position on the cutting edge of the knife with every stroke of man made Japanese Water Stones that are of the highest quality available, in the world. These are some of the reasons that justifies my telling people that my knives are sharp.

• Question: My husband told me he can sharpen a knife just as good as you or anyone else and it just    takes a little skill and time. There is no need to pay anyone to do what I can do just as well, what do you say to this?
• Have you ever had to take your husband aside in disgust after a dinner party because he embarrassed you by boring people with topics like Micro Edge, Relief Angle, WEPS, Loupe, Kalamazoo, Naniwa Chosera, Shapton, Ken Schwartz, Mad Rookie and Jende Industries and scratch patterns?;
• Have you ever seen your husband admire a slice on his hand that is producing a good flood of blood because he was impressed with how cleanly his newly sharpened knife cut his skin instead of putting a bandaid on it;
• Have you ever seen your husband take your cleaver into the bathroom and close the door behind him?;
• Has he been obsessed with knives and stones for 25 years to the point where your eyes glaze over when he mentions sharpening and you pray that "this will all go away"?
• Have you ever held up one of his freshly sharpenend knives to a thin sheet of telephone book paper and be amazed at how effortlessly the blade slices through it?;
• Have your friends picked up your knives and ask you how they got so sharp and they can tell that they are like razors just by looking at them?
• If you have answered "yes" to any of these quesitons, your husband is telling the truth, he's a keeper.

• Question: How do I get my knives to you and how do I get them back?
• This is the easy part, I will make it very easy/convenient for you, if one of the drop off/pick up locations does not work for you, I may be able to pick up the knife and drop it off. I will hand them back wrapped in protective material and ready to start slicing and dicing.

•  Question: Do knives really have to be this sharp, it's not like we are going to be doing eye surgery with them?
• No they don't, but isn't it cool knowing that you could do eye surgery if you had to?

• Question: What if I am not satsified with the results, if I take them home and they just don't feel any sharper?
• Then we will figure that one out together because it has never happened. I sharpen each knife myself and test every single one for sharpness prior to returning it. However, without question  I would re-sharpen the knife until you were completely satisfied, your money would be returned and there would be no additional charge to you. If for some unusual reason, a damaged blade for example or one that for some reason is just not taking an edge the way I would like it too. I would let you know that, but I would still leave no stone unturned in attempting to solve the riddle.

• Question: What is the best knife to own?
• Answer: A sharp knife.
• You do not need expensive name brand knives to get the job done. If however you are inclined to purchase some nice new knives locally, Paderno and Cucina Moderna sell very nice products such as Grohmann, Henckels, MAC, Global, Wusthof and Shun.  I think a razor sharp knife that has no name attached to it and cost $12.00 is better than a top of the line Shun knife that has become dull.