MAGIC - SHARPIE TRICK

Folks, are you tired of being left out of the water cooler conversation and being ignored by the cool people because you are not aware of the SHARPIE TRICK.  I know, it gets tiring when all people talk about is knife sharpening, water stones, steels, ceramic rods, PETER NOWLAN, and the most mysterious topic of all, the one spoken in hushed tones, the Sharpie Trick. It is spoken of quietly because only a few know of it.  You know the type, the beautiful, high achievers that look down on everyone else.

Well this is your chance, this is like a magician revealing his final act.  I've had my share of sand kicked in my face too,  so here we go.

Focus, this is extremely technical, there's a reason you're not part of that cool group, here is your chance to blow them away. Knowledge is power, you will be the king. 

Here is what you need. (Besides a knife of course)

CERAMIC or STEEL ROD

SHARPIE....yes here it is, like seeing a freaking rare bird or something isn'  it.

Now here is the really technical stuff....you take the cap off the Sharpie and you mark the cutting edge of your knife with the sharpie. Get as close as possible to the edge, the sharpie will run along it beautifully.  (Don't go cheap on the sharpie either, get the one with the Chisel Tip....some of the cool people don't know this)

See how close to the edge the sharpie black mark is

NOW here is the magic part. this is the part that is going to elevate you to the top. You run the edge of the knife along the rod, the goal, your job is to remove that black mark from the Sharpie. If you have done that, you have just achieved the perfect angle for Steeling.............very people can do this but it is very easy. Like most magical tricks, it is just simple LODGEIK.

So if you are not removing the black mark, just adjust the angle of the knife until you do. When you are on the sweet spot, the entire mark can be removed in just a few sweeps. There you have it, now you can always get the right angle to steel and maintain your knife.

CONGRATULATIONS..

It isn't over yet.....one more secret. Now that you have the knowledge and you are ready to push the jocks aside and tell them you are quite familiar with the Sharpie Trick, in fact, it is old news. 

You can absolutely stun them by showing them this:

YES the RED SHARPIE works too..Very few people have this, it actually is easier to see the mark on the knife edge. GO FOR IT.

I'M PROUD OF YOU.

Why get a 12 knife sharpened for $10.00?

I sometimes get the unasked question by people who give me a 12 dollar, very dull knife to sharpen and when I say 8 or 10 dollars I know that they are surprised. Undoubtedly they are thinking, "I only spent 12 dollars on the knife, why pay 10 dollars to get it sharpened, I could go buy a new one for 12 dollars?"

I don't always get this but it is common and not just for 12 dollar knives but for anything under 40 dollars, some/many folks would prefer just to put that one away and go buy a new one.

I understand the though process behind this and I have given it a lot of thought myself.

My basic prices are between 6-10 dollars per knife, it depends on length, not quality.

If I were to charge less for a 12 dollar knife, conversely I should be charging more for a 150 dollar knife. What about the 400 dollar knives or handmade Japanese knives that run in the 500-2000 dollar range?

For educational purposes, the products I use are expensive, and they wear out, each knife that I sharpen removes material from the water stones, that is how they work. I purchase the highest quality of water stones for two reasons:
1. I know that they deliver knives sharper than most people have ever seen and they work quickly
2. I am obsessed with sharpening knives and I want the best stones there is, that's just the way it is and you should be thankful for that :)

So you are faced with a choice, pay 10 dollars to sharpen that knife you own or just go out and get another one, heck, go nuts and go out and get a 75 dollar knife. Here is what I can guarantee will happen:
In a month, that new knife is going to start getting dull, (a month is a conservative amount of time), in 3 months that new knife will be very dull and not much better than that 12 dollar one sitting in the drawer. Now you have 2 dull knives and every time you use them you get frustrated and you start losing some of the joy of cooking as a result. So now what do you do, go out and get a better knife,  now you go out and buy your dream knife for 300 dollars. Guess what folks, in a few months those two dull knives in the drawer are going to have some company.

This is just a fact of properties of steel and knives, you use them and they get dull.

So instead of going down that road, give that 12 dollar knife to me, I'll return it and you won't believe how sharp it is.

The fact of the matter is that those inexpensive knives are harder to sharpen most of time than the 300 dollar knives. The steel is not a good quality, the bevels and edge are in bad shape and I have to deal with that. Remember those expensive stones, I wear those out more quickly on this type of knife.

I cannot charge less to sharpen a 12 or 20 dollar knife just because it is only worth that much. If I drop the price down to $7.00 for example, than the next person with the dull $200.00 Shun or Global  should be charged 15 dollars instead of 10. It doesn't make sense, nor is it fair,  and sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and take a chance.

REMEMBER, if  you don't agree that the knife I give back to you is sharp, you just don't pay me. (This has never happened by the way)

I take great pride in my work, I don't care if the knife only costs 10 dollars and is 20 years old, if you are good enough to trust me with that knife, I promise you that you will be pleased with the result.


I love sharpening knives, it costs a lot of money to sharpen knives with the products that I use. Stop wasting money on new knives, not unless you intend to maintain the edges either by sharpening them yourself or by giving them to me.

Also,  you do know that those sharpening steels do not sharpen knives right? They are extremely important tools but they won't get a dull knife sharp. You must remove metal to do that, the steel will not remove metal, it will keep a sharp knife sharp for a long time though.

Thanks, please just talk to me if you don't believe me or if you refuse to get your dull, old, good for nothing knife sharpened.  

Suzie the foodie blog article

Check this nice Blog post from a very special lady:

lhttp://suziethefoodie.blogspot.ca/2012/10/new-edge-sharpening-and-my-born-again.html

Stones - Gotta love them

There is no feeling like I get from taking a dull knife to sharp one using my water stones.
The Edge Pro stones that I don't talk about much are in fact the most important ones in my collection. They do an amazing job and their longetivity is absolutely outstanding.
These particular stones are designed specifically for my Edge Pro Professional, I use them every single day. So if you get a knife back from me and you're pleased, which you will be. Please know that the majority of work on the edges was with these stones.
For Freehanding, I use Shapton Glass Stones,  absolutely incredible water stones. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in sharpening their own knives. I am always available to teach you how as well.
Peter

New Life

Hi there knife sharpeners. I thought I would share some information on how I repair knives because lately, I have had some real doozies to work on.
So I will attempt to go through the process here. Keep in mind that this work always needs to be followed by a sometimes very lengthy sharpening process. The factory edge is often in extremely bad shape or just completely gone after a repair job.
This particular knife was an 8 inch Henckels Chef knife.

The first thing I do when I have such severe damage is take the knife to a very coarse belt on a belt sander. These are special sharpening belts that I use for deep repair work only.

1 X 30 Inch belt sander for really deep repair work

I work from the spine of the knife only, never the edge, the tricky part and sometimes painfully long is to re-shape the spine/blade back to it's original form. The actual edge has not been touched yet. This knife is extremely dull at this stage. 

Starting to take shape but not finished yet.

Still more work needed

After I have done the majority of heavy grinding I switch to a different belt sander, this is a upgrade in both machine and belt. Now we are getting into the more delicate work and fun has begun.

1 X 42 inch belt sander with Trizact diamond belts.