Knife Sharpening Tip #3

Hi,

Now this tip is mainly for folks who sharpen other peoples knives but that could mean your friends and neighbours, not necessarily for paying customers.

Here is a link to my last tip:

Tip 2


     Something that  I grasped pretty quickly when I started getting knives from strangers and having them pay me for my service was that not all knives are equal.  I had pictured getting a lot of very expensive knives and at the time worrying about how I would do with those.

Basically, in my little dream world I was all set up to receive knives like the Fujiwara pictured here and I had everything I needed at that time to sharpen it. (Except a natural stone but I have that covered now)


     Boy, was I wrong.

         What I noticed however and picked up on picked up on very quickly was that regardless of the condition, price, quality, age and brand of the knife, the owner regarded it, in may cases, as if it was that Fujiwara and I had to treat it as such.  I learnt not to judge people because of their knives, I don't think I ever did in the first place but just because they didn't have a Masakage in their possession it didn't mean a thing.  In fact, my respect for them was immediate because at least they were getting them sharpened.

     I have had knives come in that were 50 - 200 years old and rusted, dull as dull can be and of little value from their appearance. However, in every single case these knives had some special meaning to the owner. One for example was beyond dull and in brutal condition but the elderly lady regarded it as one of her prized possessions. Her late husband made it over 60 years ago and he loved it so every time she saw that knife she thought of him.  This is a common scenario for me, not this exact story but something in the  life of that knife has a hold on someone and it doesn't matter how much the knife is worth from a monetary view.

   The simple and common sense tip is to treat every knife as if it is your own and remember that the person took the time out of his or her life to bring it to you and trust  you with it.

Here is one such knife that came it, extremely dull and rusted and just "ugly". I forgot to take any Before shots, no biggie though.

Chosera 400/1k/Green Brick-2k/Kityama 8k

I look forward to returning it to the owner.



You can't imagine how satisfying this type of work is, picture the knife above as having no edge, all black and rusty from spine to what was an edge and then with some patience and more patience you can give it new life.

Actually, you probably can imagine.


Take Care
Peter