We've been collecting tid bits on knife sharpening and wanted to share 'em. Here are a few we collected so far.
- Knife makers balance sharp vs hard metal composition. If it's too soft it won't hold a sharp edge well. If it's too hard it becomes more prone to chipping and badness. It has to be "just right." Welcome to the world of metallurgy. We had no idea about it, much less its complexity, until recently.
- The USPS, per their regulations, forbids printing on the outside of your package that there are knives inside. We did not see that one coming. You?
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Japanese knives and German knives feel different, cut different and are sharpened differently. Who knew? We've had Global knives for years - had never really cut with a German knife until recently. And in sudo snob fashion we've come to prefer Japanese knives for most light vegetables, fruit and fish. The German knives are much more apt, in our view, to potatoes, steak and large fibrous things - like the squashes of this season.
- Material needs to be removed from a knife to sharpen it. It's not enough to use a honing rod or wheels to sharpen. Honing straightens metal that is already on the knife. Sharpening removes material to make it sharp again.
- Rental properties can't have sharp knives. Ha. Have you ever been to an Airbnb with sharp kitchen knives? :) Not us.
- Some chefs sharpen weekly but recommend home cooks sharpen 2 to 4 times a year. We can understand sharpening that often now after paying close attention to cutting edges. ( We must keep working on keeping them out of the sink and off the metal pans.)
- Approx ~2M households either 1) get their knives sharpened each year 2) get married and likely new knives and/or 3) buy new knives. That leaves ~110-118M households with unsharpened knives. That's an unsexy but large addressable customer base.
- The number one knife injury is performed while prepping an avocado. Here comes Superb Owl. Your insurance plan knows and now you do too.
- Sharp knives can influence your diet. A recent customer called and started the conversation with "I've eaten 5 grapefruits in 2 days." We asked why they shared this weird fact and it was because they had sharp knives in the house again. "It's fun to cut with sharp knives" they said.
- Knife sharpening is frustrating for most. It's an out of cycle errand, easy to forget with lots of "friction" in the process. Drop off, pick up, and transactions during work hours contribute to the frustration. So do multi-day or week long waiting lists for sharpening. That's a context for disruption and a new service model designed for customers. We call it Vivront.com
- While diapers, meal kits, dog food, printer ink, CO2 and a many other items (thanks Amazon) are shipped to your house (on subscription) your kitchen knives get used daily, dull with each use, and are not on a service schedule.
Thanks for stopping in and giving our tidbits a look see. Happy slicing.
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Order your knives sharp by our craftsmen via the internet and regular old standard USPS mail. Prices vary depending on the number of knives per order. Shipping, insurance and tracking included. We'll ship you a knife envelope/box and get 'em back to you sharp ASAP. Vivront.com
Interested in learning to sharpen a knife? More on how to sharpen a knife available here.