Should You Sharpen Your Knives or Just Throw Them Away?
Every home has them... dull knives that used to glide and now crush. The usual story goes like this: you pull one from the block, try to slice a tomato, and end up sawing through it like lumber. Then the thought comes: Maybe it’s time for new knives.
That idea didn’t come from nowhere. For most of human history, people sharpened. We maintained, repaired, and reshaped. The idea of throwing knives away is new, born in an era of convenience and gadgets that promised “sharp” without skill.
How We Got Here
Sharpening stones, wheels, and hands kept blades alive for millions of years.
Then, sometime in the last few decades, came the pull-through sharpener—a quick-fix device that promised to fit the new rhythm of modern kitchens. Compact. Fast. No water. No learning curve.
It also quietly trained us to expect less.
Those gadgets remove metal in uneven bites, and tear new grooves that look sharp but fail fast. After a while, the knife stops feeling right, not because it’s “cheap,” but because it’s been mis-shaped, even mis-sharpened.
So the knife goes in a drawer. A new set arrives. The cycle repeats.
Can My Knives Be Sharpened?
Almost always, yes.
Unless they’ve been dramatically chipped, corroded, or ground down past their spine, most knives can be restored. A professional sharpener can re-establish the original geometry—sometimes better than new.
At Vivront, we see knives every week that people almost threw away. Bent tips, rolled edges, even old gadget-damaged blades. We put them back back balanced, clean, and alive again.
The problem isn’t the knife. It’s the myth that it’s not worth saving.
Why It’s Worth It
A good knife can last decades. When you sharpen instead of replace, you recover control, connection, and the feeling of tools built to endure. And, you keep their stories!
That’s what our downloadable guide, “A Brief History of Sharpening,” is really about. It traces how people have always kept their edges alive, and why modern culture quietly forgot.
Sharpening isn’t a lost art, it’s a misplaced habit.
And it’s one you can bring back, starting with the knife already in your kitchen.
Download “A Brief History of Sharpening” and rediscover what a real edge feels like.