news

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...

It's time to sharpen a knife when it can't cut a medium ripe tomato (after honing) with ease.  Ok. That's simple. Since some 4-6 million knife sets are sharpened or purchased new every year, and there are some 122 million households in America, it follows that most knives would struggle with a medium ripe tomato. They are dull and in need of sharpening.  Honing is the process of re-aligning ("trueing") material that is already part of the knife. It makes what's on a knife blade straight and pointy again to the extend that it's possible without removing material. Typically, honing is accomplished with a...

Kitchen Knife care is easy to pay little attention to. Yet, with a little heads up, you can make your sharp edges last longer. Here are some things to keep in mind in the kitchen when working to extend the life of your knives and their sharpness.  To the extent you can, wash your knives right away after use. This will do a few things. 1) keep them from banging about with other knives in the sink 2) keep them hitting pans or the side of the sink 3) keep them from excessive heat changes from hot water to cold. This...

A bit about knife repair and our approach to common knife problems in the sharpening process.