Step 1: Go to Local Grocery store

Step 2: Ask for Manager of Meat/Seafood/Produce Department Which ever one is more likely to have knives depending on what departments available from your store

Step 3: Ask The Person If they have a company sharpen their knives

Step 4: Find out about the company/When they will be in next

Step 5: ????????

Step 6: profit



The Man who sharpened their knives Turned out to do Personal knives as well at 2$ a pop. I tossed 6 Knives his way Mostly cheapos but also my benchmade Presidio. He Put WICKED edges on them using a Portable Belt grinder from the 70s. the Most impressive edge was on my Gerber Profile and second had to be the Buck 119 in which had a factory edge and only 1 short few branches usage.

The benchmade Did not come out to well and he explained the angle guide prevented from going further down the blade Because of the thumb studs. He attempted to freehand it and nicked a thumbstud but he did get it reasonably decent at the quarter inch start of the blade he missed.

Overall Very nice guy very badass edges on the softer steel knives slightly only slightly worse on the harder steels but overall more then satisfactory.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a good local sharpener available. A belt grinder is a terrific sharpening tool so long as the sharpener is competent with it. If s/he's not it's a good way to ruin a knife in a hurry! While I sharpen higher end Japanese kitchen knives on natural and synthetic waterstones, I generally sharpen outdoor/sporting & "tactical" knives on a 1" x 42" Kalamazoo belt grinder. It works very, very well! I can get a kitchen knife probably 85%-90% as sharp in three minutes on the grinder as I can with forty-five minutes on stones. Sometimes it makes me want to throw all my water stones down an elevator shaft!

Very true about sharpening with a belt grinder. Someone competent can do a fantastic job on a knife. If they are not competent they will ruin the knife for sure. I won't let anyone use a belt grinder on any knife I own, too much at risk.

I sharpen my own with various stones. I have Japanese waterstones in 3 grits, a Spyderco Sharpmaker with ceramic stones for double bevel knives and I strop with a leather strop with green buffing compound.

I also have an Edge Pro Apex setup for the harder to maintain angle blades. No power tools in my sharpening. I know belt grinders work wonders but it can be a good wonder or a bad wonder. A long time ago I worked at a place where we used large shears and someone came around about every month to sharpen them for us. The guy was awesome on the shears, they really cut well when he worked them. I once had him sharpen a Solingen hunting knife that I had bought when stationed in Germany. It was ruinded. The guy knew shears but was clueless when it came to knives. So, no belts for me.

One thing I find belts essential for is repairs, especially fixing broken tips. I personally think any grinder that runs at over 2,000 rpm is inappropriate for sharpening- there's just too much potential for overheating the blade. I have used a 3,500 rpm HP grinder but it requires a very light touch and you have to know what you're doing. Under $400 I think the Kalamazoo is the way to go.

Of course, the EP is ideal. I have an EP Professional model and sixty or so custom stones. Definitely nice!

There's this store owner from the mall days owns a knife shop and has mas macho. A Balfor bench grinder on a stand with buffing wheel on one side and sharpening wheel on the other wicked sharp knives.

I don’t understand. I know getting a good edge with Japanese water stones takes experience but from what I read and the demonstrations I have seen, they get the job done.

So it takes forty-five minutes. Why throw them down an elevator shaft?

Jeanette Isabelle

I've done really well with a charged strop for my best knives to keep them sharp. Other knives and on those unfortunate occasions where my best knives have been dulled I use a Sharpmaker. I have been known to send serrated blades off to Spyderco to be sharpened -- they do a great job and it's way easier than doing them myself.

Personally I Suck big time at sharpening knives, I just cant get the technique down.

I Wasn't Too worried since 4 of the knives were under 20$ in cost and easily reobtained if ruined. The Buck has since my purchase shot up in price big time so that made me a touch worried but not much. The big issue was the benchmade which was a costly knife that I carry and use every day and sadly thats the one that suffered the most.

Strangely enough I did send the Presidio Back to benchmade for a sharpening and they put a awefull uneven very very high angle tiny little edge on it. Very confusing but He did put a nice little steep even grind on it even if the very very first quarter inch at the hilt is a touch off.

Interesting thread.

I've been thinking about starting a side business (Saturday garage or farmers' market) doing this for consumers. Kitchen knives, pocket knives, basic scissors, pruning shears, axes, and garden tools -- all done while you wait. There is a real demand, and I've been doing it for friends and family for years.

The commercial sharpening outfits focus on volume customers (restaurants and butcher shops for knives, and scissors for hair salons). Talking to them, they make a tidy profit. But almost none of them want the fiddle factor of dealing with individual consumers.

I find it more satisfying to sharpen by hand (diamond really kicks). But for a viable business proposition, there just isn't time for that. People bring in "sticks" that take a lot of work to turn back into "knives." I'm starting off with a 1" belt grinder, and may get a couple of Tormek paper wheels for my old bench grinder.

Serrations are a big problem. AFAIK they have to be done by hand. That takes a lot of time and fuss. But a lot of blades have them now. Any thoughts? There's an electric sharpener at Cabelas that claims to handle serrated edges, but I'm leery of running somebody's Spyderco through one of those.

Another contentious topic is the preferred type of edge: "toothy vs. polished smooth." Personally, I prefer a somewhat toothy edge for most kinds of work, but they don't last as long as a polished/stropped edge. Will consumers care all that much? I would be curious about everyone's perspective on the subject.

Knives with thumbstuds are pain in the butt to do especially if you want a low edge angle and I always end up nicking them, maybe that's why BM put such crappy factory edge on their knives...

Polished edge sucks for kitchen knives used on meat. My Shun has mirror edge and zip through any vegetable, but struggles on meat, whereas my other cheap knife I hand sharpened on a norton and arkansas stone bites in like a chainsaw. If I were to do any commercial sharpening, I'd do the same thing knife factories do, 150 grit then polish to remove any burr. And I'd not do any serrations just to avoid the headache.

I use belt sander for major profiling but sharpmaker for sharpening, belt sander removes more steel than necessary for just sharpening IMO.