Passionate sharpening

Hi folks, thanks for being here.

       There is so much more to knife sharpening than just sharpening a knife, for me there is.
I was asked to write some article for Knifeplanet and hopefully I will be able to share my latest one which was just provided to them.
In it I explain how the passion behind the process elevates the enjoyment level and hopefully the skill level.

      There are knife sharpening services that simply sharpen knives, the people go home at the end of the business day and don't think about the "work" until they go back at it the next day.  There is a need for those type of services which I will explain but in my case, we may as well be on different planets.

     For me, when someone brings me a knife or knives to sharpen, and this happens daily, I don't take it for granted. I'm not the guy behind a counter saying "next". I completely understand that in the majority of cases, the act of handing me a knife is the final process for what could have been a number of steps people have taken. They may have taken the knife to another sharpener and were not happy, or they were but want to get the best sharpening service available so they try them all out.
They had to accept the fact that the knives are dull and they have to pay money to someone they don't know to sharpen them. That person (me)  could ruin the knives that they spent a lot of money on or were given as a gift. Then they have to check out my site or do some research, they have to overcome their apprehension and give me a knife to sharpen.

   I completely understand this, I'm grateful and nothing is taken for granted.

     For me, to truly appreciate the process of sharpening it is not just a matter of making it sharp, I can do that pretty quickly, if that is all I thought about, I think they enjoyment level would deteriorate.

I never forget the fact that my skill is based on many things, it started as a memory of seeing my dad sharpen a chisel when I was young and that memory inspired me to do what I do today.

    Sharpening knives on Japanese Water Stones and doing it well is an art, I don't take what I can do lightly, I'm continuously testing myself and setting higher standards so that people are thrilled every time they get their knives back.

Every knife I get is cool to me, I love seeing old knives, some have been rescued from an old shed but is still and awesome knife.

This is the rough side of my precious natural stone, the sharpening side is pristine.

Knives are cool, sharpening them is cooler :)

I think is very cool that people visit my Blog.. So grateful.