Sharpening Knives "in the UK"

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dav

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
81
Reaction score
0
I have practiced sharpening knives and from years of sharpening bladed tools understand the concept and have a reasonable technique but since buying some decent knives realise that this is a bit of an art thus I'd very much like to get the best out of my purchases. So 2 questions and not really sure how much a response I'll get due to the board being predominantly US based. But are there good/reputable sharpening services here in the UK (With postage/tax and delivery times sending to the US etc... is not too practical) and this is a really long shot but anywhere where you can improve your sharpening skills - particularly single beveled blades?
 
Not sure about sharpening services in the UK, but for single (and double) beveled knives Jon B of JKI has some excellent videos that may be helpful...at least it should be a good place to start:)

http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/media
 
Last edited:
Well, we have Will who makes knives here. You should ask him!
 
I have practiced sharpening knives and from years of sharpening bladed tools understand the concept and have a reasonable technique but since buying some decent knives realise that this is a bit of an art thus I'd very much like to get the best out of my purchases. So 2 questions and not really sure how much a response I'll get due to the board being predominantly US based. But are there good/reputable sharpening services here in the UK (With postage/tax and delivery times sending to the US etc... is not too practical) and this is a really long shot but anywhere where you can improve your sharpening skills - particularly single beveled blades?

For a sharpening service the best option I can think of is maxim who is in Denmark. http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/Sharpening-Service-s/1513.htm
 
Many thanks for the helpful suggestions, I don't really have a problem with double bevel knifes although still improving (but not ruining my knives), I've started to watch Jon's video's which are indeed very helpful. It was more for the Single beveled knives which in time will require sharpening, I guess I could purchase some cheaper knives to get practicing on but wondered if good reliable services were available in the UK - good call on Will.
 
As Andrew suggested, Maxim is a good idea. I haven't shipped anything to Denmark before but I doubt it is that expensive and Maxim is an expert on natural stones, so he would be a good choice to sharpen singled bevelled knives. Other than him, I am not sure there would be anyone else in the UK who would do a good job. Perhaps try Will, or other UK forum users, but your options are pretty limited if you don't want to do it yourself
 
Yes, if it's single-bevels Maxim would be a great choice.
I don't know Will's experience with single-bevels, i bet he can do a great job on them too. But i know Maxim will.
 
You would think with a population of 51m people there would be a few good knife sharpeners to be found. On second thought maybe not. USA has 6x the population and I only know of one guy and he lives in some little town in PA.
 
I know of nobody in the Uk who sharpens knives professionally with the ability to produce the type of edges that forum members here would expect. Japanese knife company in London claim to, but when I visited they mostly use a Tormek 1200 and had some badly dished king stones on the side, so I wouldn't trust them with anything decent.
What knives are they, and what is it that you feel could be improved?
 
You would think with a population of 51m people there would be a few good knife sharpeners to be found. On second thought maybe not. USA has 6x the population and I only know of one guy and he lives in some little town in PA.

It is more a case of there not really being a market for true high end knives. There is literally no shop in the UK I'd ever buy a knife from. There are a few places that sell good knives but they use the "blind you with ********" marketing technique and charge pretty much double what the knives are worth. Most places like this, I could buy the knife from the States, pay shipping and import duty and it'd still end up cheaper than the shop. Every high end knife I have either came from the States, Germany or Japan and it's kinda annoying because import fees can be a little spendy
 
Sniff, sniff ... Do I smell an opportunity? Seems like Jon needs to expand JKI with a store in London.
 
Back
Top