UK based knife sharpeners?

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MAS4T0

MAS4T0

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Hello,

I'd appreciate some guidance on who in the UK sharpens Japanese knives professionally. Usually I sharpen my own blades, but I only currently have one fully functional hand and as such will need to outsource for the foreseeable future.

For anyone curious, I was out running with my wife and came across a man assaulting a young woman while making death threats to an elderly couple. I intervened, he attacked me and a fist fight ensued. After a few moments he was face down on the ground. While I was calling an ambulance for him, he regained consciousness, drew a knife and stabbed me in the lung several times from behind (puncturing the lung) and slashed the rear of the right arm (severing a nerve).
 
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Ouch (and bad luck by the sound of it)

In London I’d definitely recommend Kataba - the owner’s a hugely knowledgeable ex sushi chef who clearly knows his onions, plus he’s taken on Joshua Heaton since (formerly heavily hyped ‘young hope; from the JKC chain)

Prices are ok for sharpening, or at least they compare well given the expertise on offer. The knives there can be shockingly highly priced at times, which is a bit of an irritation tbh.
 
WiriWiri said:
In London I’d definitely recommend Kataba - the owner’s a hugely knowledgeable ex sushi chef who clearly knows his onions, plus he’s taken on Joshua Heaton since (formerly heavily hyped ‘young hope; from the JKC chain)
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Thank you for the advice.

Have you used them yourself?

Would you trust them to maintain the surface on high end damascus blades while sharpening or would you just send them monosteel and straight san-mai?
 
BillHanna said:
Thanks for Doing Something for a fellow person, and I wish you a speedy and full recovery.
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Thank you.

I was quite lucky in a way, the tip of his knife snapped off in my thorax (about 2") so while this necessitated an additional surgery to remove it, it meant that he couldn't stab any more from that point.

He's been arrested, and is awaiting trial for attempted murder amongst other things.
 
There is Sheffield knife sharpening...you can find them online or Instagram

Reasonably well known, and does good work. Don't live in the UK so have no direct knowledge.

Kataba, as mentioned above, definitely knows what he's doing...

Kitchen provisions...as well... Instagram and online

I'm sure if you're not local to them they'd be able to suggest someone who is...

And as for your being attacked... thank you...the world needs more people like yourself

Take care

Jeff

Edited because web links weren't working
 
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Jeez that’s f*d up, lucky you survived but sounds like a painful recovery.
How often will they need doing?
If you’re happy posting I’d be happy to do FOC. If you have a few that need doing regularly may be worth finding someone local to avoid postage.
Whereabouts are you?
 
MAS4T0 said:
Thank you for the advice.

Have you used them yourself?

Would you trust them to maintain the surface on high end damascus blades while sharpening or would you just send them monosteel and straight san-mai?
Click to expand...

Yes, but admittedly haven’t used their sharpening services for a few years. No reservations with the work they’ve done for me in the past- basically a couple of annual health checks for a motley selection of blades. Most ku carbons to be fair - polishing and finish concerns aren‘t my thing - plus assorted powder and tool stainless steel types (including Damascus azai/itou/tanaka blades). All good

Also took a fairly basic sharpening course there (a gift) with the owner, who impressed with his approach and knowledge, albeit he was still clearly struggling a little with the language/terminology on his early courses. I would like to say that it was a seamless Karate Kid style experience of absorbed universal learning - and the owner could give a passably likeable stab at the Mr Miyagi role - but I was a bit of a rubbish student Daniel to be fair. The perils of having a knife shop near to my local pub and on the way home from the office (i miss those days)

Since then Joshua Heaton’s been taken on/poached from the Japanese Knife Company as the main sharpener. He seems to be highly acclaimed at least - one of the expert contributors to Tim Hayward’s award winning (but lightweight) Knife book, work with Blenheim Forge, Catcheside and other knifemakers - and I’ve seen him beavering away adeptly on knives on my way back from the aforementioned pub.

I think they’d be more than amenable to discussing your preferences on the phone. Used to be a good shop to pop into to chat, but I reckon they’d be happy to put any reservations to rest remotely. I may struggle to explain/justify Kataba’s high knife pricing, but I’d definitely trust them with my knives.
 
TB_London said:
Jeez that’s f*d up, lucky you survived but sounds like a painful recovery.
How often will they need doing?
If you’re happy posting I’d be happy to do FOC. If you have a few that need doing regularly may be worth finding someone local to avoid postage.
Whereabouts are you?
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Thank you.

The surgery was ok. The side effects of the medication was the worst part. I couldn't handle the side effects of the pain medication, so insisted they stop with it.

I developed a major case of what bodybuilders call Palumboism from the Morphine and it took a few weeks to go down.

That's a very generous offer. I usually only need to sharpen about once a year (home user), but it was due the week that this happened.

I'm in the North East, near Leeds.

DarKHarlequiN said:
So sorry to hear of your situation...I wish you a speedy recovery.

This London based Co operate via courier delivery utilizing their own packaging, I have not used them myself.

https://bladeandbutler.co.uk
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Thank you.

It could have been a lot worse. I could easily have been castrated or lost and eye, ear, etc. I'm feeling quite good overall. It sucks, but it doesn't suck nearly as much as it could have.

What gets me is how he did such a bad job of it. I'm sure that if anyone here was so inclined, they'd have finished the job with a quarter the effort and no chips in the edge, let alone a snapped tip.
 
MAS4T0 said:
It could have been a lot worse. I could easily have been castrated or lost and eye, ear, etc. I'm feeling quite good overall. It sucks, but it doesn't suck nearly as much as it could have.

What gets me is how he did such a bad job of it. I'm sure that if anyone here was so inclined, they'd have finished the job with a quarter the effort and no chips in the edge, let alone a snapped tip.
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Didn’t mean to ignore the elephant in the room - it felt weird to ’like’ a tale of misfortune tbh - so let me take this point to wish you a sincere all the best for your recovery

My only experiences with playing the gallant bystander have been much more inconsequential - basically stepping in to tussle with chupsty teens and younger on public transport - and frankly disappointing. DIfficult to get much joy from punching/subduing drunk teenagers (quite easy on moving buses with restricted space it turns out), nor protecting others from a gang of stupidly rude 14 year olds, particularly with all the ****** police business afterwards. And I’ve been far more lucky ijn retrospect that none of them had knives - the worst I’ve suffered is a scratched cornea - you suffering only a range of serious associated complaints is not lucky!

As dispiriting as it may seem at times, you very much did the right thing. The regret at not stepping in would have been worse I suspect. I can‘t help but resent the type of bystanders that sat there, heads buried into phone/book/feet, on both occasions I‘ve been in trouble (literally klds hanging off me) particularly once they offer hearty congratulations and claim that they were going to step in at just about the time the police arrived

I’d offer to sharpen your knives too, but that would (literally) run the risk of adding insult to injury. I’m too inconsistent to trust myself and you deserve very much better.
 
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