Submitted by Capable_Okra t3_10wc1km in philadelphia
Does anyone teach knife sharpening in Philly or the surrounding areas? I just had my knives wrecked by a sharpening service and want to do it on my own from now on. If anyone ruins my knives, it's gonna be ME. I know there are lots of online classes, but I learn best in person where I can ask questions.
I feel triggered.
Would you be using a stone? If so, I learned how to do it by watching YouTube videos. The Japanese master chefs have good instructional videos, and their technique is not difficult.
Did you buy cheap knives or use something similar to practice on? I bought a set of stones, but I'm hesitant to attempt teaching myself on my nice (but getting dull) knives.
I bought a 40 dollar chef knife on Amazon the same time I bought the stone. Turns out it's a very good knife. When I was learning, I also sharpened every shitty knife I owned and they were like brand new.
Just practice on whatever you have. I never ruined anything with the whetstone, only with the cheaper sharpening tools.
You're not going to be removing a ton of material at once with a stone, so personally I don't think it's a high risk thing to attempt on your own knives. (That said, YMMV and please don't come after me with said knives kthx.) Just don't do anything crazy, like running the knife 90 degrees to or along the corner of the stone, and you'll be very unlikely to ruin anything.
You could also see if any thrift stores or buy nothing groups have a knife, then you can practice on it.
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Yes a whetstone! Do you have any links or username recommendations for youtube? I'd rather learn in person but can at least start with some videos
This guy was helpful.
First thing to do is check whether your whetstone is a waterstone or an oilstone. (Lest you think I'm being patronizing, I for one used to think "whet" was "wet" as in "water." This is not the case!) Then make sure you use that term in your YouTube search so that you find the right vids. Also, some waterstones require 15-30 minutes of soaking beforehand, while newer ones (ceramic, Arkansas) do not.
Thanks, I didn't even know oil sharpening was a thing so I will definitely be doing some research before I dive in.
If you can’t find classes:
This is your set of whetstones: link
YouTube: Burrfection, dudes channel is just about sharpening knives and his whetstone videos are awesome.
Literally just sharpened my kitchen knives back from the dead with those stones and his videos as a refresher.
Go on youtube (outdoors55 has some good videos) and just watch a bunch of videos and how different people do it. You can get excellent results with 1 stone and a strop, although 2 stones + strop is probably ideal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJT5BVt7c5c is an excellent video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFhMGJYhYpU The famous Bob Kramer video (hes a bladesmith but started his career as a knife sharpener).
Kyle Noseworthy is good.
Burrfection is a good channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk3IcKUtp8U&t=4265s - the king of knife sharpening videos. 3 hours in depth tutorial. The guy makes his own knives and stones so ignore the marketing of his products, his technique is excellent and the videos are good. Im not a big "thin behind the edge of every knife" kind of guy but to each his own.
Personally I use a spyderco ceramic stones because they dont need to be lubricated, although they can be. Most japanese stones need to be soaked in water before they sharpen, and you need to learn to use the slurry they create so its a little bit of a mess. I use a DMT extra rough for regrinding edges, but any DMT diamond stone is a pretty good value since they dont need to be flattened and they will cut through any steel.
One thing you'll find about the way that "sharpening services" work is they use a high speed belt to sharpen the knives to save the time it takes on a stone. The issue with belts is they quickly heat up the steel and ruin the temper if you aren't careful, permanently destroying the knife. (Short of reheating it, quenching it, tempering it again). If you notice the blade is a slightly different color than the rest of the knife, it means the temper has been ruined and the knife will no longer hold an edge very well since the steel is now significantly softer.
Learning to sharpen knives isnt about videos, its about spending a few hours on a stone. Buy a shitty knife, find a rock, get your sharpening stone and sharpen to a razor, dull it on the rock, sharpen to a razor over and over and over until you are confident enough to do it on your good knives. Sharpening really can be boiled down to grind the blade until you form a burr, flip and grind for roughly the same amount of time until the burr flips, then either use a finer stone or a strop to remove the burr and the knife will be razor sharp.
PM me if you have any questions on knife sharpening, stone advice etc. There's a wealth of knowledge out there but it can be hard to determine what is useful or where to start.
Final edit - don't fall into the trap of thinking that being a "master" sharpener is all that impressive. Anybody with a few hours on a whetstone can learn to sharpen anything to a razor's edge once you understand the general principles. Somebody with more practice will do it faster and more consistently, but its a relatively low skill ceiling to sharpen a knife.
Might as well get a set of stones off Amazon and give it a try yourself. If your knives are already wrecked you’re probably not going to make them worse.
You could also reach out to some of the places around the city that do cooking classes, some of them might do occasional sharpening classes or know people who do.
A lansky sharpening kit will run you like 50 bucks and it's easy to use. There are other options like KME, spyderco, and more. It's all really easy and AFAIK kitchen knife steel is much easier to work with than tool steel knives.
Edit - lanky to lansky
most knives are made of tool steels (D2, CPM10V, 440C, etc) so it's not a real differentiator there.
That's a good point. I guess what I meant was many pocket knives tend to have harder to sharpen steels - m390, 20cv, s90v, etc. Kitchen knives don't generally need the toughness or whatever you want to call it, so should usually be easier to sharpen.
I must say that I use my spydiechef (lc200n) in the kitchen - I know it's impractical - and it is fantastic.
yeah that's true. I used to work for the Bohler tool steel distributor, but my memory on most of the subject is foggy.
Steel and Stone show past sharpening events, but there's nothing on their web site or social media about this being a service they offer regularly. Shoot them an email and see if they'll hold a session.
If they do, please let me know. I've been looking for something locally too.
Came here to say this. I don't feel like sharpening my knives myself, but after using this guy, I don't want anyone else doing it.
Hey thanks! I got in touch with them earlier today actually - they don't have any non-industry workshops right now but they are planning something in the next month or so with Hudson Table in NoLibs so I am keeping an eye out for that. But maybe in the meantime I should see if this person can fix the botched job on my knives.
Thanks for getting back to me. I'll keep an eye on Hudson Tables. Hopefully they can fix your knives. You can always send them one and see how it goes.
Who wrecked your knives? And were they nice knives?
Kitchen Kapers. My two chefs knives came back with the tips chipped off and bent. It looked like they had been dropped on their tips. To "repair" the issue, the store ground the tips off which took the whole tip off one knife. I've never dropped these knives- I noticed the issues as soon as I got home. The knives were wrapped for transit. The store only reluctantly refunded me for the sharpening after arguing with me and telling me I shouldn't put my knives in the dishwasher (which I never have? And I didn't use or clean the knives before noticing the issue. I unwrapped them as soon as I got home) and telling me the tips would form points again after repeated sharpening (as a home cook, I only sharpen my knives 1x-2x per year so that would take several years). I can no longer use the tips of these knives at all.
Damn, that sucks!
I learned when this guy came to a Philadelphia university campus and gave some free demonstrations. (Korin also sharpens by mail.)
I'm planning on visiting Korin in a few weeks to buy myself a really fancy knife! Which is also why I want to sharpen myself 😁 I would just die if I got to take a class with this guy. Do you happen to know who orchestrated the demonstration? I can also get in touch with Korin to see if they have any future workshops planned.
If I had to make one recommendation, its to buy a knife that has equal edge angles on both sides. Specialty Japanese knives can often have different angles on both sides and those knives are both difficult to use and difficult to sharpen. A single bevel or 30/70 knives are extremely niche and cannot serve the same multi purpose role of a good chef's knife.
Well this has escalated coincidentally 😃
Yeah, I looked and saw no relevant upcoming classes or events, but didn't scour their socials.
Vincent's demo must have been sponsored by a hospitality management program.
I wonder if JNA or Walnut Hill College would open anything to the public ...
(I did leave Vincent's demo with a double-sided/compact stone ... later added a stone fixer ... and years later, have just treated myself to a Korin usuba!)
Thank you so much for the resources!! If you have any tips for shopping at Korin, please lemme know 😊(idk what kind of tips there would be but you seem like a knowledgeable person)
Thanks, fam, definitely still learning!
No referral code to share, I regret; but as a Korin.com lurker, I'm fairly confident that they refresh the discount in their banner at the beginning of every month.
Envious that you're gonna visit the mothership. Feel the weight, the shape of everything in your hand!
Well, I guess those knives are your sharpening practice knives now..yikes. The good news is you'd be hard pressed to screw up you own knives that badly with just a whetstone. Sorry I don't have any good suggestions for places to learn but good luck! People sometimes make sharpening with a stone seem really fancy but if you're just going for a functional edge and not a mirror polish its not too bad.
Ouch, sorry to hear that. I usually take my knives to Steel&Stone, and they do a decent job.
I’ve been looking into getting a whetstone and learning how to sharpen knives myself recently, r/sharpening and r/chefknives are full of threads about picking a whetstone and links to tutorials.
I use a work sharp. Makes it difficult to screw up. They run about 50 or 60 bucks.
I am a woodworker and regularly sharpen chisels on diamond stones but I’ve always struggled with knives.
I picked up this system a couple months ago and I was able to get my knives sharper than I ever have.
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Deluxe-Lansky-Sharpening-System-P102.aspx
I’ve found it’s good (like really, really good) for small pocket knives, but I’ve struggled with larger kitchen cutlery. It does weird things to edge geometry with 8” chef knives.
Watch a YouTube channel called Burrfection. I learned how to do so by watching videos he made. You'll have to dig through his videos because a lot are just reviews but he has enough tutorials to get you on your way.
It is woodworking oriented but this would be a good start: https://www.philadelphiafurnitureworkshop.com/foundation-courses/basic-sharpening-88sr6
Was it by chance the knife sharpener who has a booth at the Headhouse farmer’s market? “Neil’s Sharpening” I think? That dude fucked up both of my Wüsthof’s and sliced his finger wide open when I made the mistake of letting him sharpen my knives a few months back.
Kitchen Kapers messed up my knives beyond repair and they "fixed" the problem by rounding off the tips of both knives. I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you though! It's really heartbreaking to have a knife ruined. They are precious tools and I'm surprised by how emotional it made me to have them damaged like that.
I use the Edge-Pro system for my non-Japanese knives. They get sent to Korin.
Unless you have lots of free time just get an electric sharpener like the Trizor xv. I had a whetstone previously and never used it because it would take so long to sharpen 3 knives. Switched to the trizor and now I sharpen every 4 months or so.
Electric sharpeners are great for knives that cost less than $20. If you have a good knife with good steel those types of sharpeners are just going to mess up your edge over time.
I honestly think this is overblown or people are taking experience with cheap sharpeners and extrapolating. This sharpener is very well reviewed and it’s taken care of my knives very well.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/chefschoice-trizor-xv-review/amp/
Note - I know some people are very particular about their knives as a hobby. Im just a home cook and like having sharp knives that work. From that point of view a good home sharpener has done amazingly.
It depends on how much you care about your knife. If its a cheapish german knife with soft steel and you dont care about grinding off a lot of steel, electric sharpeners are fine. When you get into super hard and thin japanese steels in the 61-65HRC range, they tend to chip the blade just due to the edge geometry, and you have no control over your knife edge angle.
That NYT article fully misunderstands knife sharpening and its there to sell a product. A few passes on a single diamond stone ($50 bucks) followed by a leather strop ($15) to remove the burr will bring any knife, any steel to a razor edge without needing water or any other complex setups.
I fully get that most people don't want to spending the time to learn to sharpen a knife (probably takes 4 or 5 hours of practice to get good on a shit knife) and dont want to invest in a set of stones they'll use once a year at most. But if you have 1 good stone and just use it on your knife for 2 minutes every month you'll never have a dull edge. Hell if you replaced a hone with a strop with diamond compound sprayed onto it and stropped it for 60 seconds every week it will never go dull.
Rant aside - I highly recommend the spyderco sharpmaker for anybody want to sharpen knifes without learning to use a stone. Nearly impossible to mess up and it doesnt destroy your edges.
Get the right equipment and learn on YouTube.
If you read my post, I have reasons for not wanting to learn on YouTube. If you're going to just recommend YouTube, you could at least share some links or youtubers that you find helpful.
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mortgagepants t1_j7m7ds1 wrote
i don't know of any...but if you're ever lost in the woods, start sharpening your knife. immediately someone will show up to tell you how you're doing it wrong.