Blade Sharpening

While kitchen tools make up the majority of most sharpening service requests, we also service:

• Tailoring and grooming shears
• Garden pruners and loppers
• Hunting and pocket knives
• Serrated blades (yes, they can be sharpened!)
• Food industry and restaurant blades

If it has an edge, chances are we can bring it back to life.

For most home cooks, kitchen knives benefit from professional sharpening every 6 to 12 months, though the exact timing depends on how often the knives are used, what types of surfaces they’re cutting on, and the hardness of the steel. High-carbon or Japanese steel blades, which tend to hold an edge longer but can chip more easily, may go longer between sharpenings if handled carefully.

• Scissors, especially fabric or grooming shears, should be serviced at least annually.
• Meat processing tools and butcher knives may need sharpening more frequently if used in commercial settings.

Softer stainless steel knives used daily on hard cutting boards (like glass or ceramic) may need sharpening as often as every 3 to 6 months to maintain performance and safety. Proper honing between sharpenings can help extend the interval, but even the best blades eventually require true edge reformation that only professional sharpening can deliver.

In the section below, we’ll cover some ways you can tell if your knife/scissors or other blade needs to be sharpened.

You don’t have to be a chef or knife enthusiast to recognize a dull blade—your knife or shear will tell you itself when it’s not performing the way it should. Here are some of the most common and reliable signs that your blade is overdue for sharpening:

Tearing Instead of Slicing

If you notice that your knife is crushing or tearing through foods like tomatoes, herbs, or meat instead of making clean, precise cuts, that’s a clear sign the edge has dulled. A properly sharpened blade should glide through without resistance.

Slipping or Skipping on Contact

A dull edge can lose its grip on the surface it’s trying to cut, especially when working with smooth or slick ingredients. If your blade skates or slips off the item instead of biting into it on the first pass, it needs attention.

Needing Extra Pressure to Cut

Having to apply more force than usual to cut through items—even soft ones like fruits, bread, or cheese—is not only inefficient, it can be dangerous. Excess pressure increases the risk of slipping and accidental injury.

Visible Nicks, Dents, or Rolled Edges

Take a close look at your blade under good lighting. A sharp knife edge should look uniform and straight. If you spot tiny chips, dents, or a shiny reflection along the edge (a “rolled edge”), that means the metal has deformed and won’t cut effectively.

Ragged or Uneven Cuts

When slicing proteins, breads, or vegetables, a dull blade leaves rough edges or uneven cuts. In cooking, this can affect both texture and presentation—and in professional settings, it can slow down prep time significantly.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, serrated knives can be sharpened. However, they require a different approach than straight-edged blades.

Serrated knives have a series of small, saw-like teeth along the edge, each of which does the cutting. Because only the tips of the serrations typically make contact with food, they tend to stay sharp longer than straight-edge knives. However, when they do get dull, sharpening them properly takes more care and the right tools.

Professional sharpeners use tapered sharpening rods or specialized serration hones that match the size and shape of each serration. Each gullet (the curved space between the teeth) must be sharpened individually, which is a more time-consuming and delicate process than with flat-edge blades.

Some low-end or heavily worn serrated knives are best replaced rather than sharpened, but quality serrated knives—like bread knives or utility knives—can absolutely be resharpened and restored, often extending their useful life by years.

Yes, even inexpensive knives are worth sharpening. In fact, lower-cost kitchen knives are often made from softer stainless steel, which tends to dull more quickly than higher-end blades made with harder, more wear-resistant alloys.

That doesn’t make them bad knives, necessarily—it just means they need sharpening more often to stay effective.

Professional sharpening can breathe new life into these tools by restoring a clean, consistent edge that cuts more safely and efficiently. Dull knives require more force to use, which not only increases the risk of injury but also leads to poor cutting performance and unnecessary frustration in the kitchen.

Keeping budget-friendly knives professionally maintained is also a smart way to reduce waste. Instead of tossing them out and replacing them every time they get dull, regular sharpening helps extend their usable life—making them a much better long-term value.

Examples of Inexpensive Knives Worth Sharpening

• Victorinox Fibrox Pro
• Mercer Culinary Millennia Series
• Dexter-Russell Basics Series
• Cuisinart 15-piece Knife Sets (and similar big-box brands)
• Chicago Cutlery
• Farberware
• Hampton Forge
• IKEA 365+ or VÖRDA Knives
• Amazon Basics.

Henckels are perfect candidates for sharpening because they’re solid enough to keep, but soft enough to need regular maintenance.

Of course, they are in a bit of a gray area as far as whether they are “inexpensive” or not, due to their multiple product lines at very different price points. There are the mass-market Henckels (often labeled “Henckels International”), and they are absolutely worth sharpening—even though they’re more affordable:

• Henckels International Classic
• Modernist
• Statement
• Dynamic
• Graphite

These lines are typically made in China or Thailand with softer stamped stainless steel (like 3Cr13 or X50CrMoV15), making them budget-friendly but more prone to dulling. Professional sharpening can significantly improve their performance and longevity. On the other hand, knives branded as “Zwilling J.A. Henckels” (note the “Zwilling” part) are usually:

1. Made in Germany or Spain
2. Constructed from higher-grade steel
3. Forged, not stamped

Examples include:

• Zwilling Pro
• Zwilling Four Star
• Zwilling Twin Signature
• Zwilling Professional “S”

Note that these are higher-end and should also be sharpened professionally—but they’re not what you’d typically classify as “inexpensive.”

Whether it’s a $20 paring knife or a well-worn set of economy blades, professional sharpening gives you better results for less money and helps you get more out of your tools—no matter what you paid for them.