What's a good price for knife sharpening?

NickTheGreat said:

I wish I could sharpen knives worth a crap. I've tried many times with limited success :doh:

Click to expand...

Don't give up its not too hard but you need some guidance. What are you doing? You can PM me if you want

when I was in culinary arts school I was paying $3-$5 depending on the size of the knife at NorthWest cutlery in Chicago but now that I've had over a decade of practice I sharpen all on my own knives with stones and steels

I too have sharpened mine over the years using a whetstone as in my Scouting days, but I did utilize the services of a pro who was set up across from us at the recent Battle, Smokin at the Maples. He did a great job on 3 of my go to knives at $3 per.
Not a bad deal IMHO.

I pay $5 per knife at my local kitchen supply and they do a great job...

I use the spyderco sharpmaker. It turns even the worst knife to a razor. Well worth it.

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

cheers

Sharpening knives by hand is a long time hobby of mine. Like people said, $1 per inch is standard, but really depends on the quality. It also depends on how sharp a knife you'd like. If you truly don't need or want shaving sharp, then he may be ok. A cheap knife like the kiwi brands are poor quality metal that is just very very thin, but the cutting edge is not as sharp. Because the metal is so cheap, they are easy to sharpen to a "scary sharp", but will not hold that edge for very long at all. Give him an old knife you don't care much about (but not a tiny $3 one either) and see how he does first before bringing all your knives. I'm amazed at how many "professional" knife sharpeners with belt rigs and all have no idea what it means to have a sharp knife.

I use a warthog v sharp classic.
www.v-sharp.com

Westexbbq said:

I too have sharpened mine over the years using a whetstone as in my Scouting days, but I did utilize the services of a pro who was set up across from us at the recent Battle, Smokin at the Maples. He did a great job on 3 of my go to knives at $3 per.
Not a bad deal IMHO.

Click to expand...

I used him also nice guy great job

A buck per inch is pretty standard, although when doing commercial knives in bulk for restaurants $3-$4 is the norm around here. When I do the "house knives" for the restaurant where I work I charge them $3 each. I do them on a belt grinder and a few belts; a coarse one to set the bevel, a couple finer ones and I finish on a leather belt doped with 0.5 micron CrO paste.

For hand sharpening on stones the rates are obviously higher due to the longer time required, and it's more work.

Does anyone use a wicked edge set up ??

I only use a tri-stone and a steel... I have no hair left on my left forarm...

Jeff