Has anyone used Knife Aid?

I'll let you know! I have a lot of kitchen knives and thought I would send in some that have little sentimental value and see how they do. I ordered a package and my shipping container is on the way to my house.

I've used this guy before. Sharper than brand new and 24 hour turn around. I couldn't stop cutting newspaper every time someone came over for a couple weeks.

https://knifesharpeningbyhand.com/

I know this isn't exactly the question you asked, so sorry up front



I looked for a send away service for a long time - including at a couple of fairly well known and well respected ones in NYC and Seattle.



Knife Aids turn time is better than theirs, but the thing that ultimately pushed me to buy my own sharpening system was cost. With 4-5 knives and a couple pairs of kitchen shears, each time through KA or another service is $60+. And that's assuming all those things need to be sharpened at the same time.


I'm a functional idiot when it comes to all things sharpening - me and stones were a disaster, I can never get the edge I want with a pull through, etc. My sister in low got me a Ken Onion WS and it's fantastic. Knives are as sharp or sharper than when I got them and it takes less than 5 minutes to fix up a knife.


Biggest thing for me with the send away is that my knives don't get used evenly and don't need work at the same time. If you had a LOT of knives, and could send 6 off at once, might be a different story.

$10 a knife is pricey enough that you could afford a good electric sharpener. I opted for a low cost Chef's Choice 290 Angle Select hybrid jus two weeks past. Sharpened all my kitchen stuff (12+knives) in about 1/2 hr. Cuts paper just fine. How long it will last is another question but at $90 I'm already ahead of the game.

Quality sharpening unless there is some profile work will run roughly $1 an inch with a $5 minimum charge. So if you have a 4" paring knife it will be $5. And a 10" chefs knife will be around $10. You could look locally, maybe call a few restaurants and see if they outsource their knives.... or you could buy a sharpener. On the manual side I have an Edge Pro, Pro Model and I have a belt sharpener by Worksharp (Ken Onion edition). The Edge Pro is in the $500 range and the Worksharp is in the $100 range. There are plenty of others in between. Both of mine have their uses but are easy to master. The kicker is.... once you get your knives sharpened they are super easy to maintain with a ceramic rod or steel. The hard part is most people don't know the difference between 15° and 20° when using a rod or steel. I would recommend using an angle guide because you only need 3 or 4 strokes to straighten the edge maybe once a week. They are about $10 for a set.



When I sharpen knives for friends I label with the angle and take a photo so If they ever need touching up I know the original angle. Then I'll use a 3000 belt or stone.

I often DIY stuff and am not immune to internet commerce, but I strongly recommend supporting local business with this one.

Screwed up, Sorry for the mispost.

I go to these guys in St. Louis.
https://bertarellico.com/cutlery/

They also have a send-in service at $5 per knife.

They are on "The Hill" (Italian neighborhood). Tons of restaurants use them.
They've been in business since 1974

Restaurants (especially steak places) have used such services for years. I'm happy enough with simple pull through devices that I sharpen after most every use as I am putting them back in the knife block. Now if I'd really trashed a blade I might consider an outside sharpening service but then I don't have a kitchen stocked by high dollar equipment.

I called KnifeAid a few weeks back to as some questions. Mainly stuff i already knew the answers to, but i wanted to see their answers. Overall the customer service rep i spoke with seemed fairly knowledgeable.

They use standard multi-grit belt sharpeners. Say they determine the grits based on the individual knife steel and how much the edge needs to be reset.

In the end i went with the local guy who comes and sharpens everything at my house. It was much cheaper. He did 12 knives for $85 and gets everything done in about an hour.

thirdeye said:

Quality sharpening unless there is some profile work will run roughly $1 an inch with a $5 minimum charge. So if you have a 4" paring knife it will be $5. And a 10" chefs knife will be around $10. You could look locally, maybe call a few restaurants and see if they outsource their knives.... or you could buy a sharpener. On the manual side I have an Edge Pro, Pro Model and I have a belt sharpener by Worksharp (Ken Onion edition). The Edge Pro is in the $500 range and the Worksharp is in the $100 range. There are plenty of others in between. Both of mine have their uses but are easy to master. The kicker is.... once you get your knives sharpened they are super easy to maintain with a ceramic rod or steel. The hard part is most people don't know the difference between 15° and 20° when using a rod or steel. I would recommend using an angle guide because you only need 3 or 4 strokes to straighten the edge maybe once a week. They are about $10 for a set.

When I sharpen knives for friends I label with the angle and take a photo so If they ever need touching up I know the original angle. Then I'll use a 3000 belt or stone.

Click to expand...

Would like your input on the Ken Onion. I now watched several videos, some comparing the original Work Sharp to the Ken Onion with some criticism of the latter. The major being the angle guide that is not fixed on the Onion. Question; could a small clamp with sufficient clearing to allow knife movement be used to secure the angle guide so it does not change when the knife is pressed against it?

thirdeye said:

Quality sharpening unless there is some profile work will run roughly $1 an inch with a $5 minimum charge. So if you have a 4" paring knife it will be $5. And a 10" chefs knife will be around $10. You could look locally, maybe call a few restaurants and see if they outsource their knives.... or you could buy a sharpener. On the manual side I have an Edge Pro, Pro Model and I have a belt sharpener by Worksharp (Ken Onion edition). The Edge Pro is in the $500 range and the Worksharp is in the $100 range. There are plenty of others in between. Both of mine have their uses but are easy to master. The kicker is.... once you get your knives sharpened they are super easy to maintain with a ceramic rod or steel. The hard part is most people don't know the difference between 15° and 20° when using a rod or steel. I would recommend using an angle guide because you only need 3 or 4 strokes to straighten the edge maybe once a week. They are about $10 for a set.

When I sharpen knives for friends I label with the angle and take a photo so If they ever need touching up I know the original angle. Then I'll use a 3000 belt or stone.

Click to expand...

any recommendations on honing steels? brand/size/material?

halfcocked said:

Would like your input on the Ken Onion. I now watched several videos, some comparing the original Work Sharp to the Ken Onion with some criticism of the latter. The major being the angle guide that is not fixed on the Onion. Question; could a small clamp with sufficient clearing to allow knife movement be used to secure the angle guide so it does not change when the knife is pressed against it?

Click to expand...

Although I usually get too critical with my testing, whether it be a technique, recipe, tool etc., I am thorough. I have probably sharpened 50 or 60 knives on the Ken Onion Edition and 4 or 5 pairs of scissors. I also saw a video that was critical of the angle guide, and since it's spring loaded.... you can apply pressure against it and it will move. Now, lets say you do apply enough pressure to move the guide, when that happens the cutting edge will be forced harder into the belt, (more friction and resistance) and that is a very noticeable feel. I don't see how the guide could be clamped in place. One thing I am not sure of is the accuracy of the angle itself. Is the 15° hash mark really 15° or is it 14.5°? With manual stone sharpening (or poor honing) you can be off a degree or two anyways so I don't worry about that.

The recommended technique involves making contact (with very slight pressure) with the guide and at the same time allowing the weight of the knife to rest against the belt. The knife is drawn back at a consistent rate (the manual says 1" per second) but consistency is the key here. So, you are doing 4 things when sharpening: 1. using the guide as your reference for angle, 2. allowing the weight of the knife to contact the belt, 3. drawing the knife towards you in a straight line, and 4. counting the number of passes when raising a burr, for example 3 on one side, 3 on the other, then counting down. Later, you will be alternating the knife each time. I personally don't have any issues with the guide and it takes a short learning curve to manipulate the knife while paying attention to the four variables. I keep a firm grip on the knife... but a light touch against the guide and a light touch on the belt. Pretty soon it's all one natural motion paying attention to both feel and sound.

One good tip is that you have to release the trigger as the point of the knife approaches the belt, or it's possible to round it off slightly. This is also easy to figure out how to do. Have you watched any of the videos with the Work Sharp rep? He is a slender guy with silver hair and does a great job explaining the product.

fantomlord said:

any recommendations on honing steels? brand/size/material?

Click to expand...

You have 3 choices for hones.... steel, ceramic, and diamond. The purpose is to straighten the edge after it's been used a few times. Sort of taking a "~" shape and straightening it back out. A steel will do only that. Ceramic and diamond hones also do that but they remove a slight amount of material. I have a Chicago Cutlery steel and ceramic, an Egde Pro ceramic, and several of diamond hones, two of which are tapered for touching up serrated blades. Mine are 10" and that is fine for most of my knives, but I do have to be careful with a cimeter and two slicers. I've used 12" steels and since I hone in the vertical position, that length is very handy if you have a lot of long knives.

For recommendations I would say the handle is more important than the brand, you want a good feel. But even a Messermeister steel or ceramic will be very reasonable in price. The steel on a steel is very hard because there are knives with hardened steel and you want the steel material harder than the knife. Next consideration would be grit on a stone, usually between 1200 and 2000, but there are some really fine grit rods out there. I would start with a steel or a ceramic and get a diamond later on if needed.

Thanks for the input thirdeye. Yes I have seen the work sharp video(s).
By the way, my romance with the Chefs Choice 290 came to an end yesterday, attempting to raise a bur on a filet knife and a camp knife. Could not do it after innumerable tries. I examined the sharpening disks as best I could and found that chips of diamond coating had broken away from its edges. Don't know if that was the reason for the failure or that the abrasive had already worn down, etc. Anyway, it went back to BB&B for a full refund.
Sooooo, I'm now hunting for a sharpener system and I think the Work Sharp will be it. Another question in my mind is whether I would be just as happy with the original ($70) instead of the Onion model. After all, I'm just using it for home knife sharpening. As usual with me though, I'm tilting towards the more expensive Onion.

halfcocked said:

Thanks for the input thirdeye. Yes I have seen the work sharp video(s).
By the way, my romance with the Chefs Choice 290 came to an end yesterday, attempting to raise a bur on a filet knife and a camp knife. Could not do it after innumerable tries. I examined the sharpening disks as best I could and found that chips of diamond coating had broken away from its edges. Don't know if that was the reason for the failure or that the abrasive had already worn down, etc. Anyway, it went back to BB&B for a full refund.
Sooooo, I'm now hunting for a sharpener system and I think the Work Sharp will be it. Another question in my mind is whether I would be just as happy with the original ($70) instead of the Onion model. After all, I'm just using it for home knife sharpening. As usual with me though, I'm tilting towards the more expensive Onion.

Click to expand...

I have only used the original a few times when I borrowed one for a weekend. The belts for the original are 1/2" verses 3/4" and the KO model is more adjustable. I also think the KO motor is heavier duty.

I watched a demo of the KO and the amount of steel "dust" it produced made me cringe. I also read that belted sharpeners like the KO will grind a convex bevel on a knife edge. I have a cheapo ceramic pull thru that keeps my knives paper slicing sharp, if they get really boogered up or I want them shaving sharp I break out the Lansky.

Dplorable said:

I watched a demo of the KO and the amount of steel "dust" it produced made me cringe. I also read that belted sharpeners like the KO will grind a convex bevel on a knife edge. I have a cheapo ceramic pull thru that keeps my knives paper slicing sharp, if they get really boogered up or I want them shaving sharp I break out the Lansky.

Click to expand...

Some bladesmiths do use the KO specifically for both convexing and for scary sharp edges, but the advantages of a convex grind can diminish with a scary sharp edge because the edge will be less durable. So something like a convex edge with a micro edge in the paper slicing range is good for a hunting or utility knife.

I have a Lanskey C-Sharp (with four preset angle V-hones) that I'll use to restore or initiate an angle on neglected edges. I think it's around a 400 or 500 grit, so it's an okay starting point before going finer.