Five Good Reasons NOT to Sharpen Your Own Knives

Just because you’re proud of the prowess of your kitchen knives, doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to do your own kitchen knife sharpening. Here are five reasons why it might be wiser (and easier) to send them out to a knife sharpening service:

1) You don’t have the interest or patience to master a new skill. Sharpening takes some training. If you are not paying close attention to what you are doing, you can easily grind away more metal than you need to or, worse yet, completely ruin a perfectly good knife. Especially using a power sharpening system. There’s a learning curve. Respect the curve. No matter what all the DIY knife sharpening experts tell you, sharpening a knife, like any valuable skill, takes time and concentration to learn and get good at.

2) Your time is precious. Sharpening a kitchen knife can, in an ideal world, take only 10 minutes. That’s, of course, if it’s in pretty good shape to begin with. Otherwise, we’re talking more like 20 minutes or more. But, before all this, you’ve got to put in the hours learning how to, correctly, do it. And no matter what all the DIY knife sharpening experts tell you, sharpening a knife takes time and concentration to learn and get good at. Even if you use a power sharpening system, depending on which brand/model you buy, it could take more time for you do it yourself than to pack up your knives and bring them to a quality sharpening service.

3) Easy-peasy sharpening systems can be the least desirable sharpening solution. General rule-of-thumb—the easier the system, the worse it is for your knives. There are some exceptions to this rule, but fast, easy sharpening is not necessarily quality sharpening.

Second general rule-of-thumb—the more inexpensive the sharpener, the worse it will probably be for your knives. Inexpensive sharpeners tend to grind off more metal than is necessary, thereby shortening the life of your knives

4) You don’t really enjoy sharpening. Life is short. Have you heard the saying, “back to the grindstone”? There’s a reason it means what it means. If you don’t enjoy grinding down metal in the first place, it’s only going to get more and more tedious, not less.

5) Quality knife sharpening services are plentiful and affordable. There is a number of top-notch sharpening services that is right around the corner. Really.

For more information on professional knife sharpening, contact Monnick Supply in Marlborough and Framingham, MA.

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