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Sharpening Tips

  • Writer: RazorSharpNC
    RazorSharpNC
  • Oct 13, 2019
  • 1 min read

Updated: Jan 30, 2020

A good way to test whether your knife is properly sharpened is to do a paper slice in the air. Hold a piece of paper up in front of you and slice through the edge of the paper, starting with the back of the blade and slicing through to the tip. If the knife does not easily slice the paper, it probably is not sharp enough.


Imagine spending a fair amount of money on a nice piece of meat, fish, poultry or produce. Imagine then bringing it home and ruining the whole lot with a blunt knife.

Using expertly sharpened knives provides a smoothly cut surface with minimum pressure applied - instead of tearing off fibers and losing essential oils, flavors and texture on your chopping board. In other words: food prepared with a sharp knife tastes better! Sharp knives are also much more fun to work with.

Razor sharp knife





A professionally sharpened knife cuts better, stays sharp for longer and is easier to keep sharp once the blade starts to get dull again. You can think honing is like brushing your teeth, sharpening is like going to the dentist.

Knives need professional sharpening about once or twice a year, depending on how much you use them. Unfortunately, local knife sharpeners have become a rare breed these days. Luckily, Knife Aid can provide you with professionally sharpened knives no matter where in the U.S. you live. Once we return your knives to you, they will be as good as new.

If you love cooking - sharpen your knives! If you love the person who’s cooking - sharpen their knives!

Updated: Jan 30, 2020

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) not to invest in a sharpening system, but send them out to a knife sharpening service:

1) You haven’t the interest or patience to master a new skill. Sharpening by its very nature 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 that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Because, 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, like any valuable skill, 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.



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. If you really really must sharpen your own, be prepared to pay $100 dollars and up for a decent system. 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. Take the next step and find a qualified sharpening service at Reviews of Professional Knife Sharpening Services. You’ll wonder why you waited so long! P.S. After you get your knives back from the sharpening service, you must hone them regularly if you want to keep them sharp.





  • Writer: RazorSharpNC
    RazorSharpNC
  • Oct 13, 2019
  • 1 min read

Updated: Jan 30, 2020

No matter if you’re a professional hair stylist or an at-home amateur, it is absolutely vital that you keep your hair scissors clean, sharp and nick-free. Keeping them is the best condition possible will make a noticeable difference in the ease of use, as well as the final result of the haircut. Finely kept sharp hair scissors cut hair buy snipping each strand at the exact point at which the scissors are placed. Quality hair shears will make such a sharp snip that you’ll be able to hear it! You’ll also be able to cut a section of hair easily and accurately. These are signs that your scissors are sharp and safe to use. If you allow the hair shears to become dull, they will bend the hair over the scissors and tear it, rather than finely cut it. This will result in a poorly executed, uneven cut that will damage the ends of the hair. Not to mention, it can pull the client’s hair and be quite painful. It is vitally important to sharpen your hair scissors often, and well. You should always employ the skills of a professional when sharpening your shears because they will do the best job possible. It’s likely that you spent a lot of money on these hair scissors, so you’d hate to ruin them by trying to sharpen them yourself.



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