Simply wrap them in a dishtowel or some newspaper/packaging paper. Position the knives onto the towel/paper, so that the towel/paper extends beyond the knives’ tips, this way you can fold the extra towel/paper over the tips of the knives, lending lots of good cover. Once they’re rolled up, wrap the bundle with tape/rubber band/twine to secure and you’re all set! We’ll make sure you get your towel back!

Yes! We can still make a cheap knife ridiculously sharp! The main difference between a cheap knife and an expensive knife when it comes to sharpening is that a cheap knife needs to be sharpened even more frequently. We guarantee it will work better for you after we’re done with it than when you first got it!

It depends on a lot of factors. The first, of course, being how frequently you use the knife. For a point of reference, most commercial kitchens sharpen weekly and most professional chefs sharpen daily. The next factor is how you care for your knives (see next FAQ, “How do I care for my knives?”). The way you store, clean, and use a knife all play a big role in how much you can get out of your last sharpening. In general, your regular, “go-to” knives, should be sharpened every 3 months or so. It really varies based on the above factors, so start noticing how your knives feel to you after a sharpen and don’t settle any longer for knives that are dull or not serving you as well as they should!

• For all of the care instructions listed below, we suggest you educate your household on any that apply to them. Anyone who uses the knives at all, even if they’re not the “cook” of the family, and anyone who washes the dishes at all, should be advised on proper knife use and care in order to get the most out of your knives’ recently restored edges.

• PLEASE do not use them to cut food directly on your dinner plates! Do not use them on glass, metal, or stone surfaces, including cutting boards. All of these surfaces are way too hard. They will roll your edges over or abrade them, severely dulling them, and fast! If you have us sharpen your knives and then use these surfaces for any cutting at all, you will almost immediately undo the work that we (or any knife sharpener) did to your edges.

• After glass, metal and stone, the next worst surface to cut your knives on is plastic. Plastic can chip edges and hold grit that will dull your knives more quickly. Harmful bacteria gets in the shallow scratches your knives make in a plastic cutting board and then spreads. Did you know bacteria spreads on plastic cutting boards but dies on wood?

• Wood cutting boards are by far the best material for your edges to cut on. Many people are afraid to use wood cutting boards, especially with meats, for fear of not being able to get them clean. Harmful bacteria cannot grow in wood. Wood contains antimicrobial compounds that kill bacteria. Your butcher uses wood, you should too! To properly clean your wood cutting board, give it a good wash with hot soapy water and dry it with a clean hand towel. We advise also spraying your wood cutting board with white vinegar and then giving it a good scrub. We keep a spray bottle of white vinegar at our kitchen sink at home for this and many other purposes! Not only does white vinegar disinfect, killing bacteria, it also is odor neutralizing, which helps prevent that onion or garlic smell from lingering on your board! You can keep your wood cutting board in good shape with an oil or wax when it starts to look dry.

• Hand wash your knives with a soft cloth, gentle sponge, or stiff bristled brush, dry with a clean dish towel, and return straight to their sheath or knife block

• Do not store loosely in a drawer, unprotected, where they can clank against other cutlery and utensils

• If you hand wash, but then drop them in the utensil compartment of the dry rack you may use for drying dishes in your sink or on your counter, they will clank against other utensils and dull faster

• If you wash them in the dishwasher they will clank against other utensils and dull faster. The other issue with the dishwasher is that your knives stay wet for too long, this can cause corrosion and degradation of the edges.

• If you use your knives and then set them in the bottom of your sink to wash later, they will clank against other utensils, or even the sink itself (especially if you have a stainless steel sink), and they will dull faster

• Be sure to use each knife for its intended purpose. Some people are creatures of habit and use one knife for everything, neglecting all the other knives in their collection. Whereas others just need to learn the function of each of the knives in their block. Are you using your pairing knife to carve a chicken? Your santoku for a baguette? Your boning knife to slice onions? Spread the love! Get more familiar with the purpose of each of your knives, have fun with branching out and utilizing them in what they’re best for!

We believe in giving you the highest quality edge that your knife is capable of and to do that we sharpen by hand with diamond plates. There are popular commercial sharpeners and also small business sharpeners that choose to use machines with either sanding belts or grinding discs to speed up the process, allowing them to sharpen a high volume of knives with a quick turnaround time. Although these methods will give you an edge that is sharp at first, they heat the blade while they’re removing material. Because the machines are heating the metal while they’re sharpening, it softens the metal and actually changes your edge. Your knife is made with metal that is heat treated in very specific ways, at very specific temperatures, and reheating your blade even a few hundred degrees can change the hardness of the steel. This can leave you with an edge that is softer and dulls faster than it should. So here at The Steadfast Edge Company, we take a little longer and work a little harder to preserve the integrity of your blade because to us, integrity is everything.

Some knives have a thick, non sharpened area at the back of the blade. This is called the bolster. If a bolster protrudes below the knife’s edge, it will prevent the rest of the blade from contacting the cutting board making the blade unable to cut through your food. You may notice that when you’re chopping celery, not all the strings are being cut, this might be because your bolster needs to be ground down. Grinding the bolster will allow your entire knife blade to slice clear through your food as intended.

We totally get it and this is the beauty of a small business! We guarantee your knives will be ready for pick up within 7 days. We are happy to work with you to coordinate a time to get your knives that will maximize our efficiency based on our work volume and return them to you as quickly as possible. We can even get them back to you as quickly as within the next day or two! It’s all about communication. Let’s talk, we certainly want you to get back to enjoying your knives or tools! Email Brad here.

Chances are, whatever you are wondering about, we can sharpen it and for a fair price! Serrated edges are our most frequent ask, and the answer is YES! Get in touch, today!