$6 Smaller knife
Up to 10cm long.
Tired of blunt kitchen knives?
Let me get your knives back to as-new for you.
Pricing
Pretty simple. Small knives and big knives. There is no need to over complicate things.
Have something else, sure lets have a chat.
$8 Bigger knife
10cm to 30cm long.
Other Sharps
$6 Secateurs
$8 Axe
$8 Garden shears
$8 Kitchen scissors
Repairs
Typically same cost as the sharpening. So for a small would be $6 to repair and then $6 to sharpen
My Service
Pretty simple. I sharpen straight edge sharps. This is the normal assortment of Chef, Utility, Santoku, Cleaver, Paring, Filleting, Brisket... and lots of other names encompassing sharp stuff used in the kitchen to prepare food.
Kitchen scissors, secateurs, garden shears, long swords, axes, etc are all good too. Fundamentally its just an edge with a unique bevel angle and unique sharpening style making them fiddly to dissemble / maneuver.
✅ Standard Kitchen Knives, Scissors, and Secateurs.
Chef, Utility, Santoku, Cleavers, Paring, Filleting, Brisket, Leatherman, Pocket. Anything with a straight edge out to about 40cm.
My happy place to whisk whisk away with the stones.
✅ Slightly Damaged Knife
Small damage I'm happy to repair. Stuff like
- 1mm-2mm nicks in the face
- dished out blades where I can file it back to a true face
- broken tips which you simply want filed to a safe/blunt tip
✅ Group Bookings
For group bookings (eg unit complex) I'm happy to pack up the workshop and come to you for a day (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday). I would need access to power, some shelter, and your assistance communicating with tenants.
❌ Badly Damaged Knife
Major damage (say more than 2mm deep) or bent blade, sorry this will require shop attention from the bigger operators. I am happy to recommend folks that can assist you.
❌ Specialised Sharps
I'm unable to take on bread knives, professional working scissors, swords, high-tensile combat knives, hook knives, swords and other oddities. Basically stuff that needs specialised gear or isn't legal to carry around (eg a Hattori Hanzō katana). Roughly these items are
- doesn't have a smooth cutting face
- super hard needing specialist gear
- tight bends
- sharpening from unusual angles
- I'm not comfortable sharpening
Gallery of sharps
Some of the knives which have come over the bench
Opening Hours and Drop-Off/Collection
Service is available by appointment from my Hamilton workshop. Standard hours are
Monday to Friday : 5pm to 8pm (evenings only)
Saturday and Sunday : 8am to 6pm (daylight hours)
I am happy to discuss pick-up and drop-off outside of these hours (eg from your place) however please note I won't hit the workshop for actual sharpening till the above hours.
Give me a call or drop me a message and I'm sure we can work out something.
Some drop at my place, go do the shopping, and collect on the way home.
Some I've cycle via their home while commuting to my day job.
Some I've met in the city during our respective lunch breaks.
Typically households plan around not having their first-choice knives for a night
and utilise the day-turnaround.
Weekdays
5pm to 8pm by appointment.
I do have a fortnightly Friday RDO, which providing I've nothing planned means I can do a same-day service.
Weekends
8am to 6pm by appointment
Providing I've not got something booked / planned, am generally happy to commit to a same-day service.
Service Areas
For those driving to me, please note my workshop hours and that I am located at Hamilton.
As noted above I am happy to arrange pick-up and drop-off from your work/residence as part of my daily cycle commute the city. A wee side detour is good for my fitness:
Hamilton, Ascot, Hendra, Eagle Farm, Newstead, New Farm, Clayfield, Teneriffe, Windsor, Bowen Hills, Spring HIll, Fortitude Valley
For a scheduled visit to a complex for a day-booking, the radius is a little bigger and lets have a chat.
How Do I Sharpen Knives
This is a by-hand process using a guided system where I'll typically spend 10-15 minutes per knife. Ultimately its not Its not rocket science, its patience and being methodical to suit each knife shape, the steel type, and its current condition.
Honed Edge started its life using the Hapstone guided system and over time have upgraded to a pair of Tormek wheels to reduce the time per knife. For the majority of knives I continue to use the guides, primarily because I like ensuring a consistent edge angle across the face, and not an approximate/variable edge profile.
I did have visions of starting a market-stall, however changing community attitudes and laws that apply to knives in public spaces have largely killed that idea. You'll probably have noticed the "knife vans" that used to frequent markets disappeared. Its technically not illegal to run a stall or carry a knife for a valid business reason.... but its definitely frowned up and becomes challenging for everyone's duty of care.
If knife isn't good enough to hang on my wall, then the job isn't done.
Knife Care
Some suggestions to prolong the cutting edge on your knives.
Hand wash only, the dishwasher is abrasive and will dull the edge
Avoid cutting on hard surfaces like glass, granite, and ceramic. Cutting boards (wood and plastic) are ideal.
Store your knives in a block (edge up) or on a magnetic wall strip. Bouncing around in the top drawer will dull the edge, and for freshly sharpened knives likely to be a cut-risk for careless hands
Rinse and wipe after cutting acidic or salty foods (tomatoes, citrus, cured meats)
Use the right knife for the job. Paring and carving knives have a fine edge (less durable) for slicing. Cleavers and utility knives have a broad edge (more durable) for chopping and hard produce (raw pumpkin).
About Me
Long winded, apologies in advance.
What I've learned after using cheaper blades for most of my life... is they're actually ok. Yes you must give them a bit of love every month as they won't hold an edge like better steel, but like all tools if you maintain the tool then it will keep working. In a way, this is ok (for me) because I get enjoyment from sharpening the knives. 🙂 Would I replace them if they broke, hells yes in a heart beat. Some of the knives that come through my hands for sharpening are outright beautiful, feel amazing in the hand, and cut so so nice.
Years ago, a good 20yrs ago, I was given a double sided sharpening stone for Christmas and my old father in-law chiseled out a nice wooden box for it. I used it, and if we're honest, I was pretty crap at it. I'd try to image "halving" the blade angle 90 to 45 to 22.5 and then working the blade just old-timers would tell me to. The result was sort-of ok but nothing to boast about.
A bunch of years later I got more curious and while on a US work trip picked up a little Lanksy kit and made myself a wooden jig to suit different knives in the house.The result was actually pretty good and I had a consistent and decent edge. I was mostly content that I was most-of the way towards emulating TV chefs (in cutting, not cooking).
Roll forward to 2022, back end of the Spicy Cough. My two jigs worked well, but the limitations where playing on my mind as I learned more about the craft. Read, watched, and learned a bunch more on my options and chose a non-mechanical setup (longer term I can envisage mechanical gear, a van, a stall at weekend markets...), and bought a Hapstone rig. I liked that it had a flip-flop mech, I liked that it had a long reach so bigger blades could be done in a single pass, and I liked I had a way of knowing the angle to ensure every knife could (not should) be different. I bit the bullet, love it, and my knives stepped up an order of magnitude in their sharpness.
Being candid. There is something really pleasing about getting a tool of the wall, knowing its at the peak of its game, and slicing up tucker so easily. There's no second guessing about the sharp vs dodgey knives, its purely which knife is best shaped to the task.
Ok so this is all fine and dandy. I enjoy having a sharp set of knives on the wall, I enjoy keeping them sharp, and have a neat rig to do so.... but I get to play with the rig about once a month (for the cheap knives), and I absolutely will not stoop to blunting my knives purely sate my weirdness. Badda boom badda bing and a synapse storm later, Honed Edge is a thing. For what I think is a reasonable cost for hand stone sharpening, I get to do something I enjoy more often, I can buy the odd coffee or lunch at work guilt free, and you bring a whole heap of zip back to your kitchen tools.
Roll forward a couple more years and I've moved to a mechanical setup with a couple Tormek machines. The goal remains the same, enjoy the craft, bring some zing back to your kitchen, and feed my guilt free coffee (and the odd muffin) addiction back into other small businesses.
You might see me at the odd Repair Cafe too, donating my time and prattling away with the lovely folks who come through.
Thanks for your patience reading my little story :) Jeff
photo: showing my "sharp" dance moves while volunteering at a community event.
Safety and Legal
For Queensland you need to be specifically aware of the laws surrounding the carrying of knives in public.
You can with a valid business reason travel with a knife. BUT, and the big BUT, is it needs to be done responsibly and in a way to not alarm the public or gain you undue attention.
Police do have the right to wand/search you for knives. Be up-front, honest, and don't muck around.
Valid business reason : I am a registered business and you are traveling to me to engage in a business service.
Responsible carriage : that is on you to do things like wrapped in a tea-towel and bottom of your bag (ie they secured for transit).
Ready for sharp knives? Stop hacking away like a lumber jack!
Superscript
Name: Honed Edge
ABN: 55 335 016 077
Description: Kitchen knife & Garden Tool Sharpening on a by-appointment basis. The business is open during the below hours.