Shun, Wüsthof, Global: Can You Sharpen a Fancy Knife?

Here is the single most common thing people say when they walk into our shop holding a nice knife.

"Be careful, it's a Shun."

We love this. It means you care. It also means somebody, somewhere, convinced you that your knife is a fragile museum piece that will shatter if a stranger looks at it wrong.

So let's clear it up, brand by brand.

First, the thing nobody tells you

A kitchen knife is a wedge of steel. That's the whole product.

Brands differ in three ways that actually matter:

1. How hard the steel is. Harder steel holds an edge longer and chips more easily.
2. What angle the edge is ground at. Narrower cuts better, wider survives abuse.
3. Whether the edge is ground on both sides or one. Almost all of them are both.

That's it. Everything else is the handle, the logo and the box it came in.

The hardness scale, explained badly on purpose

Steel hardness is measured in Rockwell numbers, which is a real thing scientists do with a diamond and a lot of pressure. Here's the version you need.

Softer steel (Victorinox, most Wüsthof, Zwilling, Henckels) rolls over instead of chipping. It dulls faster. It also forgives you for every dumb thing you do, which is why every restaurant line in America runs them.

Harder steel (Shun, MAC, Miyabi, most Japanese knives) stays scary sharp for a lot longer. It also chips if you use it to hack through a chicken bone, pry a lid, or scrape diced onion off the board with the edge.

Scraping with the edge is how most expensive knives die. Flip the knife over. Use the spine.

The angle thing

German knives have traditionally been ground around 20 degrees per side. Japanese knives are usually closer to 15. Newer Wüsthofs come from the factory nearer the Japanese number, because everyone eventually noticed that thinner cuts better.

Here's the part that matters: a good sharpener matches the angle the knife already has. We don't drag your Shun over to 20 degrees because that's easier for us. The knife leaves the way the factory meant it.

Brand by brand, quickly

Notice what's missing from that table: a price column. It's $8 a knife. A $19 Victorinox and a $300 Shun cost exactly the same to sharpen, which annoys some people and delights others.

"But my brand offers free sharpening"

Several of them do, and it's a genuinely nice perk. Here's the catch nobody puts on the box.

You have to pack the knife, pay to ship it, and then cook without it for a few weeks.

Meanwhile the knife you reach for every night is the second-sharpest one in the block, and you slowly forget the good one exists.

Drop-off takes about ten seconds of your life. In by noon at our Flower Mound shop and it's usually ready the same day.

How to not wreck a nice knife between sharpenings

• Wood or plastic board only. Glass and stone boards are edge shredders. So is the granite counter.
• Hand wash, dry, put it away. The dishwasher is a hot rattling box full of other metal. Your knife loses that fight.
• Don't scrape with the edge. Spine side, every time.
• Don't store it loose in a drawer with the can opener. Magnet strip, block or a cheap edge guard.
• Hone the soft German ones, go easy on the hard Japanese ones. Here's how honing actually works.

And the one rule that beats all the others: use the good knife. A $300 knife in a display case is a $300 paperweight. A knife that gets used and sharpened is a knife doing its job.

Where to get it done around here

Drop knives at the shop, 2809 Justin Rd, Unit A/B, Flower Mound, TX 75028, Monday through Friday, 7 to 4. $8 a knife, usually same day.

Or we come to you: an at-home visit is $35 for the trip plus $8 a knife, sharpened in your driveway. Kitchen shears can ride along. See at-home sharpening or Flower Mound drop-off.

Running a kitchen full of these? Our weekly restaurant routes handle the whole line at your back door, and here's what sharpening costs in DFW if you want the numbers first.

Restaurants: get startedHome cooks: book sharpening