Natalie’s story.
Natalie is a mom of 4 in a typical suburban home with her hands full taking care of kids, home, and husband. She is trying to make ends meet while caring for her family. As you can imagine with 4 kids, a home, husband and all the associated activities the time to sharpen her knives is scarce at best.
Natalie’s husband, Adam, contacted me last week for some sharpening. He said his wife was at her wit’s end with her knives and needed a solution. We made a housecall appointment to get Natalie’s knives taken care of.
Upon arrival and introduction we got right to the point of Natalies frustrations. She’s had a set of Cuisinart knives for 10 years and they’ve never been sharpened. Frustrated by just how dull the blades were, they finally got to the point where it was just too painful to use their knives anymore.
The knife set was a typical set that most households have. It included several of the basic kitchen knives plus the steak knife set. It also had a pair of kitchen shears and a small serrated knife. Through our discussions Natalie also brought out a food processor blade that she uses often.
Before I sharpened all of Natalie’s blades we had discussions on how she maintains her blades, stores them and washes them. All of these are items that I will discuss with people and are part of the topics I cover in my Knife Skills 101 class. While I can sharpen the knives, the scissors and all other associated blades I can’t be there all the time. It becomes a partnership between the sharpener and the client to keep the blade sharp between sharpening. I covered how to use the honing steel properly, and why it works and when to use it.
Dishwashers are a big no no in the knife world. Even though a lot of manufacturers say their knives are dishwasher safe it really isn’t a good idea, I pointed out the 4 reasons why, from a sharpener’s standpoint, it’s not a good idea. In over 30 years of sharpening I’ve seen first hand what dishwashers can do to knives and use that experience as a lesson of why not to use a dishwasher.
Finally we talked about storage and some things we don’t use knives for.
Your kitchen knives are the most important tools in your kitchen. They are an investment that, for most, will last a lifetime. Your knives, scissors and other cutting tools shouldn’t be a frustration to use, and you should definitely never get to your wit’s end over using your knives. There is a solution to this dull pain and that’s to get your blades professionally sharpened and then get some instruction on how to maintain them between sharpenings.
I have several ways that people can get their knives to me for sharpening. And I try to make it as convenient as I can for my customers. Check out my website for ways for you to get your blades to me. End your frustrations. Don’t get so desperate that you get fed up and go out and buy more knives. You are just compounding the dull problem you have. Reach out to me at eriktheblade.com and let’s come up with a solution to alleviate using dull blades. More often than not it’s cheaper to sharpen your knives/scissors/blades than it is to go out and buy more.
Erik
Your local mobile sharpener
Have a Sharp Day!
