Sharpening Made Easy Homepage

Knife Sharpening School Video

Our Sharpening School Video takes you through the essentials of our sharpening school. The video is professionally photographed and edited, you can watch straight through or use the menu to jump directly to any of the 22 chapters.

Sharpening School Video  also includes a set of annotated notes from our sharpening school and a copy of our How to Start Your Own Knife Sharpening Business booklet.

The book Sharpening Made Easy is no longer in print, but copies turn up on Amazon and eBay.

In person sharpening instruction is no longer available.

Sharpening School Video

Website Contents

• Chapter 1 - Introduction, Sharpness Testing, Knife Sharpening Equipment; Stones, Guides and Rod-Guided Systems; Recommended Books on Knife Sharpening
• Chapter 2 - Knife Sharpening Equipment continued; Crock Sticks. Slot Gadgets, Electric Sharpening Machines
• Chapter 3 - The Knife Sharpening Process: How to Sharpen a Knife. Common Mistakes, Conventional and Multi-bevel Methods, Honing, Using Oil or Water
• Chapter 4 - Advanced Stuff - Knife Steels, Knife Sharpening Theory, Stropping, Using Steels, Electric Machines, Sharpening Ceramic Knives Tables: Mohs Hardness Scale, Abrasive Grit Comparison, Suppliers
• Chapter 5 - Miscellaneous Stuff - Knife Sharpening Methods, Professional Knife Sharpening machines, Miscellaneous Sharpening Information
• Chapters 1, 2 and 3 were printed in the June and July 1999 issues of Knife World as A PRIMER ON KNIFE SHARPENING.
• Check out my information page for 100+ more pages on knife sharpening.

The Sharpening Made Easy Story

In the 1990s, as I prepared to retire, I began to explore knife sharpening just for my own satisfaction. Taking an engineers approach, I read everything available and tested over 100 different sharpeners. No single sharpening system met all of my expectations so I came up with the idea of hybridizing, or using two systems together. By 2000 I was using and promoting using a wet grinder (Tormek) with paper sharpening wheels (Razor Sharp Edgemaking), the same system later perfected by Knife Grinders in Australia. This approach still produces the sharpest, longest lasting edges ever documented.

Knife World asked me to write a book, and suggested the title.  Sharpening Made Easy was published in 2002 and became a best seller.  The local farmers market invited me to sharpen for them and I began exploring sharpening as a part-time business. That meant adding scissors and garden tools. I explored salon shear sharpening but gave it a pass.

I began attending conferences and won a few sharpening competitions. .Soon people were contacting me about hands-on instruction and that was the start of my sharpening school.  Eventuallu I trained about 300 people.