Hi,
Some history about WHY I used a professional service follows this, for a straight up review skip to paragraph 4.
Some may remember my posts about dealing with Orion knives, which was a bittersweet experience. Summary: beautiful knives, great materials, great prices, but the first knife lacked a proper heat treat and the second (exchange choice) came dull as I've ever seen a piece of steel labeled "knife." (Duller than some bits of steel I've seen that weren't intended to cut anything, as a matter of fact).
When Orion didn't email me about the second issue (all I did was inform them the knife was dull and that I'd rather pay for pro services) I contacted Lyle Brunckhorst to get it done right - I don't have a belt sander and the cheapest one is still more expensive than sendng off for sharpening, plus a learning curve to boot.
What drew me to Lyle's service was the fact he's been in the knife game for 20+ years making customs that are drool-worthy, and he says he treats any knife he sharpens like a $3-500 damascus bowie. Yeah...that sounds good!
Service was prompt and REASONABLE. I requested thinning and sharpening plus any extra charges he needed to ask because I wanted an edge that would go above and beyond anything I could do on my own equipment. Well, he delivered that, and for cheap. My receipt says $11 or 12 for the service, I paid $8 for ups shipping there, and he charged like $3-4 for USPS back. Total turnaround time, 2 weeks.
Is it sharp? You bet! Convex, appleseed grind, and mirror finish. It is nice and thin and I have a feeling (it being 52100 steel - fixed blade btw) it will be easy to resharpen. In fact, Lyle promises you will be able to sharpen your knife once he reprofiles it.
I would absolutely advise anyone with a thick or hard-to-sharpen-steel knife with a funky bevel to send it off. While you're at it, send several shipped together. I actually advised a friend to buy some Moras, AG Russell Woodswalkers, Sharpfingers, etc, and send them off to be thinned and ground convex. It's that good.
To top it all off, we had two 15-20 minute conversations just shooting the breeze that made it feel like I was standing in a store with an old friend rather than talking to someone all the way over in WA.
I even told Lyle about THR. I think he'll be by. In the mean time, if you're interested his site is http://proknifesharpening.com/ and you can click through to his related business, custom folders and bowies (Bronk's Knifeworks) should you be interested.
Some history about WHY I used a professional service follows this, for a straight up review skip to paragraph 4.
Some may remember my posts about dealing with Orion knives, which was a bittersweet experience. Summary: beautiful knives, great materials, great prices, but the first knife lacked a proper heat treat and the second (exchange choice) came dull as I've ever seen a piece of steel labeled "knife." (Duller than some bits of steel I've seen that weren't intended to cut anything, as a matter of fact).
When Orion didn't email me about the second issue (all I did was inform them the knife was dull and that I'd rather pay for pro services) I contacted Lyle Brunckhorst to get it done right - I don't have a belt sander and the cheapest one is still more expensive than sendng off for sharpening, plus a learning curve to boot.
What drew me to Lyle's service was the fact he's been in the knife game for 20+ years making customs that are drool-worthy, and he says he treats any knife he sharpens like a $3-500 damascus bowie. Yeah...that sounds good!
Service was prompt and REASONABLE. I requested thinning and sharpening plus any extra charges he needed to ask because I wanted an edge that would go above and beyond anything I could do on my own equipment. Well, he delivered that, and for cheap. My receipt says $11 or 12 for the service, I paid $8 for ups shipping there, and he charged like $3-4 for USPS back. Total turnaround time, 2 weeks.
Is it sharp? You bet! Convex, appleseed grind, and mirror finish. It is nice and thin and I have a feeling (it being 52100 steel - fixed blade btw) it will be easy to resharpen. In fact, Lyle promises you will be able to sharpen your knife once he reprofiles it.
I would absolutely advise anyone with a thick or hard-to-sharpen-steel knife with a funky bevel to send it off. While you're at it, send several shipped together. I actually advised a friend to buy some Moras, AG Russell Woodswalkers, Sharpfingers, etc, and send them off to be thinned and ground convex. It's that good.
To top it all off, we had two 15-20 minute conversations just shooting the breeze that made it feel like I was standing in a store with an old friend rather than talking to someone all the way over in WA.
I even told Lyle about THR. I think he'll be by. In the mean time, if you're interested his site is http://proknifesharpening.com/ and you can click through to his related business, custom folders and bowies (Bronk's Knifeworks) should you be interested.
