Yesterday Sara Kate posted a great how-to on sharpening your knives at home. If you have the tools, it's easy to do. But just like there are people who prefer to buy pizza dough rather than make it from scratch, there are some of us who prefer to leave our knife sharpening to the pros. The only problem is that we miss them while they're gone. Here's one solution—plus a slew of sources...
We have very few, very essential knives, so being without them is a hassle. What if we need to slice an onion for dinner?
But we have quite a few weekends away on the books this spring and summer. So we're planning to take our knives to Broadway Panhandler in Greenwich Village on our way out of town. They take two days, which means our knives will be ready to pick up when we get home. We're on vacation, our knives are on vacation... Everybody wins!
There are some places that will sharpen while you wait. The old-school knife grinding guys who drive around NYC neighborhoods clanging a bell like the ice cream man are one option. You can read about them here:
• The Knife Grinding Trucks of Brooklyn (look in the comments to see others, like Mike on the Upper West Side)
Joanna says there are similar trucks in Chicago. Dana says there are knife sharpeners at many of the farmers' markets in San Francisco. You can drop off your knives, do your shopping, then pick them up.
Here are more suggestions from our contributors, based on where we all live. This list is by no means complete, and we'd love to hear about the best sources in your city. Add them in the comments, please, so we can compile a more comprehensive list.
BOSTON
Kitchen Arts
161 Newbury Street
617-266-8701
www.cobrandit.com/kitchenarts/
Stoddard's Cutlery in Newton
360 Watertown Street
617-244-4187
www.stoddards.com
CHICAGO
Northwestern Cutlery
810 West Lake St.
312-421-3666
www.northwesterncutlery.net
The Chopping Block
4747 North Lincoln Ave.
773-472-6700
www.thechoppingblock.net
The Wooden Spoon
5047 North Clark
773-293-3190
www.woodenspoonchicago.com
LOS ANGELES
Gary's Knife Sharpening
area farmers' markets (check website for his schedule)
310-560-3258
www.garysknifesharpening.com
Ross Cutlery
310 South Broadway
213-626-1897
www.rosscutlery.com
NEW YORK
Broadway Panhandler
65 East 8th Street
866-266-5927
www.broadwaypanhandler.com
Gracious Home
various locations around the city
800-338-7809
www.gracioushome.com
Henry Westpfal & Co.
115 West 25th St.
212-563-5990
Samurai Sharpening Services by Margery Cohen
Chelsea Market, in front of Bowery Kitchen Supply (Wednesdays and Saturdays only)
79 Ninth Avenue
www.samuraisharpening.com
SAN FRANCISCO
Bernal Cutlery
415-902-6531
www.bernalcutlery.com
Jivano's Cutlery Service
3674 18th Street
415-552-7997
www.jivanos.com
Of course, you can always get your knives sharpened by mail.
Let us know your favorite sources!
Related: Weekend Project: Sharpen Your Knives
(Image: Flickr member jackenhack, licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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I would really love to do this. Does anyone know of a sharpener in Richmond, VA?
Brooklyn--Cook's Companion on Atlantic Avenue by Clinton Street. If I remember correctly it is next day pick up.
No love for the DC area?
Austin, TX: Knife Sharpest
They love knives and it only takes a few minutes!
there's a stand at Eastern Market in DC that sharpens knives.
La Cuisine in Alexandria, Va., sharpens knives.
Best knife sharpening in Berkeley/Oakland, especially if you have Japanese knives is Hida Tool on San Pablo in Berkeley:
www.hidatool.com
1333 San Pablo Ave
Berkeley, CA 94702
(510) 524-3700
I dropped my knives (2 Globals, 1 Henckel, 1 Chicago Cutlery, 1 Shun) off one morning, picked them up at the end of that day. They are as good as new. I'm not the only person who's a fan of Hida Tool--just yelp or google them and you'll find good reviews all over the place.
When I lived in Houston, there was a truck at the Farmer's Market that sharpened them while you shopped!
in sf, there is a stand for The Critical Edge at the ferry building farmer's market that sharpens knives, and i think they do it while you wait/shop, but you have to go early - their order queue fills up before noon i think. i haven't actually used them yet, but might soon. they have great reviews on yelp too.
we do knife sharpening at the brooklyn kitchen in brooklyn also. 2 day turn around.
http://www.thebrooklynkitchen.com/knife-sharpening/
I live right across the street from a place that will do them (Davis Cookware in Hillsboro Village, Nashville TN, if anyone cares) but have yet to take advantage. But then again, I only recently just got knives nice enough to dote on like that.
Fort Worth, TX
Mobile Knife Sharpening is a mobile sharpening service that provides high quality sharpening for restaurants, caterers, institutional kitchens as well as the general public. We repair broken tips, chips, reverse bow, or even poorly sharpened misshapen blades and expertly sharpen knives (straight edge or serrated, and ceramic), slicers, mandolins, shears, cleavers, and other types of blades.
Call or e-mail us for a site near you.
972-741-8263
carter@mobilesharpening.com