Services
Knife sharpening
Chef's, butcher's, filleting and boning knives, including Japanese single-bevel. The angle follows the steel and the work, not a chart.
Starting price
10 €
per item
- A sharpened, polished blade with the bevel restored along its full length, right to the heel
- The burr removed, and an edge that shows no bright line anywhere under a light
- Chips taken out and, where needed, the tip restored with the blade profile kept
- A short note on condition: which knives are near the end and which are worth sharpening again
How the sharpening is done, step by step
A blunt knife costs more than tired hands. Meat crushed rather than cut loses juice and appearance, a fillet taken off the bone leaves material that should have been sold, and a blade that slides off tomato skin is more dangerous than a sharp one, because whoever holds it pushes harder.
Assessment and profile
Every knife is assessed first: the cutting edge, the depth of any chipping, whether the blade is straight, and how much profile earlier sharpening has taken away. Years of grinding mainly in the middle leave a hollow profile that stops cutting along its whole length. The bevel is then restored right to the heel; otherwise each further sharpening deepens the fault.
Angle by steel and use
The angle follows the steel and the work, not taste. Harder Japanese steel holds a narrower angle and cuts more cleanly, but it chips against bone, a frozen edge or a staple. Softer European steel, and boning knives working against bone, need more support behind the edge; where an edge will not hold, a narrow microbevel lengthens edge retention and barely dulls the cut. The starting point is always the angle the maker gave the knife.
Chips and tips
A chip is taken out by moving the edge back along the whole affected length until its deepest point is gone; a partly ground chip spreads again under load. A broken tip is rebuilt from the spine side, drawing the profile back into its own curve; shaped from the cutting side, the knife loses its belly and with it the length of the cut. Work runs from coarse to fine grit, with cooling: overheated steel loses hardness for good.
Japanese single-bevel knives
On knives such as yanagiba, deba and usuba the bevel is restored only on its own side. The back stays slightly hollow, with the narrow flat rim merely trued. Put a bevel on that back, or round it off, and the knife loses what makes the slice fall away.
Burr, polish, testing
The burr proves the bevel has come through and must be removed, not smoothed onto the edge, where it rolls over during the day. A mirror polish is not always the right answer: a smooth bevel decides the cut on a razor and on knives working soft meat, while a butcher’s knife and knives for fibrous food cut longer and with more grip when given a micro-serration — fine, controlled teeth along the edge that keep the cut aggressive once the first smooth sharpness has worn back. Which finish suits your knife is decided by how it is used, not by a rule. The edge is inspected under a light — a reflection marks where the bevels have not met — and cut-tested.
Price and turnaround
Starting price from EUR 10 per item, turnaround 1–3 working days, confirmed after assessment. The workshop is not VAT-registered, so invoices carry the note: VAT is not charged pursuant to Article 94(1) of the Slovenian VAT Act (ZDDV-1). The price is final; VAT-registered buyers have no input VAT to deduct.
Knives are dropped off at Ferrarska ulica 14 in Koper, by arrangement, or posted from Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. Write or call on +386 51 659 600 · igor.komadina@t-2.net with the list.
Common questions
Do you sharpen Japanese single-bevel knives?
Yes. The bevel is restored on the side it belongs to, and the back is left hollow; no new bevel is put on it, because that takes away the very thing the knife cuts by. If the back has already been rounded by earlier sharpening, you are told before the work.
The knife was sharp when it came back, and blunt two days later. Why?
Most often a burr was left on the edge. That thin folded metal cuts for a few hours, then rolls over, and the knife slides instead of cutting. The other common cause is a ceramic or glass board, which rolls an edge within a single shift.
What angle will you put on our knives?
The one the knife will hold doing the work it does. Harder Japanese steel takes a narrower angle; softer European steel, and knives working against bone, need more support behind the edge or it rolls on the first day. The starting point is always the angle the maker gave the tool.
Can we send in a whole kitchen's knives at once?
Yes, but agree the quantity and the sequence in advance via +386 51 659 600 · igor.komadina@t-2.net, so the kitchen is not left without knives while the work is on. Splitting the set into two batches often makes sense.
Do you sharpen serrated knives and slicer blades?
A serrated knife is sharpened tooth by tooth rather than across the face, so mark those separately when you hand them in. For a slicer blade, or a mincer blade and plate, arrange it first via +386 51 659 600 · igor.komadina@t-2.net: the blade and plate are sharpened together, because they have to bed onto each other.
Related industries
Industries
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Grooming
The dog feels a dull blade set before you do. Grooming shears and snap-on clipper blades are sharpened at a controlled angle, and cutter and comb are matched as a pair.
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Hairdressing
When the blades no longer meet, the stylist grips harder, hundreds of times a shift. Shears are stripped, sharpened on both blades and re-tensioned; a convex pair gets its own treatment.
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Restaurants
Sharpening of professional kitchen knives for restaurants, hotel kitchens and catering operations.