Misen knife sharpening service produced a beautiful edge on this paring knife.
Misen provides a free knife sharpening service for US customers: you pay the postage both ways (a reasonable $14 for 3-Day Priority) and they will sharpen the knife at no charge. You can send multiple knives in the same package, as long as they’re Misen. I tried the service and find it one of the best reasons to buy a Misen knife.
I had successfully sharpened my original chef’s knife myself, then purchased a second knife with a factory edge which was noticeably duller. Sent both off to the sharpening service along with a paring knife. The photos show the results. The resharpened knife is definitely sharper and, more important, has a deeper bevel that looks like it will last longer.
Look closely and you can see the sharpened knife has a deeper bevel (good) than the knife with factory edge, at the top.
The sharpening procedure is not that easy to find on the Misen website: do a search for “knife sharpening” and you will find a whetstone for sale along with multiple articles on how to sharpen your own knives. A search within support is more productive, yielding this page with instructions and a form to fill out. You pay the $14 in advance via PayPal and they email you outgoing and return postage labels. You then wrap the knives carefully (I used bubble wrap and taped it in place) and send them back in your own box. Approximately 10 days later the knives were returned in beautiful condition.
There are knife sharpening services on Facebook that charge $20 for a single knife, so this is definitely a value. If you have a Misen knife or are thinking of acquiring one, check it out.
P.S. Here’s my own sharpening procedure, ported over from the post in which I updated my review of Misen non-stick cookware:
Start at the back of the knife and draw it toward you over the coarse side of an oiled whetstone, on its side with the spine just off the surface, making little circles as you go. Flip it and do the same thing on the opposite side. Repeat several times util the knife is noticeably sharper, then repeat the whole process on the fine side of the whetstone. I’ve sharpened everything from carbon steel to a stainless Swiss army knife blade with this method and it works well.
Can you get a sharp edge just using a steel? I sharpen my knifes every week using a steel. I don’t have Misen knives.
If the knife originally had a good edge, you can definitely sharpen it with a steel. But it won’t stay sharp nearly as long as a knife sharpened on a whetstone.
Actually that’s a misnomer. To sharpen a knife indicates removal of metal. A steel simply hones the blade and makes it true. While it will certainly perform better short term it’s not technically “sharper”.
My 10-yr-old Zwilling Pro 8″ Chef’s Knife passes the paper-cutting test with ease. It has never seen a stone–but has been steeled regularly on a 14″: Zwilling steel that is very smooth. And is now 40 years old.
Nice. Would love to try that steel.
I’ve been using The Blade Doctor. Comes to you and only charges $5 per knife. Great service.
That’s a pretty hard price to beat. What areas do they serve?
And I hear what you’re saying about stone vs steel. A good way to put it.
He’s out of Ballston Lake and services the whole Capital Region.
https://www.thebladedr.com/