Metro DC folks: blade sharpening service recommendations?

[jc000]

Hey there, I have a Sharpmaker which works all well and good for my folder and some of my kitchen knives, but I have a couple of other edged instruments which are either a) too nice or b) too wacky (an awkwardly shaped hatchet for one) for the Sharpmaker to work. While I hope to improve my sharpening skills, for the time being I am wondering if anyone could recommend a blade sharpening service particularly in the metro DC region. Thanks!

[JV_]

http://www.sharpen-this.com

[jc000]

Thanks, I had seen that site, but wasn't sure of the quality. Did you have any experience with them?

[97%er]

There is a knife sharpening service in Union Market in DC. (That's the gourmet food emporium near Gallaudet-not the train station.)

I've watched them. They freehand using Japanese waterstones. Very impressive.

http://unionmarketdc.com/market/artisans/dc-sharp/
http://dcsharp.com/

They have some high-end Japanese and Japanese-style kitchen knives to lust after, too. Good food and drinks there too.

[jc000]

That's great, thanks!

[Chefdog]

There is a knife sharpening service in Union Market in DC. (That's the gourmet food emporium near Gallaudet-not the train station.)

I've watched them. They freehand using Japanese waterstones. Very impressive.

http://unionmarketdc.com/market/artisans/dc-sharp/
http://dcsharp.com/

They have some high-end Japanese and Japanese-style kitchen knives to lust after, too. Good food and drinks there too.

I have just a little experience sharpening knives, and for the most part I feel that commercial sharpeners do a poor job. To get the most out of a specific blade you need to understand the edge geometry that best suits the intended task the blade is designed for, which is where the average sharpening service fails. Just throwing a knife in a jig and running it across a belt can produce an edge that is adequately sharp, but can never make the adjustments necessary to create (or preserve) the geometry best suited to that particular knife (or tool). Only freehand sharpening allows you 100% freedom to create the best combination of edge refinement, thickness behind the edge and the type of grind (compound, convex, flat, chisel, etc.) you need to extract the most performance from that particular blade.

What my longwinded rant is getting to, finally, is that I would definitely recommend these guys if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. I took my students to Union market as part of a field trip, and was surprised by the skill level of these guys. If I broke my hand and couldn't sharpen my knives myself, I would probably take them to these guys to have my edges maintained (while I watched, of course).

Anyway, I'm sure that was way TMI, but if you have any questions, shoot me a PM.
If you really want to go all out to get the best service, and don't mind sending your knives away, I recommend contacting Jon @ www.japaneseknifeimports.com

ETA: I would not recommend buying knives from DC sharp unless youve done the research and know exactly what you're looking for. They do have some nice knives at fair prices, but they also have some very average knives that are grossly overpriced. If you can sort out which are which, great. If you can't, the chances of buying a Mustang at Porsche prices is much too high.
(FWIW, I would say the exact same thing about Williams Sonoma & Sur la Table. No dig intended against DC sharp. There just happen to be lots of places to get better performance for less money when it comes to kitchen knives.)

[jc000]

That's great Chefdog – I'll probably be headed there this weekend. Thanks!