Yes! Once you have placed an order we will send you our customized, prepaid and registered knife envelopes. This envelope will also include a safety sleeve for each of your knives, further protecting them to ensure they reach us safely and securely. Even better, all shipments are insured and 100% trackable during the journey. *Shipments are insured up to $400-we may require photos and/or purchase receipts of your knives to support the claim.*

If your blade is wider than the safety sleeve, cut open the upper edge of the safety sleeve and, slide the blade in with the sharp edge facing the uncut side of the sleeve. Secure the blade with adhesive tape around the entire sleeve and the knife’s blade. 

If the blade is longer than the safety sleeve, you can either use pieces that you might have cut off other safety sleeves, or you can use old newspaper to wrap around the heel of the knife (the part of the blade that is closest to the handle), all secured with adhesive tape. Make sure the tip of the knife is secured against the closed part of the knife guard.

We can only accept knives that fit our special knife envelopes. The knife envelope guarantees secure delivery of the knives and is required. Knives longer than 16 inches will not fit into the envelope. We do not accept or sharpen swords.

We sharpen most kitchen knives, scissors and outdoor knives. We do not sharpen daggers, switch blades or power tool blades. A more detailed list is provided below of what we sharpen and we do not sharpen.

What we sharpen

• Kitchen knives of all types such as chef knives, paring knives or steak knives, both steel and in ceramic. This includes serrated knives such as bread knives as well as larger knives such as meat cleavers and butcher’s knives

• Outdoor and hobby knives such as pocket knives Swiss Army knives, hunting and fishing knives (we charge per blade)

• All major knife brands; high value and economical, such as Wüsthof, Victorinox, Cuisinart, Buck, etc.

Most types of scissors with a straight edge to the cutting surface such as sewing scissors and kitchen scissors.

What we don’t sharpen

• Straight razors and hair-cutting shears or scissors

• Micro serrated blades of any type, micro serrations are tiny square indentations along the edge of the blade. These square indentations will make the edge look and feel rough rather than smooth just as a fine edge blade feels

• Swords and other blades longer than 16 inches

• Meat slicers, lawn mower blades and any other blades found in power tools and without handles

• Mandolin or vegetable peeler blades and other blades found in kitchen tools and without a handle

• Pinking shears and other shears or scissors without straight edge cutting surfaces

• Wavy blades as found in some decorative or ceremonial knives and swords

• Daggers or switch blades and other knives with an edge on both sides of the blade

If you are unsure about your knives, please get in touch contact@knifeaid.com

• The easiest way to ship your envelope is to use your own mailbox 

• If your mailbox doesn't fit this size of envelope you can drop it in the nearest USPS mailbox

• Drop it off at the USPS post office. Our shipment is prepaid and any additional charges will automatically be billed to our account

We include an additional red sleeve in the packaging material for all customers. This sleeve is there in case you end up finding one more knife than you have ordered in your sharpening pack. As per the instructions on the sleeve you can simply send us an extra knife in that sleeve and we will invoice you via email once we receive/inspect their knives and before we sharpen them. The extra knife is only $10, so it is well worth using the sleeve if you have an extra knife you want sharpened.

Definitely! Cheap knives are often made of quality steel. Many of these knives have stamped blades that are mass produced and their edges are finished by machine. They will never get the results that a knife smith can achieve. Popular brands such as KitchenAid, Cuisinart, Chicago Cutlery, and Calphalon are absolutely worth sharpening and will come back to you sharper than they were when they were brand new. 

• We sharpen most kitchen knives such as chef’s knives, paring knives, meat cleavers, serrated bread knives, and more! We sharpen all types of steel (stainless steel, carbon steel, Damascus style steel)

• We also sharpen outdoor knives such as Swiss Army style knives, folding knives, hunting and fishing knives. We work with all major knife brands and store brands
  

• We sharpen ceramic knife ($10 surcharge)

• We sharpen single bevel knife ($20 surcharge)

• We do not sharpen micro-serrated knives, swords, daggers and blades for power tools such as meat slicers or lawn mowers 

• You can find out more details about what we sharpen on this page

If you are unsure about your knives, please get in touch with us at contact@knifeaid.com

Of course! Our talented knife smiths will create a new tip, shortening the blade as little as possible. We charge a maximum of $10 per blade for all blade repairs and will contact you for approval before we start the repair.

Absolutely! If the tip of the blade is extremely bent, we might have to cut a new tip. Extremely bent blades might never go back to being 100% straight after sharpening, but they will be fully usable again. The repair of extreme bends might result in slight hammer marks on the blade. If the bend in your knife is excessive we may have to charge up to an additional $10 per knife for the knife smith work involved in straightening the blade. We will contact you before any repairs occur.

No! No two knives are identical. Our knife smiths will determine which angle your knife’s blade should be sharpened to. Bevel angles can range from 10 to 30 degrees. Most kitchen knives have an angle between 17 and 22 degrees. Depending on the material of the blade (i.e. Damascus steel, carbon steel, stainless steel or ceramic), the sharpening - and if necessary grinding process - will be performed on different machines using varying belts or wheels with varying grits. Even the final stropping or polishing will be done according to the type of knife and blade. Don't worry, our knife smiths know what is necessary to achieve the best result, you will find more details on the sharpening process on this page.

Yes! We can sharpen asymmetrical edges such as 90/10, 80/20, if your knife was designed with such an edge or if you ask us to do so. 

We also sharpen single bevel knives i.e.100 and charge a surcharge of $20 for the additional work involved. You will receive an email about the additional charges once your knife has arrived in our workshop.

Our experience is that it is best to reduce the bolster to be at least in line with the blade of your knife. This ensures that the whole length of the blade will be in contact with what you are cutting. A smaller bolster will also make it easier to hone your knife at home before your next professional sharpening. If you for some reason do not want us to reduce the size of your bolster, please let us know before you send your knives to us.

Unfortunately, we can’t. We specialize in knife sharpening only.

It depends on the type of knife, the use as well as the frequency of use.

On average a kitchen knife with normal use needs to be sharpened at least twice a year, many customers sharpen every quarter. A clear sign of your knife needing professional sharpening is that your honing steel or slide through sharpener at home only have limited effect and that for example slicing a tomato becomes tricky. Your knives should cut easily and smoothly through a tomato or chicken filet without force and without any compressing or shredding of the produce.

Luckily our customers are usually very happy with the quality of our sharpening. If you should for some reason not be happy we will of course resharpen your knives for free of charge!

You can redeem your physical gift card or electronic gift card code on our website after adding the sharpening package you want to your cart and proceeding to checkout (You can get started here: https://knifeaid.com/products/knife-sharpening).

Once you are in the checkout there is a section for you to enter the discount/ gift card codes. Entering and applying the code there would redeem its value and you can pay additional cost by credit card should you wish to upgrade your package.You will receive an order confirmation email and shipping details once you have finalised your order.

Yes, we offer drop off and pick up in our Agroura Hills workshop. The address is 28378 Roadside Dr, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 and we are open from 8am to 4pm. Knives dropped off before 12 noon are sharpened the same day. We offer a walk in discount.