Knife Sharpening Services

Japanese Knife Imports offers a knife sharpening service. For those of you in the Los Angeles area, you are more than welcome to stop by our shop and have your knives sharpened.  If you would prefer to have them sharpened without a wait, we recommend making an appointment, but an appointment is not necessary if you are ok with a bit of a wait (though there may be days when we can also sharpen on the spot).

For those of you who live a little further away, we may also be able to help you though a mail order service (please contact us if you are interested in taking advantage of this mail order option). Please do not send anything in to us without speaking with us first.  We have very specific directions for sending in knives.  We will also ask for photos of the front, back, and closeups of any damage. 

Japanese knives are sharpened entirely by hand using Japanese water stones. We tailor the edge to each customer, based on his/her needs and personal preferences. We utilize a mix of synthetic and natural stones, from 60 grit to over 20,000 grit, as necessary to achieve the edge our customers are looking for.

We can also sharpen western knives, though, depending on the knife, we may use a belt grinder sharpening setup.  Feel free to check with us about this ahead of time.  We can not sharpen serrated knives at this time, and our services are limited to kitchen knives.

Japanese Knife Imports specializes in sharpening services for Japanese kitchen knives. If you are interested in having other knives sharpened, please check with us first. We reserve the right to refuse any knife for sharpening. Please be aware that thinning and refinishing will effect the finish on the sides of the knives, and as such will change the visual appearance. We do our best to recreate the original finish look when possible (and if requested), but logos and markings may be more faint or disappear depending on the amount of thinning and refinishing required. Additionally, damascus finishes may appear different, as many craftsmen use different methods for this look and we do not have access to all of those methods (sand blaster, brush wheel, specific stone powders, specific kinds of etchant, etc.), though we will do our best to get as close as possible to the original look.