Online Knife Sharpening Class
Even the most expensive knives get blunt quickly with normal use. Sharpening is somewhat of a lost art now and it’s such a shame. Learning do sharpen your own knives is fairly simple and you’ll never have to use a blunt knife in the kitchen or anywhere else again. It’ll change your life! It changed mine.
If you’re a woodworker, the quality of your work is directly related to your sharpening ability. Plane irons and knives, for instance, need to be sharpened about once a day in my workshop. It makes a huge difference.
I’ve found that a lot of my spoon carving students find it difficult to master sharpening. For sharpening in particular, it can be hard to find good quality tutorials online. So I thought I’d offer my own class here.
The Class
Both classes are less than 2 hours in duration and I try to facilitate those who work during the day and those in different time zones.
When booking the classes, you can add a sharpening kit to your order and I’ll post it to you ahead of time. If you already have sharpening stones and a strop, you can choose not to add the kit to the booking. I will assume you have what you need. If you are located in Ireland, I’d recommend booking at least 7 days in advance to allow for postage. I’d recommended booking at last 2 weeks ahead of time for American participants. If the kit is delayed and doesn’t arrive in time, don’t worry, we’ll just book you into the next class. For international participants, note that all times are Irish time (GMT).
It’s worth mentioning that there is, of course, a risk of accidents with sharp tools so be sure to have a first aid kit on hand.
Sharpening Skills 1: Straight Knives
Duration: 2hr
Sharpening is an absolutely essential skill. It’s a lost art. It takes a bit of mastering but its ultimately fairly simple and everyone should be able to do it. This class is good for everybody because we all use knives on a daily basis, not just wood carvers. I will cover the method for wood carving tools and kitchen knives. I will send you a knife sharpening kit, including a two-sided diamond stone (400/1000 grit), a non-slip rubber base, a storage bag, a leather strop and some honing compound.
Class content:
Understanding edge geometry
Different types of sharpening stones
Sharpening method for slojd knives and other woodworking tools
Sharpening kitchen knives
Stropping
Long term maintenance
Sharpening Skills 2: Bent Knives (spoon knives and other curved blades)
Duration: 1.5hr
Whereas Sharpening Skills 1 is for everyone, this one is only for spoon carvers and other woodworkers. This will focus mainly on sharpening spoon knives but the method will work for most curved tools including adzes and gouges. I will send you a bent knife sharpening kit ahead of time.
Class content:
Sharpening spoon knives
If you know someone who’d enjoy one of my online classes, a class voucher could be a great, unique gift. If you buy a voucher, the recipient can use the autogenerated code to book themselves into any day workshop or online class, free of charge, whenever it suits them. You will receive a link to a printable voucher as well if you’d like to have something physical to give. Then, they just have to book themselves in on any of the upcoming events.
Class Schedule
All scheduled classes and workshops are shown below. Do check in as more are added or subscribe to the mailing list below to hear about new updates.