Since I have started sharpening as a part of business in 2007, I have sharpened almost 10,000 knives. Because I do hand sharpening with whet stones spending 40~50 mins per knife, it's a fair bit of hours facing knives.

My first ever sharpening was, as far as I can remember, when I was 10 years old.I would go to rocky river banks to find smooth flat stones and sharpened on coarse rock to make stone knives. Later on, I sharpened all table knives at home and my little pocket knife with dad's stones. Back in early 80's, kids in Japan were allowed to carry a small knife in school bag for sharpening pencils. Then from 17, sharpening became a part of job as a sushi chef and I would spend an hour every day for sharpening. Many of my work mates didn't like sharpening but I never really minded so I think I like sharpening more than others and it makes perfect sense that I chose sharpening as a business years later.

Now I am in sharpening business, I encounter many badly treated ones which need a lot of attention. Still, I don't return knives unless I am satisfied with the result but sometimes, I see knives I sharpened a few years back and I get embarrassed of my work which I thought was fine that time. It's like finding an old diary from childhood with many misspellings and uneven writing. Good side is that at least my sharpening skill is improving. As there is no perfect when it comes to learning and I am only 43, there should be many years ahead of me to polish my skill as well as knives.