A quality hand sharpened edge can't be beat!

In this day of high speed computer automation, people hand sharpening blades of any sort are more difficult to find. The effort to locate a hand sharpener, however, can pay off handsomely in terms of the quality of the sharpening job.

Machine sharpening and grinding certainly has a few advantages. Perfect angles, uniformity, and speed are all hallmarks of machine grinding. On the downside, machine grinding typically wastes a lot more of the blade material, can overheat a blade, and can't adjust for minor variations and imperfections. Anyone who has ever tried to put a decent edge on a kitchen knife with an electric grinder can attest to this, a grinder is the quickest way to ruin an expensive knife.

A quality hand sharpening job by and experienced hand sharpener usually beats a machine sharpened edge handily. Carbide tooth faces and blade bevels come out polished smooth rather than left with rough grinding marks from machine grinding. Hand sharpening also allows just the right amount to be taken off to provide a superior edge, extending the life span of expensive carbide saw blades and other blades. If the blade doesn't need it, grinding off excessive material is just throwing money away.

Blades with sweeping curves, such as kitchen or restaurant knives, really shine with a good hand sharpening job. The edge is certainly less mechanically precise, but the sharper edge and polished bevels more than compensate, requiring less effort to get through the same material. A good hand sharpener can also recover saw blades, knives, woodworking tools, or other edged tools that have been damaged by improper machine grinding

SwiftWater Edge Tool Works hand sharpens knives, handsaws, circular saws, cordwood saws, woodworking and other edged tools for superior performance!