Pro knife sharpeners in Santa Monica?

Hello
The edge on my Wustoff chef knife is Kaput. I read your Message Board Rules and thought this query fit in with restaurant chat.
Anybody have a favorite knife sharpening shop that doesn't grid your blade down to nothing?
I've tried yahoo searches and searched this message board.

[foodiemahoodie]

Westside Sharpening - on 4th St. near Wilshire in Santa Monica.

Guy makes his own knives. Insanely sharp. A little scary even. Great place to turn those knives with the broken tip (you know, when you were drunk and tried to slam it into the cutting board?) into something functional.

Guy makes his own knives too - so if you want something special and custom - he's your man. AND...if you're looking for some really trick sushi knives - he's got those too.

[aching]

Has anyone tried Michael's Sharpening Services (http://michaelssharpeningservices.com/) at Wilshire and 24th?

[ChloeinLA]

Gary's knife sharpening is a regular at the Culver City Farmers Market.

[MrShoop]

Has anyone tried Magnus Pettersson Hand Knife Sharpening in Santa Monica? I was looking up Japanese Knife Imports based on this thread and came across Magnus Petterson's blog. Doesn't look like there is a shop, just free pick up and drop off. Prices seem closer to Ross than JKI.

http://www.memagnus.com/wp/

[MrShoop]

I decided to give Magnus a try. He came over to our house and I give him 4 Global knives (2 long - Chef's, 2 short - paring). He dropped them off 2 hours later, clean and sharp! It was $32 total. He is super passionate and knowledgeable about knives, and the the price and convenience was amazing.

[aching]

I also decided to try Magnus, and I agree with everything MrShoop said - he's great and my knives have never been so sharp!

[sick_jokes]

Gary's knife sharpening is at the sunday farmers market in mar vista. Michael knows what he's doing and also happens to be a great guy to strike up a conversation with.

[will47]

Not too far, but you could also try Japanese Knife Imports (http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com) in Venice. Their sharpening prices are a bit high, but I've heard good things about their work.

[mrhooks]

For the service they're providing, that's not high at all. However, it's also unnecessary for German knives such as the OP's Wüsthof, since they can be sharpened safely by machine. That service is primarily for owners of Japanese knives.

[jimverbose]

Buddy of mine just got a Spyderco knife sharpener as a gift (link: http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/detai...). He's got a newborna nd asked me to figure it out. I've gotten tired of finding a place to take my knives, and then having to live without them for days while they're done.

I gotta tell, you, this thing is pretty dang good. You always keep your knife vertical in relation to the sharpening rods, so it's not hard to get a real edge. It also does serrated blades, which surprised me. My bread knife is so sharp now I can just pull it through a loaf of peasant bread with gentle pressure, no sawing at all.

Anyway, for $60 you can sharpen everything, at your leisure, forever. I like it.

I just got my knife back from Larry's Shave Shop on Wilshire in Santa Monica, and I'm really pleased with the edge they put on it.
Thank for everyone's help.

May I ask what Larry charges for knife sharpening?

I paid $6 for my chef's knife.

Don't know about any closer but if you really want the best......Ross Cutlery On Broadway and 2nd St. downtown Los Angeles. A big bonus is walking through the Bradbury Building. Ross Cutlery is in the same complex. If you wanted to keep it a full chowhound experience, you could eat at Cole's, Phillipe's, The Original Pantry or maybe even Sushi Gen in Little Tokyo.

Accusharp (CHEFS TOYS) in Irvine, by far the best. I give them FIFTY knives at a time and WOW, get the band aids ready. If your not knive savey please don't call them because your going to get back a RAZOR BLADE. They also sell knives at a discount, Pro type.

Do you have an address for them? Can't find a listing. thanks

949-474-1888 ask for Steve(owner), buy stock in J&J Bandaids now!

Small shop on the north side of Wilshire just before 7th Street heading towards the ocean; a door or two down from a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Half the store sells all manner of knives from kitchen to hunting; other half deals in electric razors and fancy blade-razors. I'm guessing but I'd bet they sharpen on the premises.

Larry's Shaver Shop
821 Wilshire Blvd.
SM 393-3291

I've always used them and have been happy.

I appreciate the many replies!
I'll be trying Larry's Shaver Shop and will report back my findings.

Not quite SM but I use the knife guy in the little Manhatten Beach mall off PCH at Rosecrans (forget the name of the place but it's by the foodcourt and the RB cooknstuff recommended it). I use a steel to keep the edge nice in between visits and then every few months, I treat them to a full do at the knifeman.

He does a real nice job with block and leather and other toys if needed. Haven't had a dink yet. He has much better technique than I so things always end up nice and sharp.

the place is called "the cutlery" and it is in the Manhatten Beach Mall

Once you’ve achieved the edge you seek, keep it honed with the miracle of the Zip Zap. Hit your knife with this dandy little stone a couple of times before & maybe even after each use & you’ll never need professional sharpening again. I drilled a hole in my knife block to accommodate it, so the whole process takes, oh, 10 seconds. I believe Sur La Table carries them & ck the link below. The scars & stumps on the poor Grub’s fingers attest to my aged Wusthof chef knife’s constant sharpness.

Link: http://www.cooking.com/products/shpro...

Thanks wrharper, I'm also interested in why you don't recommend the shop Sur la table told you about. My knives are so dull that I really need a new edge ground onto them, not just a quickie resharpening.

There is a shop on Wishire I believe that was recommended to my by Sur La Table. I'd avoid it if I were you. I plan on buying and trying the Morty's knife sharpener next time around.

was it larry's shaver shop? why would you avoid?

That sounds right. It was within a few blocks of El Cholo as I recall.

The reason I wouldn't go back is that my knives just weren't that sharp afterward, and they took a rather large chunk of the blade off to do it. The prices were reasonable, and the service was pretty quick (1 day I think), but I just wasn't impressed with the results. One of the two knives I had sharpened, a Henckels paring knife, was barely sharper than when I took it in. The other, a chef's knife was reasonably sharp, but not impressively so.

To be honest, I had a hard time getting any recommendation at all. I asked some friends, Williams Sonoma, and Sur La Table and they all recommended this guy, but not enthusiastically. Maybe he is the best of a mediocre lot. I think there must be a lot of dull knives on the Westside, or maybe you have to know the secret chef handshake to get the right recommendation. Either way, I'll try it myself next time, unless I find someone provides a ringing endorsement for another shop.

[jerryci]

I have used Larry's Shaver Shop for knife sharpening. They did a good job and returned my knives in sharper condition than when I originally bought them. I would recommend this shop.

[foodude]

SHAVER SHOP Used to be great.
The shop was sold...new management avoid at all costs.
I would not entrust my good knives to them