The ability to sharpen a knife is no less important today than it was in ancient times, said Alex Moro, owner of Al’s Blade Repair.

“I don’t think it will ever go away because there are so many types of blades that we use every day,” he said. “Most of what I do is kitchen knives and garden tools. They always get dull.”

Use of dull blades can be risky, Moro said.

“There are things worse than a dull knife, but I don’t like to see dull knives because, in general, they are dangerous from my perspective. They are dangerous because, with a dull knife, you are typically pushing harder against something, and so you are more likely to slip when you are doing that. And then, with a dull knife, if you do get an injury, it is usually more gruesome than it would be with a clean cut.

“Certainly, when you are sharpening, it is important to communicate the knife is sharp because someone is used to a dull knife,” he added. “It is a big difference.”

Workshop

Moro will conduct a three-hour workshop on how to sharpen blades at 9 a.m. March 2 at The Artful Sailor, 410 Washington St. in Port Townsend. Attendees must register in advance by calling 360-344-8120.

Participants are urged to bring their own shears, blades and whetstones to hone their sharpening skills under the keen eye and guidance of a professional.

“We are really looking forward to teaching people the traditional do-it-yourself skills Alex has,” said Pami-Sue Alvarado of The Artful Sailor. “The majority of the people who have signed up for this workshop are women. We are not saying it has to be for maritime. It is for everybody who wants to learn how to sharpen their knives or shears or anything. Alex has encouraged people to bring whatever they have. It could be your pocket knife. It could be your carving knife. It could be your scissors. It is about learning how to do it yourself.”

Moro credits much of his practical knowledge to mentors. He said he wants to share those skills with the community.

“I hope to teach people at this class, basically a Knife 101 class, some basics about how to know when your knife is dull, how to know what procedure to sharpen it with, and to feel comfortable using a water stone.”

Blade sharpening extends beyond the kitchen and garden, Moro said.

“If you can walk away with the basic fundamental knowledge of how a blade edge works and how to bring a dull edge back to a sharp point, you can apply that to a lot of different things.”

Moro has been using and sharpening blades since childhood. When he moved to Port Townsend eight years ago, he founded Al’s Blade Service.

“I grew up in Maine, and that was what everybody taught me when I was growing up,” Moro said. “My business is part-time, and I do a little bit of public sharpening and a little bit of commercial sharpening. I also have drop boxes in town at What’s Cooking and at the PT Garden Center. Every week people can come drop off their tools or their knives, and I pick up twice a week, and then I sharpen them and drop them back off.”

Inspecting a blade

“Typically what I will do is examine shapes in the edge, and then I will also look for some sort of deformations, and usually you will find a chip in the edge where someone has hit a chicken bone, or they started to cut on something they shouldn’t have,” Moro said. “I check that out first because if there is something like that, I may need to reshape the edge. I typically do that on a belt-sanding device, but that is the only time I use a power tool to reshape the blade.”

Otherwise, the process is done the ancient way with water and whetstone.

If they are well cared for, knives can last for generations, Moro said.

“That is part of the reason I sharpen the way that I do, because when you do it by hand and do it with water stones, you are taking away the minimal amount of steel on that knife, and it can last generations. What I have seen other knife sharpeners do, unfortunately, is go straight to the belt sander, the belt wheel, the power tool and very quickly you will remove a lot of material, and it never gets as sharp anyway.”

For knives, one of the biggest needs is to reshape the tip, Moro said.

“It is really common for someone to come and ask to reshape the tip, because the tip can easily get bent or broken off,” he said. “After that, I will bring it over to the water stones. I will start with my heaviest grit, and then I go to my intermediate grit, and you start going up and down the blade. You work your way up the edge on both sides and usually the common question is, ‘How do you know when to go to the next stone?’”

To answer that question, Moro runs the knife edge gently against his thumbnail.

“That gives me a test to see how sharp it is,” he said. “The test of a good knife is ... when you touch it up against your nail and it sticks and it doesn’t slide. As long as it is sliding, I am going to continue sharpening and moving up the grits.”

The difference between a cheap and quality blade is the steel, Moro said.

“If the knife maker has put a lot of energy and money into the steel, it will hold a good edge, it will resist getting rusty, and it will be easier to sharpen,” he said. “A lot of cheap knives might have a couple of those features, but typically a really cheap knife will be able to resist rust, but it will not keep an edge. It takes forever to sharpen.”