If you are interested in someone showing you the art sharpening your own knives or if you want someone to do it for you, either way you can accomplish this quest by making friends with your local butcher. ask them when would be a good time for them to take 10 minutes to show you, remember their busy hours might not be the ones you think they are.
I fortunately work with food, and I take my knives to work and run them on a 10 tri-stone.
The tri is 3 different grinds.
coarse, only for building a new edge on a knife that is completely ruined.
medium, the main grind, what I use just to refresh an edge on my knife, once every 6months to a year.
fine, this ill give you the polish and make your edge ahrp enough to shave with.
Then there is the Steel, that is the long sword like devise you see with knife sets.
That should be used every time you pick up your knife.
In case your butcher rents their knives allready sharpened here is my best explanation on sharpening.
on your table where you are going to put your stone lay down a dish towell that is slightly damp.
next put your stone on it so it is about 1" from the edge of the table.
long ways.
make sure you have a bit of mineral oil (NOT ANY COOKING OIL) to lubricate the stone.
now for the meat and potatoes.
stand with your feet a bit further than shoulder lenghth apart with a bend in the knee.
hold your knife like you would when you use it then loosen the grip so you are holding the knife firmly but with the tips of you fingers, and guide the tip with your other hand.
Now run the knife starting with the hilt to the tip in one graceful sweep, I shift my weight from one kne to the other so my whole body moves instead of my arms. kinda of like a sumo wrestler. The reason I do this is so I can lock my arms and keep the angle just right throughout the stroke.
I will do 3 to 5 strokeson one side then the same amount of strokes on the other side. calling that as set, I will run 3 to 5 sets or until I feel I have a good edge.
Now lets talk about the steel, pick it up like a sword and put the tip down, and pretend you are slicing thin slices off of each side starting at the hilt and sweeping like a closing gate to the tip. 3 to 5 strokes per side should do. the reason you want to do this every day instead of the stone is that the stone takes off material (metal), and the steel just makes sure that the lead cutting edge is straight. Immagine a microscopic view down the edge of your knife, normal use will curl the edge like an ocean wave, it is still sharp but you are not cutting with the edge. when you use the steel, it should have a nice ringing sound, it is a grinding sound adjust the angle.
good luck,
