My name is Neil Cowan, I’ve been sharpening knives since I was 8. When I was 8, my grandpa gave me a pocket knife & a pinewood derby car to carve. After about 30 minutes, I complained to him that the blade was dull.  So he handed me a whet stone & showed me how to use it. He told me when I cut my thumb, it was sharp. I did . . .and it was.

I’ve sharpened professionally for 6 years.  Some people go to school to learn that the correct angle for sharpening is 23 ½ degrees.  They buy dozens of machines with multiple attachments for attaining the exact angle & precise degree to sharpen each piece.  They try to make sharpening seem like an incredibly complex & difficult task almost mystical, that only a few can master.  Whether by natural skill, or simply from massive amounts of repetition; I have realized the act of all sharpening to be a simple meeting of 2 points on a plane, that’s all.  My sharpening is done by hand; on traditional bench water stones, or a buffing machine with a 400 grit stone and a Speed Strop (custom made leather wheel strop),and other techniques.