Boker Kitchen Knives

I am trying to decide if I want to add these Boker knives to my offerings:

Boker Saga Kitchen Knifes G-10 Handles Stonewashed Finish

They are nice high end kitchen knives. Made by Boker in Germany, there are four knives in the line: paring, utility, santoku and chef's.

Prices start at $89 for the paring knife; top out at $129 for the chef's knife.

I have not seen or used any as yet — but they appear quite nice. The have G-10 handles, 440c stainless steel blades, and a stonewashed finish that makes them stand apart.

Camp Knives On Sale!

OK blog readers — what with Summer waning / Fall approaching — I figure it is time to have a sale on my Camp Knives!

Ontario RAT 3 Camp Knife

Pictured here are two Ontario Knife RAT 3 knives.

Ontario RAT 3 Knife

Another view of the RAT 3 camp knife.

All Camp knives are on sale! I have probably eight different knives that fall into the Camp knife category.

Look me up at my mobile knife sharpening locations. My schedule is HERE and HERE.

Tomorrow I will be at Lunardi's San Bruno, their webpage is HERE.

Handmade Chef's Knife Brought to be Sharpened

I get a large variety of knives brought to me to be sharpened over the course of the day and the week. I always perk up when I get a knife that is unusual — quite old, rare or — in this case, handmade.

Handmade Chef's Knife

This knife was brought to me for sharpening last Wednesday at Lunardi's San Bruno. It is a small, maybe six inch, handmade chef's knife. The owner did not remember where he got it, he thought perhaps at a craft fair.

It appeared to be a well made knife that was comfortable to hold.


I am looking for a line of handmade knives — stay tuned!

Ontario Knife from a closed San Jose Cannery 

This was brought in to be sharpened. It has been downgraded to her garage knife, but originally it was her cannery knife. She worked in a downtown San Jose cannery called Contadina some forty five years ago. The knife was made by Ontario Knife Company — who is still in business making knives — and Ontario Knife is a line I carry. Ontario Knife has been made in the USA since the 1800s.

Vintage Cutco #62 Hunting / Everyday Carry Knife

I sharpened this knife at Gene's Fine Foods in Pleasanton the other day. The owner had it handed down to him from his father. His father bought a complete set of Cutco kitchen knives — and he received this knife as a bonus.

I had never seen one of these. I assume it was intended as a hunting or fieldcraft knife — but I will leave open the possibility that it was designed to be an everyday carry knife.

Wusthof Knife Set

This set of Wusthof knives also came in at Gene's for sharpening. Having not seen a knife block like it I thought to photograph it. This Wusthof set was bought ten years ago during a trip to Germany.

Please excuse the dorky photograph. The sun was streaming in which made a photograph difficult. I scrambled for a location that would work, and one close by so I could get back to sharpening garden tools. Apparently everybody got the memo as it was a garden tool sharpening day at Gene's. I sharpened loads of loppers, pruners, and especially hedge clippers.

White River Knives | Backpacker | Caper | 8" Cork Filet Knife

Yeah — just received some White River Knives!

First up is the White River Backpacker:

White River Backpacker with Black Paracord Handle

I am holding the Backpacker. The Backpacker is a light knife with a three inch blade and a paracord wrapped handle. The Backpacker comes with a Kydex sheath and lanyard.

White River Backpacker with Kydex Sheath and Lanyard

Here is the picture of the Backpacker with its sheath. The sheath has a lanyard attached, and also a belt loop.

White River is a small shop that makes an assortment of  knives in Michigan. All hand made, all made in USA. Hand ground and hand sharpened — to produce an excellent, high performing knife.

White River Knive's Caper with Green G10 Handle / Orange Liner

Next up is the Caper. The Caper is pretty much the Backpacker with handle scales added. This Caper has green G10 handles with orange G10 accent liners. This is a beautiful knife!

White River Caper Knife with Kydex Sheath

Here is the Caper knife pictured with the sheath.

White River Filet Knife with Leather Sheath

Last up is White River's Filet Knife. This is a traditional style filet knife — stainless steel blade, cork handle and leather sheath. The leather sheath has a belt loop.

White River Filet Knife and Sheath

A clever touch of the filet knife — the sheath has a strap with a snap that attaches to the filet knife. The knife is designed this way to keep the knife in the sheath when the knife is rattling around in a tackle box.

Fridays I setup to sell and sharpen knives at the two Zanotto's Family Markets in San Jose. Friday mornings 9am – 1pm I am at Zanotto's Willow Glen; Friday afternoons I am at Zanotto's Naglee. This information, and the addresses are on my website mobileknife.BIZ — click HERE to jump to it.

Mobile Knife Sharpening at Lunardi's San Bruno on Wednesdays

Today is Tuesday, a day off. Tomorrow, Wednesday finds me up in San Bruno at Lunardi's San Bruno.

San Bruno is just south of San Francisco, which is called the San Francisco Bay Area. I travel around the Bay Area sharpening knives — mostly the South Bay, also here in San Bruno, which is called the Peninsula, and also over to Gene's Fine Foods in Pleasanton, which is the East Bay or Tri-Valley Area.

My knife sharpening machines are solar powered — and I will be starting out at Lunardi's with a low battery.

80 Watt Solar Panels Powering My Mobile Knife Sharpening Business

Here is a picture of my solar panels. The solar panels charge a deep cycle battery (an AGM battery it is called) and the battery powers the inverter that runs my knife sharpening equipment (and my iPhone, which is also my credit card system).

To accept credit cards I use the system called Square.

Square Credit Card System

The Square credit card system is a good choice for me for several reasons. The main reason is that it operates on a smartphone using the cell towers, so I can accept and process the transaction anywhere I set up.

Square Credit Cards Accepted Sign

Another advantage is that Square accepts all the major cards — American Express, Visa, Discover and MasterCard — all with just a transaction fee, no monthly fees.

Anyway — back to the solar discussion — the hitch in the plan is that last Monday — because of remodeling of Lunardi's San Jose - Bascom — I had to use the solar power system in a location that became shady later in the day. This caused me to operate off the battery more that normal, and the battery is not completely charged. I decided not to pull out the battery and put it on a battery charger when I got home. Every thing should be OK — just hope that San Bruno starts out sunny in the morning!

I am sharpening knives at Lunardi's San Bruno every Wednesday — 10am to 5pm. Find my schedule on my section of Sharpen While You Shop here, and on my own website here.

I forgot to mention my SALE! It seems that fall is approaching — and I decided to put most of the stock of sporting and camping knives on sale.

Ontario Knife RAT, Blackbird, Other Camp and Pocket Knives

This picture shows the Ontario Knife Blackbird, and three RAT knives, these are camping knives — and will be on sale through the fall. Come and check them out!

Sporting Knife Made By Mora of Sweden

I came across this pretty knife last Saturday:

Vintage Mora Sporting Knife with Leather Sheath

It was made by Mora in Sweden.

Vintage Mora Knife pictured with it's Leather Sheath

By USA standards one might that this knife is too small to be useful — but I am told by knife manufacturers that knives about this size are the most popular worldwide, except in the USA. We apparently prefer larger knives.

Vintage Mora Knife

Here is a view of the other side of the Mora knife and the back side view of the sheath. This knife was in pretty good condition, a lot of rust on the knife blade, and the leather handle strap has a torn off snap.

I didn't even need to sharpen it. I cleaned rust of of the blade, polished and honed the cutting edge, and washed the knife blade and the handle.

Sharpening Nice Old Henckels Knives

I had my mobile knife sharpening shop set up at Zanotto's Willow Glen store last Friday -- and was brought these Henckel knives to sharpen:

Vintage White Handled Henckel Knives

Now I sharpen a lot of Henckels -- and they don't get photographed. These Henckels caught my eye as they are forty years old with beautiful white handles! First set of Henckel knives I sharpened -- or even saw -- that had white handles. 

These were in fine shape -- two broken tips and some cracks in the handles -- but beautiful vintage knives!

Knife Shopping at Estate Sales

I'm always on the prowl for cool, unusual or vintage knifes. Today there was an estate sale nearby — so I hippity-hopped over there and took a look.

Vintage Knives, Scissors and Fish Knives from Estate Sale

The picture above shows my purchases. A knife sharpener always needs files — so I selected three that I thought didn't look worn out and that was a useful size. I also grabbed a Italian made chrome poultry shear, two Japanese fishing knives, and a pretty old carbon steel knife.

Old Carbon Steel Knife and Chromed Poulty Shears

This picture shows the old knife and the shears. The knife has a plated carbon steel blade (I think it is chrome) with a different metal bolster. My guess is the bolster is zinc. The tang passes through the bolster and into the handle — the tang is visible along the top of the handle. There is no maker mark or such — no clue on who made it or when it was made. I may sharpen this knife and keep it — or maybe offer it for sale.

Vintage Japanese Fishing Knives

Here are the two Japanese fishing knives. The upper one has a wooden handle, and a matching wooden sheath, with a stainless steel blade. It floats — as is stamped on the blade of the knife. The blade slips into the wooden sheath and so closes neatly. The other knife is marked Giegfried Stainless — and has what I think is a fish scaler, hook remover, cutter and knife. Wood handles, and the original plastic pouch. The knife and the pouch are both stamped 'Japan.' All this in the one piece!

I also bought the box in the photograph. This box is a very nice piece (in my humble opinion). I like old, hand made objects.

This was on my day off, I played knives on my day off.

Tomorrow — Friday — I'm back sharpening knives! Friday mornings find me sharpening at Zanotto's Willow Glen, Friday afternoon I am sharpening knives at Zanotto's Rose Garden.

Mundial Forged Kitchen Knives

I sell Mundial knives — and I always have on display a good selection of their high performance forged kitchen knives.

Mundial Forged Santoku, Paring and Chef's Knife

This photograph shows the Santoku, paring and chef knife. These Mundial knives are high performance, forged, high carbon stainless steel knives.

Mundial Forged Kitchen Knives on Display

Here is a picture of three loose knives, and boxed knives and knife sets in the back ground.

Here is how Mundial describes their knives, and explains why the more expensive forging process yields a better knife: Mundial fully forged knives are manufactured in a process that combines innovative technology with Old World tradition and expertise. In the forging process, steel is heated to an extremely high temperature, set into a die and hammered into the shape of the basic blade, followed by a process of heating and cooling. The result is a stronger, thicker, more resilient blade. Cutlery that is fully forged offers an array of key benefits including greater tensile strength, increased durability, lasting sharpness and better balance and control.

Cutco Knives to be Sharpened

I get asked about Cutco knives all the time — so even though I have mentioned sharpening Cutco knives recently in this blog I think another post would be OK.

Cutco Knives Awaiting Sharpening

I took this photo at Gene's Fine Foods Pleasanton today. This is a tray of Cutco knives — both plain edge and serrated — waiting for me to get to them and sharpen them up. I sharpen all Cutco knives, plain edge and serrated Cutco. AND all other brands: I sharpen Shun, Henchels, Wusthof, you name it — all knives!

Vintage R. H. Forschner Carbon Steel Cleaver

Carbon Steel Forschner Cleaver

I bought this Forschner cleaver at a garage sale last Saturday. 

Carbon Steel Forschner Cleaver

It is old so made of carbon steel, and in remarkably good condition. It seems to me that the cutting edge is original, and the handle and everything else has not been battered or broken!

Maker Stamp on a Forschner Cleaver

I decided to put it up for sale on eBay. 

Come by the sharpening booth and see what else I have -- mobileknife.BIZ

My Mobile Knife Sharpening Business is More than Knife Sharpening

I call my business a mobile knife sharpening business, and I do that because it is a mobile knife sharpening business.

Mobile Knife Sharpening Setup at Zanotto's Family Market

Here is my setup at Zanotto's.

Bundle of Sharpened Cutco Knives in the 'Out' Tray

Here are some Cutco knives that I have sharpened, all safely bundled and awaiting pick up. I sharpen all knives, all brands, all styles. Cutco, Henckel, serrated or plain — bring them in!

What I want to explain in this blog posting is that I am not a one trick pony — I offer the knife sharpening service of course — but also several other products and services. 

Mundial 10" Chef Knife

I always have a nice selection of knives at the booth, I offer the line of Mundial kitchen knives. Pictured above is a 10" Mundial chef knife. These are a beautiful, high performance knives at VERY competitive prices!

Carbon Steel Chef Knife by Old Hickory

I also carry the Old Hickory carbon steel line of knives by Old Hickory. I like carbon steel — and I like having knives that are not available in mainstream outlets. Old Hickory knives have been made in the United States for more than 100 years!

Buck Model 110 Folding Knife

The selection of pocket knives on display is nice. Pictured is a Buck Model 110 knife. This Buck is made in the USA. My selection of knives — for the most part — are higher end knives not sold in mass merchandisers like Big 5.

Old Vintage Butcher Knives

I scour the land looking for nice, collectible and usable vintage knives and usually have a few on display. Above is an assortment of butcher knives, below is a World War II field knife.

World War II Knife and Leather Sheath

Along with all of the above — I always like to 'talk knives.' Come look, talk — bring any knife you want to talk about. I am always willing and eager to show people my sharpening equipment, and the methods and tools that I use — just ask!

Knives Shipment: SOG TAC Automatic, Al Mar Folder, Buck and More!

I had the pleasure to open a box of knives today!

SOG TAC Automatic Folding Knife

Here is a picture of the SOG TAC automatic knife. This is a high quality, made in the USA knife! The blade is stainless steel with a satin finish; the knife is an automatic so it opens with a touch of the button (the small button visible above), the same button releases the blade — which is quite convenient.

SOG TAC Automatic Knife Partially Open

Here is the SOG TAC with the blade partially open. The handle is solid aluminum, has a nice solid feel to it. The knife has a clip and a blade lock.

SOG Twitch XL Folding Knife

This SOG is the Twitch XL. A beautiful knife. Rosewood handle, assisted opening, satin finished blade.

SOG Twitch XL Folding Knife

This closed view shows the the pocket clip and the hinge with the rosewood handles. Nice looking knife. The pocket clip is reversible.

Buck Spitfire Folder

Another nice knife. Heck — they ALL are nice — you just have to pick the one that you like the best. This Buck Spitfire is regular opening knife, has colored aluminum handles, lanyard hole, and the clip can be positioned on any of the four corners. This knife has a solid metal feel.

Buck Spitfire

Opened view of the Buck Spitfire knife. This view shows the pocket clip and the well done metal work.

Al Mar Hawk Folding Knife White Micarta Handle

The Al Mar Hawk is a small, elegant folding knife. White micarta handles, lanyard hole. Includes a leather pouch.

Boker Anti-Grav Ceramic Folding Knife

This Boker is one high tech knife! Ceramic blade and carbon fiber handle scales. This knife feels very light, very sleek.

Buck 110 Folding Hunter with Pouch

The last is this big bold Buck Model 110 folding hunter knife. This is a large, heavy and strong knife. A classic.

Questions asked of a Knife Sharpener

While I am working in my knife sharpening stand some of the questions I get asked are the same ones -- so I thought I would write about them here on the blog.

"Is this knife worth sharpening," or "Is this knife expensive enough to be worth sharpening." My stock answer is if you want to use a knife, you should use it sharp! If the handle is broken or whatever such that you don't use it then of course don't have it sharpened. If you use it — sharpen it. My analogy is a car -- if you drive it, then wash it. 

I get asked a lot "Does this knife need sharpening?" I don't like this question, as it is more of a value judgement. A knife can always be sharper -- and the user pretty much needs to make the call. Is the user happy with how easily it cuts? I mention the tomato test — if it slices a tomato I would be happy with it. Back to my car analogy -- if you take a car to a car wash, they wash it, they don't try to decide if it is clean enough for the driver -- they just make it cleaner. 

"Can this knife be sharpened?" Some features of a knife -- like a granton edge -- makes some people think that it can't be sharpened. While I am happiest sharpening a plain edged knife -- almost without exception all knives can be sharpened.

"Is this knife too old to sharpen?" Knives don't age like for example a car. Any knife any age — as long as the blade and handle are in serviceable — can be sharpened just fine, and used for many years!

Visit my knife sharpening website for additional details by clicking HERE.

Vintage MAC Kitchen Knife

I went to an estate sale this morning, bought a few things including this Mac kitchen knife.

MAC Kitchen Knife 

I was happy to get it — as MAC knifes are nice, popular upscale knives — and that it was still there, I usually get to estate sales on the first day, this time went on the second day.

I believe it to be a FK-70 - Original Series 6¾" Fillet Knife. I went to the MAC website, and got this information on the knife:

It has a very thin blade — 2 mm. The thinner the blade the sharper the edge. A rounded tip, a rounded tip is safer, also a rounded tip is less likely to be damaged. The upswept handle allows clearance for your knuckles. The hole near the point of the knife can be used to hang up the knife.

I will probably put this knife up on eBay.