10.09.06
Living On The Edge
Some of you may know that I like knives and swords. A short while ago I got a nice sword. Not a stainless steel wall hanger but a hand forged, folded piece with over 2000 layers. I decided to take it in and get is sharpened. I took it to a place in town called The Knife Shop. It is one of those places in the malls here that sell cutlery of all kinds. They said they would do it as they send it out to a “professional”. A few days later I got it back and while at the store I took it part way out to see the edge. Things looked well at that point so I went home. The next day I took it out to polish it and I noticed that near the tip was a spot that was all scratched up. I could tell that this person used a grinder and it slipped and dug in to the blade a bit. I took the katana back in and showed it to the person behind the counter and she said that because she did not see it that she would not honor having it fixed.
She stated that it might not be able to be repaired by them as she was worried that it would do more damage if they tried. At that point, she turned to another customer and refused to further talk with me. Needless to say, I was mad. All it needs is a good polish and it will bring the blemishes out as they are nothing more than surface issues. They do not polish there so I would have to look on my own. Do you have any idea how much a traditional polish costs for a katana? They start at $800, that’s the least expensive I could find. I am so mad that it isn’t funny now. I have a sword that I paid over 250,000 yen for and now I have to shell out $800 US to get it back to its original condition.
That’s 10 times what I paid to get it sharpened. My advice, buy elsewhere and never let The Knife Shop touch your stuff.