Thinning service
At Blade & Butler, every knife we receive is carefully evaluated. If necessary, we perform our blade thinning service to achieve the correct cutting angles and restore optimal performance. This service is included at no additional cost and applied at our discretion.
If you’d prefer to opt out, please leave a note at checkout — though we strongly advise against it, as your knife’s bevel angles and cutting performance may not be properly restored.
Around 40% of knives arriving at our workshop are found to have excessively thick tapers (the area just behind the cutting edge). This extra thickness dramatically reduces cutting efficiency and causes knives to dull prematurely once the sharpened edge fades.
As the only knife sharpening company to include thinning as standard, we take great care to balance performance with the knife’s integrity. Each blade is assessed individually — taking into account steel grade, taper, and geometry — to ensure a bespoke approach for every knife.
When thinning is required, we may create a wider bevel (8–20mm) by hand. This process may leave a slight, natural wave in the bevel’s appearance.
Example images below show this characteristic finish.
If you’d like a specific bevel style or prefer a finer grind (e.g., to achieve a hair-shaving or paper-slicing edge), we can accommodate that. Simply let us know at checkout. This involves narrowing the cutting angle by increasing the bevel width for an ultra-sharp result.
Please note that thinning may subtly alter the visual aesthetic of your blade — particularly in cases where a blade has been repaired or previously sharpened excessively. This is normal and necessary to restore proper geometry and sharpness.
Below, you’ll see a visual comparison of blade tapers:
- Far right: excessively thick taper
- Middle: standard knife taper
- Far left: widened 8–10mm “hollow grind” bevel
Examples below.
