Jess: Are you sure that your Global has a single-bevel, “Japanese” edge on it? I have never owned a Global knife myself but I thought I remembered that some of their blades come with a two-bevel, european edge. I have read complaints from some of the hardcore knife-heads on Chowhound (who insist on buying kitchen knives for more than $300 from the blacksmiths-to-the-samurai) that Nella does a bad job with Japanese knives. Knowing chowhound I’m sure they posted their favourite alternative pro sharpener so that might be a good place to look.

As Sheryl and Irina have mentioned you can always try sharpening it yourself. Learning to use a whetstone is on my list of expert kitchen skills to acquire. Online opinion seems to be split between the “why would you bother when you can get a pro to do it for $5 or buy a manual sharpener for $20 to $40″ and the “once you learn how to sharpen your kitchen knives the hatchets, hedge clippers, and machetes in your garden shed will be sharper than they have ever been” camps.

Conveniently, the November issue of Cook’s Illustrated reviewed manual sharpeners for asian knives. First, they did say that only the “knife wizards among [their] test cooks” could tell that an asian knife had been sharpened on a western sharpener. Secondly, if you want a special sharpener for your asian knives they recommend the Chef’s Choice Model 463. In reading this article I was reminded that asian knives have a 15-degree bevel instead of the 20-degree on western knives. I’ve never used a whetstone but I imagine the five degree difference would be quite difficult to eyeball.

Incidentally, Williams-Sonoma sells a not-too-expensive knife sharpener that does both German and Japanese knives.

I read your post from back in March that discussed how professional sharpening methods differ according to European knife design or Japanese. Do you know of anywhere that sharpens Japanese knives?

I have a lovely Global knife that I’ve been stressed out about getting professionally sharpened because I want to make sure the place knows what they are doing! I should probably just contact the company directly and see who they recommend.

Thanks for the great knife post!