Rod’s Sharpening Service

I couldn’t be happier with my knives! This was the only place a could find that was able to do serrated knives. My cheap knife set now cuts like an expensive one. Just call beforehand because the location listed is actually a coffee shop they use as a drop off. I called and they met me right away. Fantastic experience! I highly recommend! Also, they said that they are vendors at the olney farmers market. Hope that helps!

great service for the price… knives came out very sharp.

I’d give the sharpening job a 1 star, but as I didn’t speak to him (he is not very talkative) to address the issues and didn’t check after (blade was wrapped), I’ll take some blame. You do get what you pay for, a cheap sharp rough edge.
I asked him to sharpen a VG10 steel knife. This is a very hard steel it is prone to micro-​chips (less than 0.5mm knicks). He just ran the normal steps, wrapped the knife, and said done. Chips still there, edge was rough. I asked if it came out good, he replied «yep».
If you aren’t a knife person, you’ll probably be thrilled at the result for the price. To me, this is not a professional job. Even if he is capable of better, I don’t think I should have to ask. I will not be back.

Rod may be a bit taciturn, but he knows what he’s doing. Call me old fashioned, but I love my heavy forged German steel knives. Sadly, they’re soft as Jennifer Simpson’s brain and can’t hold an edge longer than a Kardashian can hold onto a relationship…
Anyway. Rod keeps my Messermeisters in great shape. He always sharpens until the knife can cut paper. No joke– I can shave with the finished product.

I didn’t get a taste of his sharpening skills but more a taste of his customer service skills, or lack there of. I’m quite upset that he turned me away when I trekked out in the cold and rain to spend my hard earned money at his business. All I wanted was one knife sharpened, to see if he would be a viable option for my kitchen, since he is mobile. It’s not like I got there at five till one, I was there twenty minutes before he was due to ‘close’.
I’m appalled that he refused to take the few minutes to sharpen my knife. His loss though, the one knife he didn’t want to sharpen today has cost him twenty five to thirty knives a week he could have been contracted to sharpen.
But who cares, right? I mean, who needs and extra $ 1,200 a month? It’s just money, after all, it does grow on trees…

Not worth the $ 5.
I brought a camping knife to Rod expecting to get a sharp edge for an upcoming camping trip. Rod spent what seemed to be less than a minute sharpening the knife on the mechanical belt sharpener. He then «tested» the edge by cutting through a piece of paper… something a pair of children’s safety scissors can do (read: this is not sharp). The edge I was given was not even close to what would be necessary to easily cut anything more formidable than standard stock printer paper. I believe either he has a superficial knowledge of knife sharpening or he doesn’t care enough about his customers to actually follow through and give them a decent product.
I’ve gotten a better edge out of $ 8 hand sharpeners. I would recommend investing your money in one of these or in a different sharpening service. I will not be returning to Rod’s sharpening service and would not recommend this service to a friend.

Rod recently sharpened a bunch of kitchen and pocket knives I had been neglecting and he did a great job. He’s friendly and knowledgeable and happy to share his experience with you as he’s sharpening your knives. I’ll be going back to him from now on. Highly recommended.

We needed some kitchen knives sharpened but the place we used to go has closed. I know from experience that knife sharpening iif you dont know what you’re doing is a good way to ruin once good knife. We found Rod through Unilocal and he does a really nice job, and a nice guy too. He sets up shop at the Reston Farmers market and the Fairfax corner Farmers market. I recommend him if you need a knife sharpened.