As it gets closer to Thanksgiving, Josh Donald has quite a few knives to sharpen for the big day. Then again, there’s always plenty to be done at Bernal Cutlery, a Japanese whetstone sharpening shop in San Francisco.
“We generally don’t run out of sharpening. I think our sharpening-to-do pile has run dry once for 15 minutes," he says.
Donald first got interested in knives when he found a pocket knife in his parents' couch at a young age. But his passion for sharpening Japanese tools grew from his practice as a sculptor.
“It was mostly wood carving, that’s where I discovered Japanese tools. I was attempting to sharpen gouges, these big scoop-shaped chisels, and I didn’t get great results to start, but I kept at it.”