Leite’s Loves…KnifeFlight

Don’t know how to sharpen your knife at home (and perhaps feeling a little too lazy to learn)? KnifeFlight is a mail-order company that makes it easy as can be to banish dull knives—and the injuries that often result—from your kitchen.

There’s something warmly nostalgic about KnifeFlight, a pre-paid mail-in knife-sharpening service headed by husband and wife team Kyle and Jess Miller. It reminds me of those times, long before digital photography, when I sent in my Instamatic’s film to a processing lab in Mystic, Connecticut. I’d haunt our mailbox waiting for my square photos to be returned to me along with my negatives.

It’s not the waiting part I’m nostalgic about; KnifeFlight is surprisingly quick with its turnaround time. It’s the anticipation–back then for blurry picture of my dogs Duke and Rusty; now for exquisitely sharp edges on my embarrassingly dull knives. It’s the same sort of anticipation I had every December waiting for Christmas morning–because for this cook, returning a knife to its former sharp glory is right up to getting a real Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll and the album “How to Become a Ventriloquist.”

Why should I use KnifeFlight?

If you live in an area where you have easy access to quality knife sharpening, you’re good. But if, like me, you live in a rural area or don’t know who you can trust with your kitchen workhorse, you need this. Because the last place you want to bring your precious knives is a big-box home store or local hardware store, where the kid sharpening your knives was trained just last week. KnifeFlight does just one thing, and they do it well.

How does it work?

1. First, you submit your order for a minimum of four knives ($62) and a maximum of 15 knives ($162). Here’s the cool part: If you want your whole collection of knives to be sharpened, you can request loaner knives at no extra charge.
2. Within 24 hours, you’ll be sent a prepaid kit, which includes custom cardboard sheaths with adhesive strips to cover your knives’ blades and protect them–and the postal service workers handling them. If you’ve requested loaner knives to use in the meantime, as I did, they’ll be included in the kit.
3. Once you’ve slipped in your dull knives, you slap on the prepaid mailing and arrange for pick up.
4. Wait and fantasize about all the miniature swans and rabbits you’ll cut out of radishes with your newly sharpened knives.
5. When you receive your knives back, slip the loaner knives back in the package, slap on the second prepaid label, and send those babies home.

That’s it.

Will my knives be really sharp?

Of course, the big question is: Will your knives be really sharp? The long and short answer is yes. Completely. One hundred percent. If you’re like me, you grow accustomed to your knives slowly dulling. You ignore the fact they’re dull until the time you try to slice cherry tomatoes in half, and all you succeed in doing is squishing them.

With the first slice, dice, or chop of your newly sharpened knives, you’re reacquainted with the immense pleasure of buzzing through a pile of parsley or dicing up a pound of onions or carrots. In fact, my knives were so sharp that I had to lighten up on the pressure I typically use while prepping.

What kind of knives do they sharpen?

All kinds–from paring knives to carvers to cleavers as well as all materials: all grades of stainless, carbon steel, and ceramic.

Where can I find KnifeFlight?

You can reach Kyle and Jess at KnifeFlight.com. They’re also on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. When you order, use the promo code LEITESCULINARIA to receive a special 10% discount!