Hida Tool & Hardware — Attraction in Berkeley

Very friendly and excellent service, but one small warning: Back in 2008 I took an armload of utility, hunting and and kitchen knives to Hida to have them cleaned up, sharpened and polished. They did an excellent job, putting clean and razor-sharp new edges on all but one of them and polishing them to a point of looking better than they did when I first bought them. I also found the person who served me to be very friendly.

The one thing that did not go quite as expected was, I had a kris blade (a.k.a. flame blade; wavy shape to the blade) knife that I asked him to put a sharper edge on and he did not accomplish that, but he charged me anyway. If he had told me in advance that it was not likely that he was going to be able to put a sharper edge on it, I simply would not have had him work on that blade. He charged me for the work he put into that blade, even though he did not accomplish what I asked of him. So, I would recommend that, when you bring your knives to Hida to have them sharpened, ask them in advance how feasible it is for them to accomplish what you want for each blade you give them before letting them get to work on them.

Outside of the one issue, their service and friendliness were noteworthy and I would easily use them again.

Note: According to another reviewer, Hida no longer offers sharpening service for all knives. Apparently they only offer this service for knives purchased from them. My experience with them is from back before they made this change in their policies, when they would sharpen any knife you...

No retailer services knives except hida and bernal. Hida owner very knowledgeable can suggest products without trying to sell the mist expensive ones. The mass market knives like shun are low quality. The blades dont hold their edge. Tokyo fish market down the street sells hinoki cutting boards ti minimize microplastic ingestion. Hida gives a veggie peeler for wveey order more than 100$. Very thin blade in peeler. Superior to the oxo beg peelers. The higher end steel with custom handles hold their edge longer. They teach tou how to use the 3 stine sharpening technique they use. No other retailer comes close to quality and affordability. Knife sharpening very...

Had my Shun knives sharpened here. I left five knives to be sharpened and paid $33.00 total. I am always hesitant to bring them to other sharpeners cause I don't know if it is well known Shuns are sharpened at a different angle than most western knives and I don't feel like insulting other sharpeners by asking. The store itself is really cool and makes me want to take up joinery or at least just buy the tools and tell people I join stuff. The store is small but packed. There is a cat. The cat is nice. The store is located across from REI and in between Harris Funeral Home and La...