Like most people, I only sharpened my kitchen knives when I found they were mashing through things instead of cutting them. And then only if I had an Entertainment Book coupon for House of Knives.
What I found was that House of Knives wasn't really sharpening the steel so much as grinding it off. The more times a knife went in, the less of it was left when it came back. A few years ago, I decided to learn how to do this myself.
Turns out I'm actually pretty good at it! I've done it for family and friends in the past but am now (as a bit of a side project) offering it as a service to people in the community. For more information, check out my Services page, and posts here on the Timeline.