"How do I keep them sharp?"

The old ways are meh... so, we've invented a new tool.

Oct 15, 2024

This is 3Bits & Change, an email about building a service and retail business. This one was written to the low tones of a women talking on a conference call ~15 feet away, some overhead tunes and the generic sounds of a coffee shop grinder in the distance.

Sharpening is at the core of Vivront’s business. We ship packages all over the country, partner with retail teams and top restaurant teams and service the drop-offs at our store in Edina. We do a lot of sharpening—day in and day out.

The number one question we hear when folks pick up their kitchen knives from service or when they’re buying a new knife is “How do I keep them sharp?”

This is usually uttered with hesitation. It turns out… most of us think we know the answer—a hone. We don’t like the answer we think we’re going to get. And yet, the question gets asked consistently week-in and week-out.

Most of us have used a hone before and it did not work the way it was promised. Things got duller. It’s not that hones or strops can’t work… it’s that they need be used in a very specific way to produce desirable results - a sharper kitchen knife. Most of us have not practiced enough to hit that specific way to use them successfully. So, we dull our knives when honing. Ope. And yet, we want sharper kitchen knives without having to sharpen.

Loads of wonderful, intelligent, well meaning humans who have many successes in their lives both professionally and personally ask the question above with hope there is a different way to keep knives sharper longer, a magic way, one they can do and the belief that way might just exist.

Until last week, we approached this question with a special honing station in the middle of our shop dedicated to practicing, learning and teaching the hand moves required to learn to use a hone and a strop. We’ve had multiples of both tools on the table and we’ve taught more than 700 people how to use them.

We’ve made videos for TikTok about the importance of using maintenance tools like hones (mostly because an interesting song came up). And, over the last year, we’ve come to find some key ways to talk about and help people build the initial muscle memory required to be successful with these existing tools and their current form factors.

The key, you’re going to want the cutting edge to trail the motion… like buttering bread. But hones let you go either direction. What if a tool existed that gave you feedback when going the wrong way… and did not get all wet and nappy?

We’ve also come to believe that we’d all be better served if a new tool came to market with a modified design, away from a long stick, away from round objects, to make all of this easier.

We sought and found a collaborative partner in Nano Hone, funded the development with time, expertise and cash, and brought that new tool in our mind’s eye to market—the Truer.

//no.1 - User Friendly Paint Stick

These are not intimidating like so many people think about hones. Most of us know how to use a paint stick or at least we believe we do or we can remember quickly. It’s easy, just grab this thing… and spin it in some paint. Most of us have not been staring at paint sticks collecting dust in our kitchens intimidating us for decades like we have the hones in our kitchen knife blocks. The paint stick form factor is a fresh and un-intimidating tool for the kitchen. That’s step one.

Step two, this form factor lends itself to a casual use, and casual storage. A thumb can easily apply pressure from the top… while the end can rest on a counter. The squareness of the end of the stick stops it from rolling and makes successful contact with a kitchen blade easier to accomplish.

The paint stick form factor is way less intimidating than a stick-stick form factor. And, the whole tool is about as thick as a kitchen knife so it can be stored right alongside them.

//no.2 - Two Abrasives

There is a Medium and a Fine abrasive on these. Think the 8000 grit fine side works really well on hard steels (for speed steels and metals like blue no. 2). The 800 grit medium side works real well on softer metals (think the traditional western stuff from Germany). There’s a future where there is a 400 grit coarse abrasive on some of these for use in butcher contexts (think the Swiss Classic Victorinox).

The Truer is made of diamond resins from Nano Hone. Where ceramic and steel versions either clog up or wear smooth, reducing their cut performance, the diamond resin gets toothier with use - as the resin wears. And, it’s stacked with diamonds all the way through the resin so it’ll have cut power until the resin is gone. This is the opposite of steels.

And, you use it with a different handhold than a hone or a kitchen knife. Use it with the handhold you use when buttering bread. Apply a little force to the side of the blade in both directions. Easy!

//no.3 - Not to big. Not too small

It’s tiny and has a square end. Ok… so what? Well, the squareness allows the kitchen knife to make contact at more than a millimeter and to reduce the high point load of a stick. That squareness also distributes the force and is easier to use successfuly. It does not roll around a table or counter simply because of its form factor.

Kitchen knives don’t go dull uniformly. They go dull where they contact the board most and that’s usually at the front curve of the blade.

Hones have been traditionally quite long in comparison to the length of the knives most home cooks want to use. They’re hard to store… hard to use. The Truer is about 7.5 inches of abrasives and about as long as the typical Santoku. So, it fits in rolls and drawers and more… and tucks away nicely at a station. And, if you have a long 240mm tool, you can use the Truer like it’s a stone… simply work down the cutting edge in sections.

Sum

At Vivront, sharpening isn’t a stand alone service—it’s a constant pursuit of making the process easier and more accessible for everyone. A common challenge we’ve seen is that many feel uncertain about how to maintain their kitchen knives after sharpening, especially with traditional tools like hones, which often intimidate more than empower.

With that in mind, we collaborated with Nano Hone to develop The Truer—a tool that simplifies knife maintenance with an innovative, user-friendly design. Its paint stick-inspired shape, dual abrasives, and compact size make it far less daunting than traditional hones. By addressing the common frustrations with honing, The Truer empowers home cooks and pro cooks to keep their knives sharper for longer without a steep and intimidating learning curve.

Whether you’re an experienced chef or a home cook, The Truer is designed to give you confidence in maintaining your blades, ensuring your knives stay in peak condition for longer for everyday use.

Change

The first 50 have already found their way into home kitchens and pro kitchens. The feedback… “woah, this thing really works.”
We’ll get 150 more in the next 7-10 days.
Order one today and we’ll ship it when it arrives.

On Your Way

Happy Fall cooking season. Have your kitchen knives sharpened before it’s 10 days to Thanksgiving. :) And, keep those kitchen knives sharper longer with less anguish and more confidence via the new Truer.