Kaiwhakairo (carver) Raj Irving is honing his blade-sharpening skills while offering a valuable service to the community.
“Sharpening, as a carver, is a prerequisite to carving. You have to maintain and sharpen your tools, and the better you are at sharpening them, the more effective you’ll be at carving,” he says.
From a carving family, Raj originally learned the craft from his late father, Geoff Irving, who taught woodworking at Raglan Area School from the mid-1980s until 1999. Raj now teaches whakairo (carving) at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
“Paki Harrison from Hauraki, who started the wānanga programme, used to say your tools are an extension of your mana. You can get away with blunt tools, but it will show in your work,” he says.
The same principle applies to chefs, who rely on razor-sharp knives for safety, speed, and precision in a professional kitchen, and who learn sharpening as part of their apprenticeship.
A gift of a slow-speed whetstone grinder from former student Dallas Mihinui motivated Raj to further develop his sharpening skills. A slow-speed grinder is designed for precision sharpening of edge tools without overheating the metal, which can ruin a blade’s hardness and flexibility.
“If you use a high-speed grinder, it’ll burn the edge of your tool and soften the metal. Using a slow speed is the correct way – it’s a bit like sharpening a pencil by putting a brand-new edge on it,” he says.
Raj says home cooks can usually get away with having their knives sharpened every six months to a year. While many sharpen their own knives at home, he says it’s difficult to achieve a truly razor-sharp blade.
For Raj, offering a knife-sharpening service is mutually beneficial: he continues to hone the skills required for carving, while locals gain access to a convenient and practical service.
“I like that it’s for the community – it’s something that used to be an integral part of a town,” he says. “It’s also a service people don’t often realise they need. It’s usually an afterthought.”
As well as sharpening kitchen knives, Raj can sharpen scissors, garden tools, axes, and carpentry tools.
Contact Raj at raj.irving@gmail.com, 022 012 7529 or search Raglan Sharpening on Facebook.
