Do Maintain
How to sharpen knives, scissors and garden tools.
Gareth Heaton
Blunt kitchen knives, scissors and garden tools. Dry wooden chopping boards. We all have them. But maintaining your stuff is easy… when you know how.
Professional knife sharpener Gareth Heaton draws on years of experience – both at his kitchenware business and running workshops – to provide step-by-step instructions on how to correctly sharpen your tools. Using whetstones and other abrasives, you'll make them more effective and safer to use – and discover the hidden joy and satisfaction of maintenance. In Do Maintain, you will learn how to:
- Properly sharpen all types of kitchen knives
- Sharpen scissors, secateurs, spades and more
- Use whetstones and ditch ineffective home sharpeners
- Treat wooden chopping boards and season cast-iron pans
It's time to start looking after those everyday tools and utensils, break the cycle of buy and replace, and learn the lost skill of knife sharpening.
Reviews
Gareth transforms the intimidating art of knife sharpening into a friendly chat – cutting through any confusion like a well-honed blade.
Martyn Odell, Lagomchef
Packed with clear instructions, photos and illustrations, Gaz shows us that maintaining our tools doesn't have to be a chore - and really couldn't be easier... Now you can be the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Bother magazine
Gareth does a great job of distilling the concepts, materials and techniques a novice sharpener needs to get started. Buy this book and get some stones.
Josh Donald, author of Sharp & founder of Bernal Cutlery
Gareth Heaton is on a mission to get the country sharpening their knives and tools rather than throwing them away. His new book gives step-by-step instructions on how to do it correctly.
Yorkshire Post
Gareth shares his knowledge with warmth, wit and no-nonsense guidance, aiming to encourage us all to maintain what we have rather than replace it.
Kitchen Garden magazine
Winter is such a great time to give gardening tools some much needed TLC – so many great tips in this fab book!
Victoria Wade, Landscape Architect
Gaz cuts through the noise, giving beginners exactly what they need to start sharpening with confidence.
Hugo Worsley, founder of Allday Goods
Makes sharpening simple and satisfying
BBC Gardeners World magazine
About the author
Gareth Heaton lives and works in Ilkley, Yorkshire, where he runs Community Cutlery, a kitchenware business specialising in kitchen knives. Sharpening professionally since 2019, Gareth has restored thousands of knives, for both domestic and professional users. After discovering there was a huge appetite for learning, he has gone on to teach countless people how to sharpen their own knives and tools, in person and online.
Product details
- Published: 2nd October 2025
- Dimensions: 120 x 178mm
- Extent: 144 pages
- ISBN: 978-1-914168-64-2
- eBook ISBN: 978-1-914168-53-6
Artwork
Photography by Jonathan Cherry & illustrations by Lee John Phillips
Paper & print details
Paperback editions printed by OZGraf Print on Munken, an FSC-certified paper
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