About Bernal Cutlery

Knives and cooking tools reflect the evolution of our creative relationship with food and cooking, and through that, our relationship with the world that sustains us.

We are a full-service cutlery shop, offering sharpening services, Japanese and Western culinary knives, vintage knives, outdoor, pocket and craft knives, cooking tools and accessories, knife skills and sharpening classes, and more. We are proud to serve kitchen professionals, knife enthusiasts and home cooks alike.

Bernal Cutlery was established in 2005 by Josh Donald and Kelly Kozak in Bernal Heights, San Francisco in the slanting utility room in the back of an apartment on Cortland Avenue. Using $40 to buy an extra stone and print some fliers, Bernal Cutlery was born. Sharpening soon grew into selling vintage and antique culinary knives and after several years of working from various home workshops around Bernal Heights, we opened our first brick & mortar shop as a part of the then new 331 Cortland small business incubator collective in 2010. We have since moved twice due to outgrowing our shells and are now at home on Valencia Street in the dynamic Mission District.

What began as an idea of how two new and broke parents could keep groceries in the fridge and pay some bills, has grown to include a dedicated crew with unique experiences and interests that fill out and refine our shop's character. We are immensely grateful to live in a place that supports small business and provides smart, talented, unusually good looking and like-minded weirdos for us to work alongside.

What we carry:

We still find and refurbish vintage and antique knives, but our main focus is on sourcing high-quality new knives from around the world. While we have a soft-spot for the 100% handmade knives that we source from makers who still employ old techniques and small scale industrial networks, we do understand the need and value of industrial knife production and offer a range of factory-made knives that meet our high expectations for quality.

We specialize in culinary knives, with a majority of our selection coming from Japan, France and Germany. We also have selections from the USA, England, Spain and Vietnam, among a few others.

For outdoor adventurers and craftspeople, we have Nordic knives from Iisakki Jarvenpaa and Helle, as well as American-made Benchmade knives and a revolving selection of Laguiole, Opinel and other regional French folding styles.

Vintage and antique knives are also a specialty; from spectacular and historically important, to utilitarian-minded second hand knives. We try to always have a good stock of trusty old knives on hand.

In addition to knives, we stock a full selection sharpening supplies, focusing on the Japanese whetstones we use for our sharpening service. We import natural and synthetic whetstones from Japan that excel on a variety of steels and knife types. In addition to stones, we stock sharpening steels and ceramic honing rods from the USA, Germany and Japan, as well as leather and cork strops, abrasive compounds and steel and wood care products.

We also carry an ever growing selection of kitchen tools, pantry items and books, all specifically selected for their awesomeness.

All new knives sold at Bernal Cutlery come with a free follow-up sharpening. We are always happy to offer sharpening basics and tips as we sharpen in the shop, but for more in-depth instruction, take a look at our sharpening classes.