The Polished Edge: a cut above the rest

Free Malaysia Today

Loh Yiren isn’t just sharpening blades - he’s restoring treasured tools, reducing waste, and giving knives a second life.   Story by: Dinesh Kumar Maganathan  Shot by: Afizi Ismail  Presented by: Selven Razz  Edited by: Andrea Edmonds   Read More: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2025/03/14/knife-sharpener-loh-yiren-is-on-the-cutting-edge/   Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com  Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5  Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM  Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h  Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp  Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX  Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb  Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj  Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Download FMT News App:  Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46  App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ  Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP   #FMTLifestyle #ThePolishedEdge #KnifeSharpening #Restoration

Transcript

00:00Loh Yee Ren parks his custom fitted van,

00:05slides open the doors and arranges his knife sharpening tools

00:08with precision. He then powers up a machine

00:12and gets working on bringing knives, dulled by wear and tear over time,

00:16back to life. Three years ago,

00:20Loh turned his passion for knives into

00:23the Polished Edge, a mobile knife sharpening and repair service.

00:28He drives across the Klang Valley on a mission to give blades

00:31a second chance by restoring them in just

00:3410 minutes. I feel like

00:37the knife itself has a spirit, has a soul.

00:40It becomes your friend, your companion and to see it be discarded like that,

00:46maybe I'm just a little bit too sentimental but

00:50that makes me feel sad, that really

00:54makes me feel sad. How many meals,

00:57delicious home-cooked meals has that knife made for you

01:00by your mother's hand? So that knife

01:05is not just a piece of metal,

01:08you know, it's instrumental in giving you the experience and those memories.

01:12So to see a knife be thrown away, it's like seeing those memories be thrown away as well.

01:18Loh's fascination with knives started

01:21when he decided to maintain his own growing collection.

01:24At first, he sharpened knives for free.

01:27Then, a customer suggested he charge

01:30for his work. Soon, the Polished Edge

01:33was born. Today, Loh runs

01:37a roving sharpening station, making stops at neighbourhoods,

01:41restaurants, hotels and pop-up events

01:44from the Klang Valley to Langkawi and Penang.

01:49His service is fast, precise and mesmerising to watch.

01:56He is highly sought after, frequently receiving

01:59rave reviews for his exceptional workmanship.

02:05I will get actually videos or messages from the customers afterwards and they're like,

02:09whoa, the knife is so sharp, cutting is so effortless now.

02:13Some responses I have from my customers as well is that

02:17now the knife looks too nice to use, which is a bit of a shame, I feel, but I take it as a compliment.

02:23He says sharpening isn't just about achieving a perfect cut,

02:27it's also about preservation.

02:30Too often, Loh sees knives damaged by improper sharpening techniques.

02:35If you want the knives

02:38sharpened the right way, if you want it done right,

02:41we will do that for you. I've seen

02:45knives that are sharpened the wrong way many, many times, painful.

02:48It's not just about the knife not being sharp,

02:52it's about the knife now having lost many years of its life.

02:57Beyond sharpening, Loh believes in sustainability.

03:01In a culture where convenience often leads to waste, he provides

03:05an alternative. The thing is that knife that

03:09was disposed of actually has a lot of life left in it.

03:12That breaks my heart.

03:14So if a customer or an individual has a knife

03:18or scissors or any of the tools that I can service,

03:21if they have any of that that they don't want anymore, all they have to do is

03:25they can just bring it to me, I will service it in the best way I can,

03:30and donate it on their behalf.

03:32That's why he advises people to choose their knives wisely.

03:37I love the term buy once, buy once, because

03:40you can buy a knife that is of a high quality or a reasonable quality,

03:44the edge is going to last long, you're not going to

03:48use up more resources to make a new knife, you're not going to add more to the landfill,

03:52you're going to have less of a carbon footprint, and the steel doesn't go to waste.

03:57At the same time, because it's a good knife,

04:00you'll enjoy using it. Life is so much better that way, I think.

04:06Silvan Raz and Dinesh Kumar Maganavan, FMT.

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