Sharpening at Gun & Knife Show... What Should I Charge? Opinions wanted...

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bluesmandan

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I'm setting up my rig (4 powered waterstones, 120# 220# 800# 4000#, a chrome ox paperwheel, a red rouge leatherwheel, and a 6000# leather belt plus a few other goodies) at the Tupelo Gun & Knife Show this weekend, to sharpen knives. I've never set up there before, and I'm unsure as to what I should charge. I've charged anywhere from $2 to $5 a blade on different occasions. I've heard there's some other guy around that charges $3 per knife. I'm thinking $3 for a regular blade, and $5 for large knives (over 6") or small ones with multiple blades. I'm wondering what other people charge, and what other people would be willing to pay. Please say where you live and what you pay/charge for sharpening a knife. I'll keep in mind that I'm in a slightly economically depressed area.

Supposedly about 15,000 people will pass through the show this weekend. I'm hoping to sharpen a lot of knives... I can do a blade in about 5 minutes on average I think... more for a really dull or hard one, less for one that just needs touched up a bit.

Thanks for the help.
 
I recently paid $5 to have a large knife hand sharpened - I ended up with a slightly sharper edge and a lot of scratches... Wish I had seen some of the guys work before I handed it to him. If you do good work I think most people would be willing to pay at least that much - or more depending on the amount of work required / material removed.
 
I sharpen using benchstones and a leather strop, I charge $3 per single blade under 5", $5 for a single blade over 5" and $5 for the first blade of a multi-blade knife with $2 per additional blade. (Also give a multi-knife discount- the same pricing as one multi-blade knife)

That's if I can reprofile it how i want, if they want it left at the same profile just sharpens It goes up to $7 for having to figure out the angle its at and takin the time to match that.

I'm in Columbus Ohio but I don't sharpen at the gun/knife shows, to much competition, I sharpen at livestock/horse/agraculture shows. I'm currently building my mobile paper wheel sharpening setup (running off my generator) and plan to charge a flat $5 (with the additional $2 for multi-blade knives) once that's up and runnig, regardless of blade length.


Other advice: have several of your personal knives secured (via aircraft cable) set out for testing along with a huge box of paper to cut, also be welling to do one for free if a big group of people come by, anyone can sharpen a knife (well not anyone, but any professional should be able to put a good edge on a knife) so you've really gotta draw them in with your salesmanship over the other guys. That's why I like farm shows- no competition.

Here's another idea to win people over, don't have business cards, print a repeating business card like deign on a piece of stock paper and neatly cut them off one at a time in front of people with a knife you've just sharpened.
 
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I had a chip I was going to have to sharpen out and at the last gun show I went to there was a guy using a system and he was charging 5 bucks to mirror an edge. I watched him a while and he was pretty good. He was mainly doing hunting fixed blades and kitchen knives so I handed over my higher end folder . He took a look at the knife and smiled said nice and proceeded to tape up the blade and put a beautiful and sharp edge on it. When he was done he wiped it down and looked it over real close then handed it back to me and said 5 bucks. I gave him a ten and said keep the change and thanks for being careful with my knife.
To me if you cant make around 30 bucks an hour (at least) people dont deserve your time and skills. Just my thoughts hope it works out for you.
 
I have always sharpened my own knives, but occasionally I have been at gunshows and if the guy was good, just had him do it for the fun of it, if the knife was dull. I agree with the $5. I never batted an eye at that, and $3 for really small, traditional folders, if you want. But $5 is a good, fair price in my opinion. I would agree with the post above about having some of your knives, and securing them somehow. But it shows people what they can expect, and it's nice if you have some decent quality knives you've sharpened on display, so they know it's not just for junk knives. I hope you do well.

Sam
 
I am am so terrible at sharpening, it's driven me mad for a year. I got my sharpmaker a few days ago and my first ruff and nasty but shaving edge lol I'm making progress ... Sooo if
If I had my benchmade 530 or my cherished swamp rat on me at these events, knives I would never attempt to sharpen myself yet (I scratch the living hell out of blades sometimes)
I would be THRILLED to see a set up like that! HOLY CRAP powered stones, leather wheels! Sounds pretty impressive
and entertaining. If you could put one of those mirrored edges I see on these forums, and hair popping and told me it was only $5! I'D think it was an incredible deal! Honestly I wouldn't be taken aback if you said "sounds like you want alot of work done so it'll be eight bucks. Depends on the customer, a knife guy with a $400 folder is his pocket that recognizes your skill and wants the works he'll pay whatever if he's getting a good value.
I been wanting to go to my first gun show to see knives, but never thought to bring more than my Edc with me. Now that I know there may be a sharpener there, I'll bring my bag!
Good luck on
a successful endeavor!
 
Depends on your work, lot of guys know how to butcher blades.

Tell em $5, take a second to make sure the edge is good. You probably know that part already.
 
Tulku said:
I recently paid $5 to have a large knife hand sharpened - I ended up with a slightly sharper edge and a lot of scratches... Wish I had seen some of the guys work before I handed it to him. If you do good work I think most people would be willing to pay at least that much - or more depending on the amount of work required / material removed.
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I never let another sharpen my knives. Never have. If my knife gets scratched or messed up in some other way, it'll be my scratch, etc.
 
$1.25 per inch for fixed blades

$12.00 for straight razors

$8.00 for axes

$5.00 single blade pocket knife; $8.00 2 blades; $11.00 3 blades

$12.00 Fixed blade hunters and tactical knives

$1.50 per inch for serrated blades
 
I have seen many knife sharpeners at gunshows and some sharpen one demo knife for free, but most have a small fee. I see anywhere from $2-$5 as well. Usually for a blade under 5 inches it is $3 and for a blade over that it is $5. That is in the Kansas City and Topeka area.
 
$5 sounds about right to me if you aren't selling other stuff. I would charge double (at least) for a re-profile and maybe $10 for a machete or some per inch rate. I would check the edge before sharpening however.
 
22-rimfire said:
. I would check the edge before sharpening however.
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Yep. Even if they know its dull make sure you try a paper test in front of them with every blade, that way they can't argue you made it better.
 
I would be ready to adjust price based on supply and demand. If lines are forming I would raise prices. If work isn't steady enough I would lower prices.
 
It depends on your part of the country. No one here can tell you what to charge unless they've been to the same shows you will be attending.

I'm sure you'll have competition at the show. There are usually three or four knife sharpening booths at the ones I attend. Check their prices and be ready to be competitive.

And be ready for that irate customer who claims you totally ruined his knife and insists you pay for it.

Most sharpeners I see just use a stone or paper grinding wheel. Frankly I wouldn't let anyone touch one of my knives with a grinding wheel except the manufacturer.
 
These are some good ideas, fellas.
Cabled knives for demo cutting.
A stack of paper to cut; demo the edge before and after.
$3 for under 5", $5 for over... maybe $1/inch for BIG stuff
Be ready to adjust prices (whiteboard display)

I hope I don't get a lot of requests for serrations and straight razors and recurves, as they can really only be done by hand, and take a long time. But so many knives now have serrations, though, (combo-edges) that you really have to be ready for them. I'd have to charge a good deal more, I think... maybe $3 for the straight part and $5 for the serrated?. THICK blades can be as time consuming as LONG blades, as can HARD blades. (I did a soldier's Buck Strider that he had been digging with and had NO edge; that sucker took near an hour! Gave it 50* Convex Edge for durability) Axes and machetes all will most likely need massive reprofiling and take a lot of time, but I don't think too many people will be carrying those around (unless they just bought one from a dealer).

I've been told that I won't have any competition; I should be the only sharpener there. Approximately 15,000 people will come through. But my experience so far with my region is that people here are broke, cheap, and all think they can sharpen. I used to do a little flea market and some people would balk at $1 a knife (old farmer types). I'm hoping Christmastime at the Gun & Knife show will be the magic suppository that stimulates the wallets to flow a little more freely.

I like the idea of having some razor sharp knives on display via cable to cut paper or whatnot. I only have two knives worth displaying that have lanyard holes, though. My EDC Benchmade Barrage M390 and my Spyderco Mule K390... . both of which I would be loathe to put on display for random people to handle and hack. I have a few other knives with good steel, but they don't have lanyard holes.
 
I charge (when I do charge now days) $4 per knife, regardless of the number or length of blades, as long as they do not need major re-profiling of a blade. Then I charge depending on how much extra work is required to bring it back to a useable knife. I try to avoid serrated blades, but will do one on a nice folder if needed. On a kitchen serrated knife, I suggest that they pitch it in the trash and go buy another throw away cheap serrated knife to replace it with. If they are not satisfied with my work, then they do not owe me anything. So far, none have complained, other than some housewives that said that their knives were too sharp, and they were afraid to use them. I only do hatchets, and axes on a pre agreed to price, depending on the amount of work to get them where the owner wants them to be. I only do these from my home, and not at a venue, as they require too much time that I could be doing other knives. I use my paper wheels, and my WSKTS for major re-profiling work, and then finish on the wheels. I do keep a stash of thin paper to demo the customer's knife on when done.

Good luck on your venture, and remember to have a lot of fun and hopefully make a little money in the process.

Blessings,

Omar
 
The ads I've seen for sharpening service charge per inch with different prices for straight pocket knives, serrated knives, razors, scissors, axes, etc. I'm guessing you will make more money charging per inch than a flat rate per blade.

Knife sharpening at gun/knife show story:

I saw a guy showing off (selling) a sharpener at a gun and knife show and I was carrying my Lionsteel SR1 TNP edition which needed a little touch up. He had a knife he had just sharpened and I sliced some paper with it, it was nicely sharpened so I let him demo for the crowd that was gathering with my SR1. I will never make that mistake again... he scratched the blade all the way from heel to tip. It already had scratches on it from use so it didn't bother me that much, but I like to put the scratches on a blade myself so I'll be handling all my sharpening on my own from now on.
 
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