Well, here's how it went down:
I charged $1 per inch, $2 per inch for serrated. Business was slow last night (from 5 til 9... only did $50 or so) and busy busy busy today (from 9 til 5 did $200, maybe more, not sure). Most of my business I drummed up by asking passersby "What kind of knife are you carrying today?" or something like that. Then I asked to see it and test the edge on a piece of 20# printer paper. Most wanted me to sharpen for them. Once I got started sharpening, then people would stand and watch and a little line would form. No one has ever seen a rig like mine, and people are curious. I didn't get to go to the bathroom all day, and barely had time to eat the pb&j sandwiches I made for work grub. I made sure not to drink anything except some tiny sips of water so I could stay at the helm.
Anyway it was steady. I didn't make as much money as I thought I would, but still made some money. But I think some guy might have snagged a little from my cash drawer while I was sharpening... some dude with cerebral palsy (or pretending) that went behind my station and was fumbling around over there while I was sharpening his knife... after I sharpened it he paid me and then asked me to help him and give him money... I gave him the $2 back and said consider his knife sharpened for free but he wanted more. After he went away I counted the till and it seemed short... I don't know... can't remember what time it was and business was so fast it was a blur. Oh well who knows. But at the end of the day, whether he had robbed me a little or not, I had $200 more than I started with, so I at least made that much for the day (and did about $50 on Friday night, which covered the cost of the booth rental).
I used some of the suggestions you guys gave me... I had a little display set up with paper and a knife and a sign "How sharp is your knife?" and a couple of signs explaining prices. I also had on the sign "Band-aids for $1" and people got a kick out of that. I checked the edges before and after by slicing the paper, and that seemed to work well for people. Most people thanked me, several people gave me $ tips, and almost everyone said, "Whoa" or "Dang" when I got done with their knife. One of the other dealers is trying to setup another gun&knife show in a nearby town and told me he wants me to come be a part of it; I thought that was nice (I repaired and sharpened an old Case hunting knife for him).
I tried to time my setup and shoot for 1 minute per inch of blade, but I was a bit slower than that on a lot of them. If it was a thin blade of medium steel or didn't need a whole lot of work, no problem. But quite a few knives were extra hard or needed a lot of steel removed, and it took more time than I wanted. I suppose I could speed up my stones a little... right now they're probably around 100 to 120 rpms. I don't want to sling water, though.
Sharpened a lot of knives today though. Mostly Kershaw, Gerber, and older Case knives. The Kershaw and Gerber knives I know are from the Walmart crowd most likely. The older Case knives (the ones that are black, handmedowns and gifts from dad and gramps) a lot of them had HARD steel, not all, but quite a few were HARD and took a long time to grind down. Did some Bucks and a few Benchmades. Nothing else really stands out as being "a lot" of them. A Cold Steel or two, a couple Kabars, some S&W, one JA Henckels Chef's Knife (nice blade on that one, good steel I think). Did one Kershaw S30V Blur with a request for a convex edge; that was nice knife I thought, too. Did a handful of Bokers last night, but none today.
All in all I had a lot of fun, made a little money, met a lot of people, made a few business contacts, and my wife had a pot roast waiting for me when I got home.
But after sharpening around 100 knives, my left index finger has informed me I need a different way to check for the burr.
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