Starting small business

As someone who sells knife services (I make them, but it's all really the same thing) here's what I would recommend:

1. Figure out what it cost you in materials. Did you buy a nice sharpening system? Will you need to replace any abrasive parts on a regular basis?

2. Figure out what it will cost you in time. Decide what your time is worth to you, and base it on that. For example, I would charge more to babysit someone else's kids than make knives: because I like making knives and well... other people kids... you know.

The real question is, what is it worth to you. Are you just looking to provide a service to others? Are you looking to make a living?

Don't let anyone else tell you what to charge. Only you know your motivations for starting the business and what you're trying to accomplish.

Then, you'll find out if your pricing is accurate by whether or not you get any customers :)
 
How experienced are you as a sharpener? A novice hoping to start a new business? An experienced sharpener looking to make extra $? What supplies do you have already? Stones? Belt sanders, grinders, paper wheels? If you are experienced and have some equipment, obviously your start up costs will be almost nil and you can afford to spend more tinkering with your pricing system. If you are starting by buying a few hundred dollars worth of equipment, then your cost analysis on profitability changes quite a bit.

You can always start low, mention the first sharpening (or two) are discounted in an effort to drum up business and start some word of mouth marketing. Make a log of time spent on each knife, any costs (belts on a belt sander, buffing compound, oil, etc) and get an idea on your hourly profitability. It will take some tinkering and trail and error.

Like Chopsaki said, hopefully you have a belt sander, some belts of different grits, and an old leather belt for stropping. Even the cheap harbour freight belt sander is being used by many to sharpen a knife.

More info on your experience with sharpening, working with different steels, and equipment would be helpful.
 
A few of you really need to invest in some good diamond stones, the others need to search youtube for knife sharping. re-profile to a mirror shine is about one hour (or less) with the right stones sharpening by hand. pricing around $30 is fair.
 
Slow7 said:
A few of you really need to invest in some good diamond stones, the others need to search youtube for knife sharping. re-profile to a mirror shine is about one hour (or less) with the right stones sharpening by hand. pricing around $30 is fair.
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What is knife sharping? The sharpening of a simple knife should in no way take an hour. Now, if you are reprofilling, that is a different thing than whatever sharping is.

This question is a little like "is this knife worth the cost?" I don't know, what is it worth to you?
 
Slow7 said:
A few of you really need to invest in some good diamond stones, the others need to search youtube for knife sharping. re-profile to a mirror shine is about one hour (or less) with the right stones sharpening by hand. pricing around $30 is fair.
Click to expand...
Have you done any of these things, including having paying customers for sharpening, or just repeating what YouTube has told you?
 
for $100/hr, better be a premium sharpening for a premium knife. most $50 knife just go through belt system unless the customer WANT premium. you charge $$$ base on how easy or how hard it is to sharp, if anyone can do it then there is no point charge that much, but its something very few ppl can do it or you do it MUCH Better then you can charge abit more. but knife sharpening itself is not consider high tech skill compare to written software code for smart phones, even those company charge around $100/hr or a bit more. supply vs demand.
 
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