Would you pay to have your knives sharpened??

I would only pay for difficult or massively time consuming jobs like serrations, recurves, reprofiles, and regrinds (including broken tip). Otherwise my full set of DMT aligner stones is a waste.
 
There's a little B&M knife store here that does sharpening as well, scissors, knives, machetes, and axes. I've used their service twice both were times that I had spent about 2 hours trying to get a good edge on but kept failing, all I have is the sharpmaker, and my zdp delica had to be reprofiled, they just charged $3 for knives 4inches and under and went up from there, like $10 for machetes. Took the guy about 30 seconds to put a good edge on it. My girlfriend is in hair school right now, and there's a guy that comes to their school about once a month and sharpens scissors for $20 a peice, she said her scissors are like a clam shell/convex edges? Not sure what that is or if she was just confused, but I think you could definitely make some extra money on the side.
 
Yeah, I'd probably send mine in for a reprofile job to save some time. Thing is I also do re profiling jobs and what not just for hobby and practice, so that market as unlucractive ( new word? ) as it is, still has some competition.

I use to sharpen knives for a bunch of people in a local butcher/meat packing/slaughter-house-whatever place. Problem is that I sharpened all their knives so well that now all they do is steel up the edges and it's months before I ever hear from anyone that actually needs it resharpened. However for about a week I sharpened all kinds of knives for different people, got me a lot of experience.

So, long story short, make friends with a cook, meat packer, or some other kind of edge professional and get their friends interested in your edges. Then you'll be up to your knees in edges to sharpen.
 
Steve-in-kville,

I would not send my knives out except for services I could not provide to myself. If I need to have a Spyderco Spyderedge knife reground, I would send it to them. If I want to have a primary blade grind reground in a pretty manner, I would send it to Tom Krein.

I sharpen for friends and family. I do charge them for the service.

What part of PA are you targeting?

Doug
 
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jill jackson said:
I paid once when it was a recurve blade with a thick edge angle. Then it cost a dollar per inch on a paper wheel. 3-3/4" blade= $3.75, knife came back perfect and sharp. I think it would be hard to compete with that price and level of service.
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I too have had this service performed, Richard_J did a couple of my knives (Izula, 2 Emersons, and a ZT). I was pleased with the results. So the answer is yes. I do not always have the time to sit for a couple hours and sharpen knives. I will use my Sharpmaker to keep my knives sharp. But when I want a blade reprofiled or sharpened beyond my own abilities, I seek out people with many years experience. Some people are better than others at it, reputation means everything I think when sending someone a $100-200 knives for some TLC.
 
Sharpening kitchen knives might be a viable idea with a large market.

Maybe you could find a high quality distributor of kitchen cutlery/goods and ask if you could advertise in their store.
 
my $0.02:

i'd pay to have a mirror polish put on my blades or for a re-profile job. but i doubt i'd pay for basic sharpening as i can do that myself.

however: there are a LOT of people out there that can't sharpen their own knives. keep the price reasonable and i rekon you could make a decent bit of ca$h out of it.

learning how to properly sharpen scissors, saws, plough-discs/scarrowfires, shears, chainsaws, Combine Harvesters and the like is probably a decent business in it's own right. i live in outback Australia and there's a mobile sharpening service dude in town. he does a LOT of work heading out to properties (ranches) and putting edges back on all their gear.

sharpening up combine harvesters is apparantly a pretty lucrative trade. those machines cost on the order of between a quarter and half a million bucks, so he has little problem stinging 'em a couple hundred to makes sure the rotar blades are in good nick.
 
I can't sharpen, so I have to pay someone for now unless I want to ruin my knife.
 
I can get hair whittling edges from a really dull edge using my DMT aligner and finishing with my sharpmaker on the UF. But if I lived in a place where I could easily send my knives to Richard J for a mirror finish edge, I'd do it in a blink of an eye.
 
Hondo.3 said:
I'd pay to have something re-profiled, but I might expect a lot. I think of Ban and Tom Krein...

I was getting my hair cut, and started talking to the stylist about her scissors. She told me that she paid $20 to get them sharpened, but it was worth it because they were really expensive and really sharp. I believe her scissors were something along the lines of $200. I can't imagine that they would need much more than a few minutes on a Sharpmaker before they were shaving sharp again. So, I think there might be another niche that might need to be filled.

TC
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I knew a guy that specialized in this and it IS a niche market. $200 is on the low end of the price range for quality shears and the good ones are convex grind to the flat. Kind of a convex chisel? Good hair shears are as exotic and high end knives here. But, you'll find hacks that have come along and micro-beveled high end $400 convex grind Japanese steel shears. My buddy used to rant about that and how it completely changed the cutting dynamic. Imagine someone coming along and beveling your Fallkniven. :eek:
 
steve-in-kville said:
My question to the forum here is, would you pay someone to do a quality job on a knife? Or wouldn't you trust your blades with anyone else but yourself??
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No.
Y'all can pick any or all of the reasons below.

  • too cheap
  • too fussy
  • "real men sharpen their own knives" mentality.
 
glee said:
Imagine someone coming along and beveling your Fallkniven. :eek:
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I. Would. Kill. Them.


a mate of mine that used to work in the boning room at the local roo-works (kangaroo processing centre) looked at my brand new S1 and his first comment was that i should put a full flat grind on it.

i bitchslapped him for that.
 
I'd pay to have some knives hand-sharpened and then finished on a paper wheel, especially if it was someone local and I didn't have to send away knives in the mail.
 
Yes. Richard J and Knifenut1013 get my business if something needs a reprofile or that amazing mirror edge that new knives don't generally come with.

But I do maintain on my sharpmaker.
 
I would/do, because I've never had a particularly steady hand. especially on my coated blades.

my beaters I sharpen myself, but my emersons get sharpened by somebody with better motor skills.
 
thanks for the kind words everyone.

back in the early 90's i used to sharpen knives at fundraisers. this was the best way to get a customer base for more sharpening later. print up some cards and have them available. i used to set up at a fundraiser for a special wish that was put on by a local motorcycle club.

i used to go to a buddys bar and sharpen knives for customers. local mom and pop eateries are a good place to check. butcher shops, local sporting good stores, grocery stores. i went to barber shops and beauty salons. i sharpened scissors for $5. a pair. fabric shops might be a place to check.

i have a buddy that sells stuff at flea markets. a sharpening booth might be a good thing to have set up. check yard sales for old knives to fix up and sell.
 
richard j said:
thanks for the kind words everyone.

back in the early 90's i used to sharpen knives at fundraisers. this was the best way to get a customer base for more sharpening later. print up some cards and have them available. i used to set up at a fundraiser for a special wish that was put on by a local motorcycle club.

i used to go to a buddys bar and sharpen knives for customers. local mom and pop eateries are a good place to check. butcher shops, local sporting good stores, grocery stores. i went to barber shops and beauty salons. i sharpened scissors for $5. a pair. fabric shops might be a place to check.

i have a buddy that sells stuff at flea markets. a sharpening booth might be a good thing to have set up. check yard sales for old knives to fix up and sell.
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You do some fine work Richard. I was very happy when I saw some super sharp knives back from a visit with your paper wheels. Not to mention super fast turn around time. If I had the room in my patio, I'd have a few of those. I'd like one for my Dremel though. More on the way to you soon!
 
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