My Son's Sharpening Adventure
- This topic has 5 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 01/19/2018 at 9:06 pm by
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Hello fellow sharpeners! Sharpologists? Wicked Edgers?Is there a technical name?? Anywho, just wanted to drop a message to say hello to all and tell you guys about our journey with the WE, my son and I; PapaL and JuniorL. The best place to start would be to share the below post. I had an idea one night and decided to take to social media to see if that idea would become a reality.
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The Facebook Post:
Local Friends. I don’t typically make this type of post but had an interesting thought and conversation with our oldest, juniorL, the other day. I apologize for the length, but the full story is needed in this case. Side job / Startup / Marketing / Money Management proposition and thought. I/we have always liked to pour our time/effort/money into hobbies and passions that our kids develop; ones that are of value and are not just another xbox game or app for their devices. Woodworking, magic tricks, bike riding and custom long board building from scratch, to name a few. Over the years juniorL has developed a passion and heavy interest in the hobby of sharpening knives. It’s sounds simple but when you ‘really’ get into it you’ll find a fascinating hobby (job for some) of the how to, the angle, the bur, the grit, stropping, etc. etc. and the science behind it. He and I got ourselves birthday gifts of Benchmade and Spyderco knives as a step into the world of a quality knife with good steel. We have collected a few low/mid grade tools and sharpeners to get the job done, but there are devices a ton better that sharpen with a greater precision and accuracy. That being said, he’s been trained on the best device there is, a wicked edge sharpener, and can wield that tool like a pro. Being entrusted with high end $100-200 knives, he has shown proficiency in the trade. He would like one of his own but the price is a little steep at around $450 or so, for one that would have everything he is used to, to get the job done correctly. So I, one night while laying in bed thought I’d throw this out there, can’t hurt, and could be a great learning opportunity. What if? Blue sky thinking… We make a FB post, to see if there is interest in a service that juniorL could provide, that he could use his passion to pay for the tool, and then make a profit after he pays off the tool. He’d learn a little bit of the side of running a small business, a simple one, and do something that he’d love.—So, bringing all the above into perspective, would anyone have any interest in having their kitchen or pocket knives sharpened. This is a hand sharpening method, not an automated process. Initial thought is $15 for larger chef’s knives and $10 for paring and pocket knives, heavily damaged blades may require an additional cost to re-profile the blade. I told him, ‘if’ enough people showed interest to cover and back the initial purchase cost, we would purchase the sharpener, he would then fulfill the requests and pay off it’s cost to us, the rest would then be profit and a small side job. I’d even make him a logo and business cards. This would have to be local people that we could meet/drop-off/pickup. Getting into shipping and such starts to get above the concept and idea. —Comment if interested and how many of the above you would need sharpened to give us an idea if the concept is even plausible. If the idea is plausible I’d contact you via messenger for a commitment and go from there..
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(The training on the WE is in his High School, he is an avid wood worker and in shop class they have a WE that they use to sharpen the knives that the students in Home Economics use, to which you’ve never seen knife abuse like these! He was certified to the highest level in his class on the sharpener and has done everything except hair splitting, and was the only one allowed to take the WE home on the weekends, which just blew us away as parents of the trust and respect that the teacher had for him. <<<sorry proud parent moment)
Well believe it or not, we had enough interest along with some family that wanted to just donate to the cause to help out.
So we went ahead and purchased the WE Pro-Pack 1. Since we started with a Lansky turnbox, upgraded to a Spyderco Sharpmaker and then finally upgraded to a WE, it’s been quite the adventure.
Fast forward a few weeks of breaking in the stones and JuniorL is up and running. I’m a graphic designer at a sign company and I designed him a logo (in my profile pic) and am working on business cards. I did a heat transfer prototype of a tshirt for him as well.
He has sharpened most of my kitchen knives and my Delica 4, but hasn’t tackled my PM2 yet, and in reading through all the posts in the forums here, it’s not an easy one to do with the thick bolster on it.
His first knife was a J.A. Henckles Santoku followed by a Messermeister Meridian Elite Chef and Santoku, which these are by no means cheap run of the mill knives. Being a nervous father that my son was about to tackle $100-$130 knives, he in essence said, “Dad, hold my Coffee, I got this!” To say the least, the client was ecstatic that her knives that she used in culinary school were back to, in her words, “Scary Sharp!”
That’s our adventure in a nutshell.
The wealth and quality of the knowledge of this forum has been overwhelming. Everyday I log in to see what was discussed and pass it on to my son to further his knowledge.
When we first got started in knife sharpening I never knew that there was so much methodology to the trade. The bevel, the micro bevel, the angle, the type of steel, the tooth, the burr, and so on….
Thanks for all the help, you never know who’s reading all these posts until they drop in, register and take time to say thanks.
Well done fellow sharpeners, Well. Done.
-PapaL
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Good luck to you both, very cool. Tell him it’s best to stick to easy and ideally cheap knives till he’s very confident in his process. Nothing is going to curb his enthusiasm like the scratches posted on a $650 knife not long ago.
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Hello and welcome PapaL, I would like to congratulate you on your parenting philosophy. Your son is a very lucky young man. I applaud you and him and hope to talk to you both in the future. I’m sure that your son has some things that he has run into that may help someone else, so I hope to see him on here as well. Awesome story, thank you.
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Great story appreciated reading about your experiences.
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