Sharpening as a business

[Chris]

I did it for money… Takes all the fun out. 🙂

What did you charge for 1SharpKnife?

[cbwx34]

I moved this….. it could actually be a good topic.

I went thru a few price ideas… never really settled on one. But I haven’t done that in a while.

Anyone else here have or had a sharpening business? How is it set up?

[Geocyclist]

One question I have is for anyone with a sharpening business do you advertise that you use a WE or keep it secret?

[Gary Crumb]

I don’t think I would ever do it as a full time business, but I wouldn’t object to taking a few dollars to help offset the cost of all the new stuff in development.;) So I’d love to hear what other are getting for their service.

[Chris]

It would be nice if you could return the purchase price of all the gear.
Not sure if I would live long enough though?

[Gary Crumb]

It would be nice if you could return the purchase price of all the gear.
Not sure if I would live long enough though?

That depends on how often and how much you charge I guess! :silly:

I’ve “heard” anything from a few dollars per inch to flat fees of $20-$30. Not sure what kind of finish that would entail. Of course, finer finishes would command a higher price.

Sorry, I guess I’m not really adding anything here…

[Chris]

I’ve “heard” anything from a few dollars per inch to flat fees of $20-$30.

I couldn’t ask that in a brothel. :silly:

We have too many restrictions of knife types over here, small population and cheap.
Possibly a few kitchen knives, but a serrated sharpener could keep me busy. 😉

[Gary Crumb]

Are you factoring exchange rate? Twenty dollars in a brothel here won’t get you much!
…um, from what I hear… 😀

[Chris]

I’m talking about selling, not buying! 😉

[cbwx34]

I think I did the gamut… I’m not sure there’s a specific answer. I guess part of it depends on what you’re “selling”… the $20-$30 charges seem to be from those that are putting high polished, hair whittling edges on the knives. Most standard sharpenings seem to run $5-$10. It’s easier when you can actually see the knife (vs. mailorder), then you can assess damage, condition, etc. and go from there.

I’ve sharpened with no set price… sort of a “pay what you want”… and most will do $5-$10. Most that I do now, I do for a free lunch. 🙂

As to whether or not I’d tell people that I use the WE… I don’t see why not? I would definitely tell them that you’re “hand sharpening” them as opposed to using a belt grinder… even though you can do a decent job with a belt grinder, most “pro” sharpeners that use one don’t do a good job… so differentiating yourself in that area could be a real bonus.

[Chris]

One question I have is for anyone with a sharpening business do you advertise that you use a WE or keep it secret?

The exclusive dealer for WE in Aus does.

http://www.sharpfection.com.au/what-we-use/

I can’t find anyone else using one commercially over here.
Still unknown I guess.

[Allgonquin]

I think the amount of time it takes to do a good job makes it difficult to make too much of a go of it for other than spare change, so to speak. That said, I just put an ad in my local pennysaver newspaper to see if I get any traffic. I was going to start at a dollar an inch, not posted in the ad. I know that depending on the knife this can be a loser, but this is a hobby and I just thought I’d try it. If I make the cost of the WEPS back I’ll be happy. I’ve received one call so far from a meat guy at a local supermarket who was tired of guys grinding down his knives. He hasn’t committed yet, but I told him a dollar an inch.

Rgds,

[Josh]

I’ve “heard” anything from a few dollars per inch to flat fees of $20-$30.

I couldn’t ask that in a brothel. :silly:

We have too many restrictions of knife types over here, small population and cheap.
Possibly a few kitchen knives, but a serrated sharpener could keep me busy. ;)[/quote]

I have a small local (and recently national) sharpening side business. It started as a hobby after I got my edge pro apex. I advertised on craigslist =) From there on out I used all money from sharpening to roll back into my business. Now I have an entire WEPS, a 2×42 belt sander, a bench grinder w/ paper wheels, and a twice-as-sharp (scissor sharpener), all paid for with small business funds. Towards the beginning, I also paid $10/year for a google website that I created and designed on my own. I also signed up for google places and put a lot of keywords on my website, so that local google searches would put my company at the top (which it does). I have been doing this for a couple years now and now get return customers, which is nice.

I’m looking at going after some large industrial accounts in the near future to sharpen scissors for them.

On a side note, that’s where the money is at… I had a lady contact me wanting to get a quote on sharpening 18,000 scissors (to which I replied around $4/pair – which is reasonable). They had been buying new scissors everytime theirs went dull, and wanted to cut costs. I have other local contacts so this would not be an issue… she called back once but didn’t call back after that. Anyway, this opened my eyes that these types of accounts are out there all over my county, and all over the nation. I’m looking forward to it!

As far as serrated sharpening, here is a video on a powered serrated sharpening system that I put together. As far as I know, it’s unique on the market pretty much right now. (please understand that i’m not trying to advertise, I just want you guys to know about this). I started off getting the quarter inch paper wheels, gritting one of them, and using that to sharpen serrated knives… but that isn’t a good long term professional solution, so i developed the following. You can purchase the components to this on your own with a little reasearch, mostly locally if you wish =) It has been a blessing for me for sure! I can now push cut newspaper w/ the serrated knives I sharpen (which are properly sharpened from the serrated side) and I can also put serrations into straight edged blades if I wish. You should at least look at getting a set of the 1/4″ shaper wheels and gritting one of them and using it! Especially if you are looking at opening a sharpening business.

You can give me a call sometime and I’d be more than happy to talk to you about some pointers and things I have had to deal with on a small sharpening business level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BggYojTm9xw

oh, and through experience, I charge $5/knife for machined sharpened edges and $10/ knife on the WEPS finished on 1k diamond stone. If it is a real bad edge, I’ll profile it quick on my belt sander before taking it to the WEPS. =) The WEPS prices go up from there…anyway, just my $.02.

[Chris]

You can give me a call sometime and I’d be more than happy to talk to you about some pointers and things I have had to deal with on a small sharpening business level.

Thanks, perhaps I need to try and buy a few different systems.
I also have some ideas of my own.

A hydraulic clamp interests me. 😉
As I spent quite some time in this field.

[David Hamilton]

My last girlfriend was a pet groomer. they use the same scissors as hair stylists. I looked into sharpening them (she pays thousands each year for sharpening and new scissors) I saw that it was far beyond what I wanted to get into for equipment and skills to do.

I will be retiring in a couple years and I will probably buy an RV to circle the country a time or two. I have toyed with the idea of posting a Knife sharping service sign where I park. Ideas change a lot, but My current business model is a sign that says something like

“Knives sharpened here, stop by for samples and quotes”

low end kitchen knives could be sharpened on my work sharp mini belt sander for a few dollars for a kitchens worth of knives,

better knives could be sharpened on the Wicked edge for a buck or so per inch, Uber expensive knives, I would probably pass on for now.

time and experience would adjust things, but I would really want to avoid being sued for botching someones $1,000 custom knife.

[Author]

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