Jed Bowen

[Jed Bowen]

I use all of those resources like the cardboard and polishing compound and such. Plus DMT diamond tapered sharpeners. Plus different diameter rods with different grit sandpaper wrapped on it.
I want something I can do perfect on each serration like the WE offers with it is normal sharpening stones. The other methods all work fine to touch up a rolled/slightly worn edge. I want to be able to repair damaged serrations easier and make it repeatable, make all the serrations the same width and depth and do it without electricity too, since my farmers market does not have power and running a generator is annoying to others.
It is in my opinion needed more than a chisel sharpener and the low angle adapter will work perfect to get the steep serrations needed. Now just time to be able to sharpen the other 1/2 of the knife on a WE is all.
But thanks for the input fellas. I forgot to put I use other methods to sharpen serrations.
Thanks
Jed

[Jed Bowen]

Eamon, congrats on your new TAS. I have done all of the scissors in my house along with my big tin snips too then I worked on my families scissors. I found that with the small very pointy scissors you can burn the tips very easily and need light pressure and a quick pass across the grinding stone. My learning curve was about using light pressure to not overheat the metal. Need to try big loppers next

[Jed Bowen]

I just posted on the WEPS and scissor sharpening thread about my scissor adventure. So I took the leap into the scissor sharpening market and purchaced the Twice as Sharp and boy does it work well. It ran $300 for the standard model but I made $200 sharpening scissors the first week I had it. So hopefully by the end of next week it will have paid for itself. I am charging $5 for standard sharpening. $8 to take apart and sharpen and lube the scissors and $10 to sharpen, lube and paint the metal handles black. So this is a business one can get into easily and make money if you go look for work doing scissors.

[Jed Bowen]

Hate to say it but I purchased theTwice as Sharp system to do scissors with. I tried the WE setup but did not like how long it was taking me to do and that the scissors tended to flex when sharpening.

Now the think I love to say is that by having the machine it payed for 2/3 of it is purchase price the first week I had it. Yes I made $200 the first week doing scissors at the farmers market and sharpening for ladies at work. So hopefully it will be paid off by the end of next week. I did charge $5 for the basic sharpenings but I charged a premium to clean up and polish the blades then paint the handles. So in my opinion the TAS is worth the price. Now I need some more days off from work to find some more scissor business. With this I am starting to really confided a mobile sharpening van or old ambulance to work out of.

[Jed Bowen]

A great and cheap solution that I already have the pieces to since I made up my axe jig and took your advice for that setup. I will say that this cheap setup will work with a couple of tweaks to keep it from moving around, but good and simple.

I hate to see this but if we keep up making our own gadgets like this maybe Clay will speed up his gizmo line. But I hope someone will come up with a good serration sharpener so we don’t have to wait another 6 months.

[Jed Bowen]

Max I am glad to hear that my setup worked well for you and that the gloves are good too. They are not too thick and honestly after a day or 2 of sharpening with them you will be used to them and you will not even know they are there. I feel kinda funny now sharpening without them. But I guess it is a comfort and safety thing with me as I will not be able to perform my job well with stitches in my hands or nerve damage or anything else like that. Let alone not being able to sharpen on the weekends if I got hurt.

Did you shave any time off of each knife with it or was it set up like that or was it about the same as your setup with the 22° as you had tried before?

[Jed Bowen]

Josh now you are talking about an extra 2 steps I can leave out as in the 100 and 200 grit paddles. Also I can set up a smaller travel kit with leaving out extra paddles to carry. I may start with getting a set of blank paddles and add the 140 Atomas and hopefully find another stone that cuts like the 400 and finishes like the 600. Then get a second paddle with a fine ceramic paddle and a strop on the other side. So it will be a 4 step process and only have to change out paddles one time.

This could be a big break to us in the farmers market gig. Clay could make up a set for sale with something like that but I have to say it may be better for someone else to build up to sell. Things around here do not seem to happen quickly in the production department. I have been waiting on a serration sharpener and a scissor sharpener for quite a long time.

So I guess it is time to do some more research on some sharpening techniques and start building up a farmers market sharpening kit that may only take 4 steps for myself. I am getting excited thinking about the possibility of an even quicker sharpening process. Which equals more money for my time.

[Jed Bowen]

Thanks Curtis for trying out the quick method and posting your results.

I am glad that it has also turned out a sharp and good looking blade for you as well. It is what I have to do at the market to make a profit and sharpen a couple of the customers knives while the make their lap around the market. I have done a couple of knives to the WE perfect edge and mirror polish but around here those are few and far between with the exception for my knife collection. Most of my knives come to me at the sad point in their lives so the 50 or 80 grit is needed. Some have been done to a very acute angle and the 100 grit works fine on them. So yes not all knives need that aggressive of grits. I am just happy with the results you came out with.
Thanks again Curtis

1 user thanked author for this post.

gregory mais

[Jed Bowen]

Max the 25° works great because it is less material to remove and that equals out to faster. I measures a few knives there and they were really at 23° with the a angle cube. But 22° is not far off of the 25° and every knife you put in is a different angle depending on the height. And if they bring the knife back to be sharpened at a later time it will line up quickly and sharpen just with a touch up. So keep the 22° if it is working for you.

http://www.ansellpro.com/hyflex/11-500.asp

These are the gloves I got and paid about $25 for 12 pairs. They are up to about $30 now for the dozen. I picked them up one eBay and they are great. I did some research and these are lightweight with a slip resistant grip and have a great slash resistance. You will still get poked through the gloves with the tip but then they still minimize that with the rubber palms. They wash just fine in the washer and price vs quality and quantity these are wonderful.

Look up the thread on “ancillary equipment” I have some more comments on them and links to pictures.

Also all but one of the Shuns were a normal bevel. One was like a reverse serration called a utility knife or sandwich knife. No e were sushi/sashimi knives with the left or right handed types of 2 different degrees to the bevels. And I did them all at the 25° as well. So hope this helps some.

[Jed Bowen]

I am along the lines with Limpy. I am at 5-8 min per knife. I charge $5 for knives under 6″, $8 for 6″-10″ and $10 for 10″-14″. My progression is the same for all my farmers market and kitchen knives. I leave my arms set out at 25°, use my key just to level the knife as I eyeball the fwd and aft adjustments, hit the edge with a marker. Then I reprofile at 50-80 grit this is where most time is spent then I clean up those scratches with the 100 grit and progress up through the 600 grit. Hit it a few strokes with the coarse then fine ceramics and the 10 stroke each side with the 1micron strop. Clean it with with alcohol put a drop or 2 of CLP on the folders and get paid. This turns out a sharper knife than any of my customers have ever had and the edge has a bit of a polish to it so they can see my work. Then I get paid.

I have not had a complaint about the quality or sharpness from hundreds of knives sharpened that way and I have lots of people stop back and thank me for a wonderful job. The only complaint I had was a 3 blade old timer I did for a poor older gentleman who bitched about taking too long sharpening the 3 blades for $5. Said “it shouldn’t take that long costing that much” so I thanked him and told him to have a great day. I do live in North Georgia in a town that is not too rich so my prices are a bit lower than some others, but cost of living is not too bad and it is $2 to set up at my farmers market. I needed to get started, get the experience, and work on my speed and grit progression and get my face seen and be there every Saturday.

[Jed Bowen]

On all the knives I do for my normal economic price of $5 for 6″ and under to $8 up to 10″ and $10 to 14″ I leave the arms set at the 25° mark. My progression is 50 or 80 grit to start with and progress up to 600 grit then hit it with a few strokes of the coarse then fine on the ceramics then hit it about 10 strokes with the strops. My average time is 5 min for the knives that aren’t too bad off and up to 10 min if I have to grind away with the 50 grit to burnish out the nicks or reset the bevel, I add $3.00 to the cost to do this. The Shuns I spent about 8-10 min on each as they were not bad but I needed to impress the chefs with even angles and a straight cutting blade. In all I was done in 3 hours and I did shoot a little low on my quote but I figured with that many to sharpen I would do a free knife or 2 for free to let the chefs try them out while I finished. And my free knives turned into lunch with a beer in the end so I figured it out to be even in the end.

I have learned to turn off the perfectionist in me to sharpen for the farmers market and make a profit. If I can make there as what I make as a respiratory therapist per hour then I am happy. So the kitchen knives I did my normal farmers market job and on the chefs knives I put a bit more effort in with the ceramics to make them shine. I still rarely use my 800-1000 grit stones any more unless I turn on the OCD or am trying to put the mirror edge to it.

Even with this progression I get a knife sharper than most people have ever seen and that is all that matters in the end.

So my quick jobs are, put on the Kevlar gloves and the arms locked at 25° for the whole day. Just use the key to level the blade in the top or bottom hole. Eyeball the fwd and aft adjustment of the blade. Lock it in and run a marker along the edge. Go normally from 80 through 600 grit. Polish up that edge with the ceramics and knock off the microscopic burr with the strop. Wipe with a rag and alcohol and collect my monies.

The majority of my time is spent with the 80 grit to put the new bevel on and 100 grit to get out the scratches from the 80 grit the. The rest go fairly quickly. That is also why I use the Kevlar is because I try to do it quick and I do not want to get any more cuts.
I figured a lot of time was wasted on the setup for normal sharpening could be used to actually sharpen the knives that did not need to be perfect so I tried to get the best result with the least amount of steps and this is what I came up with.

[Jed Bowen]

I do agree with Dan on trying to make a business only section for members. But how will this be verified? Also how many WEPS are out there to open this specialized type of sharpening business? I do understand trying to protect valuable trade secrets and keeping people from underbidding our businesses.

[Jed Bowen]

What a great list. I may need to borrow an idea or two from there.

Can I add take credit cards to the list. There are many mobile credit card readers out that work off of your smart phones now. I have the PayPal one and it works great for keeping up with payments received in forms of cash, check and credit card., You can generate invoices, and send receipts through email or text. Plus they do not charge monthly fees and are at 0.27% per swipe.

As I am also slowly trying to build up my sharpening business and pay for things as I go and have the money for it. I have a small generator that I will use for what ever kind of scissor sharpener I may get or lighting etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I have been looking at the 4×8 closed in trailer too with heat and A/C. But I just got the sharpening gig at our local fancy restaurant yesterday. The owner/Head Chef asked me to come by and see what I can do for some knive.

[Jed Bowen]

I would also like a pic of this Q-tip or wooden shim trick. I have fooled around with it with no success.
Thanks for all the info

[Jed Bowen]

A sub category for setups and or other equipment used to perform the sharpening tasks at hand.Pics of theit fair tent, booths, trailers or even that going mobile setup that FlorianPauska had, how people advertise, where they set up and so on.

+1 on adding this section

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