Knife Sharpening Event

(Looking for the end of Becky’s quick quilting story where she has to make 2 quilts in a couple of days for the charity who asked her? Find the conclusion in tomorrow’s blog.)


When Fred contacted us to offer us his knife sharpening services, it was with much doubt in my mind and trepidation in my heart that we would be able to find enough high-end scissors in Pasco County that needed sharpening to make it worth his while.

Then he gave me his price list and fears began to mount even more.

I asked Sandi, our Beginning Quilting teacher, what she thought. She said, “Well, sure. I’ve got several pairs that need it.”

I started the push. I mentioned it a while “out” and then the week before began with an intensity to encourage people to bring scissors to sharpen.

See, for me, I had great doubt because take a look at this price list:

 

I had only ever paid $12 for a pair of scissors before this past July, when Becky came, and showed me a beautiful pair of KAI scissors and, at $51, what a good buy they were. However, our Kai scissors had been kept safely in their sleeve, and not used much at all.

Who pays $15 to get a pair of scissors sharpened when you’ve only paid $12 in the first place? Around my house, my good scissors downgrade to paper scissors and I get a new good pair of fabric scissors. Well, I was told that many people had $50 and up scissors, and that they’d gladly pay to get them sharpened. This idea was foreign to me, as it was not in my experiential repertoire to spend that much money on a single pair of scissors.

I was thrilled to see the kitchen knives, the mower blades and other things on the list. I knew that selling $250 of services was our target, and with more than just sewing scissors, we stood a change to get to the goal!

Fred uses a whetstone. He has a coarse one for his regular knives, and pocket knives, mower blades, etc. He has a super fine one for the sewing scissors. He said that the regular one only costs $150 and the super fine one costs $750.

With each sharpening, he is actually grinding down the whetstone and using it up. So, in addition to paying for the labor of sharpening, when he sharpens, you have to plan ahead to replace that whetstone. So, part of that $15 goes into a new Whetstone fund. So, $15 is quite reasonable for as much time as he spends sharpening and changing stones.

This is the super fine whetstone that costs $750 to replace. He said that with every pair of scissors sharpened, that part of the stone grinds away.

Altogether on Tuesday of last week, he serviced 11 different people, sharpening 26 pairs of scissors, about 11 knives and 6 other things. He finished and broke down his station around 4:35 p.m. He had started at 9 a.m. … and he only took about 3 minutes to scarf down a salad. So, all my fears of not being able to keep him busy all day were for naught. (Ask my husband about my anxiety for that day… he can attest to it.)

We were glad to be able to offer these services, and are planning here at Quilted Twins to have Fred and Elaine back again in December. Elaine comes along to receive the blades and do the secretarial part, keep him working by bringing food, and of course, shopping at the stores where they set up!

We did enjoy having them, and in fact, I’ve put them on the calendar for Tuesday, Dec. 14 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

So, if you need or want a pair of scissors sharpened, or just have kitchen or butcher knives that need work, bring them in to us on that Tuesday in December here in Dade City.

 Address: Quilted Twins Sewin’ Shop: 13813 US Hwy 98 ByPass, Dade City, FL 33525



Have a great day wherever you are reading this! Thanks for coming along with me on my quilting/sewing journey!

Rachael Woodard1 Comment