Beta Beta — hiring neighbors on Papalocal is new; what you see here is real, and it's still growing.
Knife and tool sharpening Beta
A neighbor sharpens kitchen knives, scissors, garden pruners, mower blades and axes so your tools cut cleanly again.
- How often
- Monthly
- Where the work happens
- Meets you in person
- Who it suits
- Best done by an adult
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A sharpener restores the edge on blades that have gone dull: chef's knives, paring knives, kitchen shears, sewing scissors, garden pruners, loppers, hatchets, axes and mower blades.
Home cooks, gardeners, hunters and anyone who has been sawing at tomatoes with a dull knife hire a sharpener. Many people gather everything dull in the house and hand it over once a season.
A neighbor sharpener can collect a bag of knives on the way home and return them the next day, so you aren't without your kitchen tools for long, and you can watch them work if you're curious.
Also called: scissor sharpening, mower blade sharpening, garden tool sharpening, kitchen knife sharpening service, axe sharpening, pruner sharpening.
What's usually included
- Looking over each blade for chips, bends and broken tips
- Sharpening to the right angle for that kind of blade
- Honing and removing burrs so the edge is smooth
- Garden tools, scissors and mower blades as agreed
- Wrapping blades safely for the trip home
- A short tip on keeping the edge between visits
What to ask before you hire
- Which blades are included, and are serrated knives or specialty scissors part of it?
- Should the sharpener repair chips and broken tips, or only sharpen?
- Will they use hand stones or a powered grinder, and is that right for your knives?
- When can the blades be picked up and returned?
- How will the knives be wrapped and carried?
Staying safe
- Wrap each sharpened blade in cardboard or a blade guard and carry them in a closed box, never loose in a bag.
- Wear cut-resistant gloves and eye protection when grinding, and keep children away from the bench.
- Disconnect the spark plug wire before taking off a mower blade, and put it back balanced and facing the right way.
Knife and tool sharpening by town
Questions people ask
How often should kitchen knives be sharpened?
It depends on how much you cook and what you cut on. Many home cooks sharpen a few times a year and use a honing rod in between.
Can serrated knives be sharpened?
Yes, with the right tools, but not every sharpener does them. Ask before you include bread knives.
Will sharpening ruin my expensive knives?
A careful sharpener won't, but powered grinders can overheat thin steel. For a valuable knife, ask how they'll sharpen it and whether they use hand stones.
Can you sharpen my lawn mower blade?
Many sharpeners do. You can take the blade off yourself, or agree that the sharpener will remove and reinstall it.
Thinking of offering this yourself?
- Learn on inexpensive knives first; the angle and pressure take practice, and a customer's favorite knife isn't the place to learn.
- Keep a set of whetstones, a honing rod, a file for garden tools and a vise or clamp for mower blades.
- Price by the piece or by the batch after seeing what sharpening shops near you ask, then settle on your own rate.
- Set up at a farmers market or a church parking lot, then offer neighbors a pickup route on the same weekday each month.
- Tag every blade with its owner's name the moment it comes in.
