This was done by a “professional” sharpener

[Malcolm Schweizer]

A lady asked me to sharpen her knives. There was a local guy who recently passed away and he had a “professional” sharpening business. This is what he did- that one knife used to be serrated. He put a bevel on it. The other is a boning knife that looks like it was sharpened on a cinder block.

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I told her I can’t fix the serrated knife but I can try making it a scalloped bevel.

[Jim Koepke]

Someone hangs a shingle with "professional' on it and the masses believe it.

For some reason it seems obvious a serrated knife has at least one side without a bevel. The big hassle to me is using a slip stone on each scallop to get the points sharpened.

My thoughts at times have considered the idea of making a little extra cash by setting up to sharpen at the farmers market. At other times it occurs to me that it might not be worth it.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

The word "professional " to describe a trade should always be cause for investigating competence. If they are ,I will
call them by whatever term they like.

[Eric Danstrom]

Probably A2 steel when it needs to be PM-V11;)

[Jeff Wittrock]

Long ago, when I was in the Marine Corps, The lab where I worked was run by a navy CPO. One day he noticed how sharp my pocket knife was. He loved fishing and asked if I would try to sharpen one of his fillet knives. It was in pretty bad shape and I couldn't imagine Him being able to fillet anything with it.
It took a while with the one stone I had at the time, but put it in good shape and i gave it back to him on a Friday. The next Monday, he came in wearing a bandage on his finger, but he was real happy with the knife.

I keep my kitchen knives reasonably sharp, but nothing like my tools. I'm just to clumsy in the kitchen to keep them as sharp as my tools and not cut myself often. My wife is the same.

[Charles Guest]

Perhaps he was unwell when he did the work, if the work was done a short time before he expired. I've seen guys work up to a week or so before they died of a heart attack or massive stroke and the work left on their bench was a mess. Had somebody noticed in time, perhaps a life could have been saved. These were not unskilled craftsmen.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Someone hangs a shingle with "professional' on it and the masses believe it.

For some reason it seems obvious a serrated knife has at least one side without a bevel. The big hassle to me is using a slip stone on each scallop to get the points sharpened.

My thoughts at times have considered the idea of making a little extra cash by setting up to sharpen at the farmers market. At other times it occurs to me that it might not be worth it.

jtk

I just wanted to pay for a Tormek, so I went to some chefs and asked to sharpen for them. I used the Tormek to set bevels, and finished on waterstones. Word of mouth took off and it became a nice little side income. I charge $5 a blade but $4 if you give me 5 or more. I only charge extra for machetes and odd things like guillotines that florists use to cut stems, as they require a lot more work.

[Derek Cohen]

Malcolm, I recall how and why you started sharpening knives. The repeat order show that you do a good job. Not many have the equipment or the skill for this. Still, it is time you are charging for, and a serrated knife is many times the work. The parallel is a backsaw sharpener - many small teeth take time.

You could do that breadknife (?), but it needs each serration re-ground, and this takes time. I assume the steel is a stainless and too hard for a file. A Dremel with a round diamond hone would do it. I would treat it like a saw blade and first joint the edges using a diamond plate, and then grind the hollows/serrations. Would that do it? I’ve never sharpened anything like this before, so take my suggestions as a question. What would you do?

Regards from Prague

Derek

[Jack Frederick]

There is a local couple here who sharpen. They are willing to attend parties where attendees will bring their knives for sharpening. My daughter was at one party and said they were very nice people and fit right in. You just hope all of those neighbors get along.

[Flamone LaChaud]

My Dad used this phrase: You know what an Expert is? X - The unknown variable, Spurt - a drip under pressure.

[Jim Koepke]

One definition of a professional: '2. engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime'

Professional does imply the person to be competent or skillful in its first definition of the word. However, it is not a requirement for someone to actually be competent or skillful to be considered such by people who do not know what it entails for a specific occupation.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Malcolm, I recall how and why you started sharpening knives. The repeat order show that you do a good job. Not many have the equipment or the skill for this. Still, it is time you are charging for, and a serrated knife is many times the work. The parallel is a backsaw sharpener - many small teeth take time.

You could do that breadknife (?), but it needs each serration re-ground, and this takes time. I assume the steel is a stainless and too hard for a file. A Dremel with a round diamond hone would do it. I would treat it like a saw blade and first joint the edges using a diamond plate, and then grind the hollows/serrations. Would that do it? I’ve never sharpened anything like this before, so take my suggestions as a question. What would you do?

Regards from Prague

Derek

Good day Derek,

Did you move to Prague?

Well, I don’t want to brag, but I will- many chefs have told others that I’m the only one they will let touch their knives. I only take clients through word of mouth and this lady was recommended by a local restaurant owner. Word of mouth travels fast here. We call it the “coconut Telegraph.” I once broke up with a girl and drove immediately to a local pub (made famous by Kenney Chesney- the “Quiet Mon Pub.”) It took less than five minutes to get there. When I walked in, everyone said, “Hey, I heard ya broke up with Gretchen.” Bad news travels fast.

Anyway, I told her I can’t fix the knife for less than buying another one. I would do as you say- except before a Dremel, I would use a diamond file and see how it went. To sharpen a serrated knife, you normally would just flatten the back, although I often touch up the grooves with shaped stones and files if they are abused. This is the first I have seen that was totally reground.

[Kris Cook]

There was a guy in Missoula where I used to live that would stand outside of the Army Navy store and sharpen knives for $1.00. I made the mistake of letting him "sharpen" mine once. As it turns out, he was charging a dollar to ruin people's knives. He was using a wheel and basically turned the entire side of the blade into a bevel. After the Army Navy store closed I saw him for a while in front of one of the sporting goods stores. I can't imagine he had very many repeat customers. I don't know what ever happened to him. I felt kind of bad for him...

[steven c newman]

IF you get paid to do a job...you can call yourself a "Professional" .....

I do know of a fellow up in Missoula, MT.....name is Bob Summerfield.....and he is very much a Professional as for as saws are concerned....and very good at it,BTW.

[Pat Barry]

That serrated blade should be fixable enough but maybe its just a cheap knife to begin with. Can't really tell from the picture.

[Kris Cook]

IF you get paid to do a job...you can call yourself a "Professional" .....

I do know of a fellow up in Missoula, MT.....name is Bob Summerfield.....and he is very much a Professional as for as saws are concerned....and very good at it,BTW.

Steven - I was not aware of Mr. Summerfield. I will see if I can look him up.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Update: I got the knives mirror sharp. It took a medium diamond stone to set the bevel, followed by 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, 8000, and stropping. I did not use the Tormek, because I left it at the shop, and decided to make this a fun challenge.

The exception is the serrated knife. I flattened the back, as the guy had put a double bevel on it. I decided not to try to bring back the teeth. The knife had other issues where it looked like he mistakenly ground a nick in the end of it. It’s a lost cause to try to repair.

The boning knife is one that I showed the original picture of where he had destroyed the inside curve on the grinder. I reshaped it on the spindle sander and then sharpened it.

I am not charging her, and telling her to take the money and get a new serrated knife. She’s a nice older lady so I decided to just let her have the sharpening free since honestly it should have been charged as a repair for each knife, so if I’m not charging her for that, I’m just not going to charge her at all. I had to regrind two of them, and work out major grinding marks from the rest. Clearly this guy used a coarse high speed grinding wheel to sharpen these things.

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[glenn bradley]

Having dealt with aging professionals somewhat I can say that some stay in the game too long. It could be that he was just trying to serve an existing customer when he was really no longer capable. Just sayin' . . .

[Tony Shea]

I personally wouldn't know where to begin on a serrated bread knife. This Christmas I bought my girlfriend a Shun bread knife and that's all I could think about, how on earth am I going to sharpen this knife when the time comes?

[Jim Koepke]

I personally wouldn't know where to begin on a serrated bread knife. This Christmas I bought my girlfriend a Shun bread knife and that's all I could think about, how on earth am I going to sharpen this knife when the time comes?

It is easy if the knife is made with no bevel on one side. Use a slip stone to touch up the serrations and then a flat stone used flat on the non-beveled side.

Some of my inexpensive serrated knives are hollow ground on both sides of the blade. So far just a touch up of the serrated teeth has seemed to keep them cutting well.

jtk