"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

leghog said:
My wife is a gift from GOD. Tough as nails but soft as cotton. She has a servant's heart and has never been afraid of hard work. Selfless, she always considers herself last and will take what ever is left after others have chosen, regardless of the subject. When the kids got older she started her education and became an RN after they were adults. She's a good one too since she's smart and tough and selfless. She's one of the most generous souls I know too, whether it be with time or resources. She senses a need she looks into it. She sees and need, she does what she can to fulfill it.

Yesterday she called me on my commute home stating there was a package that arrived from an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem. I asked her to not open it until I got there. I had purchased a small bronze coin minted the the Holy Land over 2000 years ago and recently mounted in a Sterling silver cradle as a pendant. A bronze prutah or lepton of Alexander Janeaus, King of Judea. Otherwise known as a Widow's Mite.

I gave it to her yesterday evening before supper telling her how she's a living example of Jesus' lesson of the Widow giving her two mites as recorded in Mark 12 and Luke 21. She immediately put it on the silver chain she wears daily with the grandkids' birth stones.

I hit a home run with that one.
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That’s just awesome. Full stop. End of story.
:thumbsup:

John
 
The apartment complex I moved in is a senior's complex and I've been here about 6 months. During this time I've made some good friends and there are 3 of us old farts that hang out together a lot we gather up for coffee every morning, have a movie night once a week and cook a meal together at least once a week.
Well, hanging out with me the subject of knives has come up a few times :rolleyes: The guys were amazed at how "sharp" my knives are even though I only have a few that are what I consider very sharp but most just have what I consider a good working edge. Anyway this has led to knives piling up for me to sharpen, clean and oil. At first I didn't mind because it was just a few but now they're bringing me knives that belong to their friends and family. Last week I did 13 knives and I already have 7 to do this week. I have told them that I didn't mind doing their personal knives but couldn't keep sharpening other folks I don't know for free. After talking with them I came up with a price of $7.50 USD per knife to clean, oil and sharpen them. They seemed to feel that was reasonable so I guess I now have a knife sharpening business. I wanted to ask if you folks think $7.50 is too much to charge.
 
r redden said:
The apartment complex I moved in is a senior's complex and I've been here about 6 months. During this time I've made some good friends and there are 3 of us old farts that hang out together a lot we gather up for coffee every morning, have a movie night once a week and cook a meal together at least once a week.
Well, hanging out with me the subject of knives has come up a few times :rolleyes: The guys were amazed at how "sharp" my knives are even though I only have a few that are what I consider very sharp but most just have what I consider a good working edge. Anyway this has led to knives piling up for me to sharpen, clean and oil. At first I didn't mind because it was just a few but now they're bringing me knives that belong to their friends and family. Last week I did 13 knives and I already have 7 to do this week. I have told them that I didn't mind doing their personal knives but couldn't keep sharpening other folks I don't know for free. After talking with them I came up with a price of $7.50 USD per knife to clean, oil and sharpen them. They seemed to feel that was reasonable so I guess I now have a knife sharpening business. I wanted to ask if you folks think $7.50 is too much to charge.
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1 - How long does it take to do the job?
2 - How many beers could you drink in that time?
3 - How many beers can you get with one sharpening?
This is simple maths, if 3> or = 2, you're ok! :rolleyes::D
Anyway, nice to have good news from you Randy!
 
I think 7.50 is reasonable. I mean, I love sharpening my own knives, so I wouldn't pay to have someone else do it, but 7.50 is a reasonable price. Cheaper than a new knife, and new knives are the only time most people ever have a moderately sharp knife.
 
I think the actual act of sharpening a knife is worth about 3 dollars.

BUT...

there's a surcharge on the knowledge of the how to do it, as well as for the years of experience that creates the end effect. Soooo, for sharpening;

2.00- sharpening.
5.00- use of materials and experience of using said materials.
.50 cents for wear of sharpening materials.

I'd say you were right on target, Randy!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
I think you're fine at that price, Randy. A local high-end kitchen knife shop (they also carry a few folders like Laguioles, Mcustas, Higo Konami, etc) has the following prices (they use Japanese water stones):

Standard Knives - $10 minimum for all standard knives 8" and under ($1.25/inch after 8")

Single-bevel blades - $2/inch

Cleavers - $15 - $30

Kitchen Scissors - $15 - $30
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I certainly think $7.50/knife is a fair price.
 
The Apostle P has a professional sharpening service and his fees vary by blade steel, size of blade, number of blades, etc. I'm guessing he is using some sort of ratio of time to cost. His small blades for normal steel is $15, I think, but he gets a very nice polish on the edge and uses a very precise geometry.

All that said, $7.50 sounds reasonable to my ears, if you are actually sharpening to refine the edge, and not just honing or stropping.
 
r redden said:
The apartment complex I moved in is a senior's complex and I've been here about 6 months. During this time I've made some good friends and there are 3 of us old farts that hang out together a lot we gather up for coffee every morning, have a movie night once a week and cook a meal together at least once a week.
Well, hanging out with me the subject of knives has come up a few times :rolleyes: The guys were amazed at how "sharp" my knives are even though I only have a few that are what I consider very sharp but most just have what I consider a good working edge. Anyway this has led to knives piling up for me to sharpen, clean and oil. At first I didn't mind because it was just a few but now they're bringing me knives that belong to their friends and family. Last week I did 13 knives and I already have 7 to do this week. I have told them that I didn't mind doing their personal knives but couldn't keep sharpening other folks I don't know for free. After talking with them I came up with a price of $7.50 USD per knife to clean, oil and sharpen them. They seemed to feel that was reasonable so I guess I now have a knife sharpening business. I wanted to ask if you folks think $7.50 is too much to charge.
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That sounds fair to me, Randy. Before I learned to sharpen my own knives (which was before I started accumulating traditional knives, and only had one or two modern folders that I carried all the time), I used to pay to have them sharpened once or twice a year. When I lived in Arkansas, I'd take 'em over to AG Russell's shop and have them do it. I want to say it cost $3 or $4 a blade at the time, but I just checked their website and they're doing small blades (under 5") for $5, 5" to 10" for $8 and 10"+ for $10.
 
Jolipapa said:
1 - How long does it take to do the job?
2 - How many beers could you drink in that time?
3 - How many beers can you get with one sharpening?
This is simple maths, if 3> or = 2, you're ok! :rolleyes::D
Anyway, nice to have good news from you Randy!
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Looks about right to me :D

Nice avatar too JP :cool: Deux etoiles :thumbsup: Allez les bleus:D
 
Will Power said:
Looks about right to me :D

Nice avatar too JP :cool: Deux etoiles :thumbsup: Allez les bleus:D
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:) Thank you!
The last two days have been quite hectic! I did not go on the Champs-Elysées, I stayed in my district, the atmosphere was reminiscent of nov 13, at least as many people in the streets, except this time in a good mood , people smiling and talking to each other. The whole month was crazy. Nobody thought they would do it, after Argentina, some hope began to rise and after Belgium we believed they would be hard to defeat.
As Alexandre Dumas wrote : "Vingt ans après"!

ps Bleu is also a nickname for the beginners...
 
Great to hear you've got some folks to hang out with, Randy, and that you're getting a reputation as a guy with valuable sharpening skills! :cool::thumbsup::)

As far as what to charge for cleaning/oiling/sharpening, I'd probably try to estimate how long on average it takes to do each knife, and I'd set some (arbitrary?) value on my time. If you get lots of single-blade run-of-the-mill stainless knives that are mostly dull but not chipped out and reasonably clean, you can probably work your magic relatively quickly. But I suspect you get your fair share of quite neglected knives, and some with fancy steel, and that probably slows you down. In Michigan, minimum wage is $9.25/hour, so if you just expect to get minimum wage for what's really at the very least semi-skilled labor, you've got to average about 48 minutes per knife at $7.50 per knife.On the other hand, if you can process a knife in 20 minutes on average, you're making $22.50 per hour.

- GT
 
Well done France! And I'm just pleased the usual boring suspects, Brasil and Germany came a cropper this time and Argentina were deeply unattractive- Maradonna's bloated antics and boorish idiocy from the stands added to the distaste:rolleyes: I liked the look of Belgium, Russia and England who all played well. England might have made it to the final had not Southgate insisted on fielding essentially 10 men plus a Whippet most of the time:D I still think France should've won in 2006 and Zidane did what he had to:D:cool: A far cry from the fiasco of France in 2010 in S.Africa too:eek::D

The only vomit inducing thing is how certain 'politicians' try to ride on the back of a national team's victory to limelight themselves and bask in self awarded glory....but I think most people see through it;):cool:
 
In 2006 and 2010 the coach was a donkey (while pro he was famous as a leg-breaker). He induced Zidane's idiot behavior (he made the team lose the game), Henry 's shameful hand against Ireland (whose place in World Cup was stolen), the ridiculous strike of most of the team in Naysna, etc .
Today's team is managed by a much wiser man, he was dissatisfied by the second place in Euro 2016 and acted in consequence. He has removed all the psychos and bad tempered guys (there's a few) and built a team with promising young men. I dig the way he speaks, as a Southerner he has an accent, speaks slowly, pronounces all the letters consciously, but you 'll never make him say what he does not want to speak of. :)

...Politicians, well, they're just that!o_O
 
Wurrwulf said:
I think you're fine at that price, Randy. A local high-end kitchen knife shop (they also carry a few folders like Laguioles, Mcustas, Higo Konami, etc) has the following prices (they use Japanese water stones):



I certainly think $7.50/knife is a fair price.
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You must be in Nola?
 
r redden said:
The apartment complex I moved in is a senior's complex and I've been here about 6 months. During this time I've made some good friends and there are 3 of us old farts that hang out together a lot we gather up for coffee every morning, have a movie night once a week and cook a meal together at least once a week.
Well, hanging out with me the subject of knives has come up a few times :rolleyes: The guys were amazed at how "sharp" my knives are even though I only have a few that are what I consider very sharp but most just have what I consider a good working edge. Anyway this has led to knives piling up for me to sharpen, clean and oil. At first I didn't mind because it was just a few but now they're bringing me knives that belong to their friends and family. Last week I did 13 knives and I already have 7 to do this week. I have told them that I didn't mind doing their personal knives but couldn't keep sharpening other folks I don't know for free. After talking with them I came up with a price of $7.50 USD per knife to clean, oil and sharpen them. They seemed to feel that was reasonable so I guess I now have a knife sharpening business. I wanted to ask if you folks think $7.50 is too much to charge.
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Thanks a lot Randy !!!! Now I know what I should be charging .

Harry
 
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