Fair price for sharpening

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uofaengr

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As I've gotten better and better with the Edge Pro and some friends, coworkers, etc. have seen my work (I do not go out of my way to show people) and want their knives sharpened..and they have friends too that want their knives sharpened. Close friends and family I'm not interested in charging money, but with people I'm not close to or don't know them at all, I feel like I should be compensated a little bit for my time and materials because I do spend a good bit of time making sure it's done right, and I think that's fair. The problem is I don't really know what's considered a fair price because I do want to be fair.

I had one guy at work give me $20 to sharpen and polish his Skeletool blade before I even did it because he said that's how much it costs him at Bass Pro Shops and that they do a piss poor job. I've seen some videos online of folks advertising sharpening services for $20 up to a 5" blade for a mirror polished edge. I've seen some services provided (locally, not on Bladeforums) for so many cents/dollars per blade inch though I don't know that they're putting a huge effort going up through all the grits...I really can't say. I had a friend of a friend contact me to do 3 chef's knives and 3 or 4 utility/paring knives and wanting to know cost, but I didn't really know what to tell him. I think $120 for all of those knives is a little excessive, but for what I think my time is worth, I wouldn't do them all for $20 or something like that.

I'm not trying to start a business or anything, but a little side money for the knife addiction never hurts. I haven't checked on here to see what the registered service providers charge for sharpening, but I was just curious as to what others think is fair. What do you think is fair and what is too high?

Edit: I know Rennd has put me to shame with his free sharpening for life GAW...but I guess he likes sharpening a lot more than me :) I can barely find the time to sharpen my own knives.
 
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I got one of my knives sharpened by Richard J here on the forums. I think he charged a few dollars per inch. And he put an amazing edge. $20 may be a bit excessive for one knife. Perhaps go by the inch, especially if doing a bunch of knives for one person.
 
Blade length has very little to do with how mong it takes me to do a knife.

I charge based on
-Desired Finish , This starts at 10$ and goes to 50$ +
-Blade condition upon recieving the knife. It costs 10$ for me to break out the atomas to do repairs.
 
Sadden said:
Blade length has very little to do with how mong it takes me to do a knife.

I charge based on
-Desired Finish , This starts at 10$ and goes to 50$ +
-Blade condition upon recieving the knife. It costs 10$ for me to break out the atomas to do repairs.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with you on this one somewhat. Are there people who pay $50+ for sharpening? I'm guessing so. I can get a 220 grit edge in no time. Finishing at sub micron finishes takes awhile longer.
 
A 1k edge takes 2 stones.
A 30k edge takes 7 stones.
A 640k edge takes 7 stones and 5 strops.
The atomas take 4 plates and now i have diamond scratches to remove. (requires going back.down to 220 to remove properly)

My pricing throws some people off. But i dont particulairly feel like doing 5$ knives anyways so i dont care. However i deal with lots of expensive knives or customs in fancy steels. Which is what i would rather be doing anyways.

I plan on getting a wsko w/ linen belts this year (i already have boatloads of compound). That way i can offer quick cost effective cheap knife / machete sharpening. Im sure this will be a popular service around here.
 
This is a good question because it's really about the value of service in the eyes of specific consumers. The guy who wanted to give you $20 to sharpen his skeletool clearly has disposable income and wants some sort of show off edge on a multitool. Which is cool; it's just an illustration of the different desires of different consumers.

A chef who owns his own "good" knives may prize them and want a hand sharpened edge, as opposed to a machine sharpened edge because he wants a specific finish, doesn't want them overheated, doesn't want tons of metal removed, etc. He may pay $20 to have a high end knife sharpened. Same thing with enthusiasts with expensive folders. They want a good careful job that requires your time and effort to make sure their prized blade ends up looking and performing well.

There is a bit of a mystique about sharpening in general, Japanese knives in particular, and Japanese waterstones in concert. A member here, I believe posts on other forums as "Old Navy". He's talked about how the Japanese waterstones attract customers because of that mystique. He also appeals to customers that want a very careful job done on their blades. ...and they are apparently willing to pay for it. If I were to offer hand sharpening on my waterstones, the price would be extremely variable. Blades that are in good shape can be done in 10 minutes or so and wouldn't cost too much. Beaten up blades though would require crazy amounts of work by hand. I've literally spent more than 5 hours on one blade on water stones (for a customer that I did the job for just for the experience; I didn't charge him a dime). I'd have no idea how much to charge to make that worth my while.

The people I know are not knife people at all and very few of them even want their knives sharpened. Of the very few customers I have charged for sharpening, I use a simple: $3 for up to 4" and $5 for 4" or more, up to 10". This is almost exclusively kitchen knives and almost all of them are cheap and beat to death. Which means I take off quite a bit of steel to re-establish the edge and I spend a TON of time (comparatively speaking) doing it. Even using the WSKO, I've spent an average of 20 to 25 minutes on each beaten kitchen knife to make it correct again. So in my case, I'm not making any money at all. I'd be happy to be able to pay for some supplies and perhaps eventually pay for the WSKO.

So far most seem really happy with the edges I'm giving them, which is rewarding in itself. It's one of the reasons I was drawn to sharpening: Very few people can do it these days and few of them do it well. I want to do it and do it very well.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
This is a good question because it's really about the value of service in the eyes of specific consumers. The guy who wanted to give you $20 to sharpen his skeletool clearly has disposable income and wants some sort of show off edge on a multitool. Which is cool; it's just an illustration of the different desires of different consumers.

A chef who owns his own "good" knives may prize them and want a hand sharpened edge, as opposed to a machine sharpened edge because he wants a specific finish, doesn't want them overheated, doesn't want tons of metal removed, etc. He may pay $20 to have a high end knife sharpened. Same thing with enthusiasts with expensive folders. They want a good careful job that requires your time and effort to make sure their prized blade ends up looking and performing well.

There is a bit of a mystique about sharpening in general, Japanese knives in particular, and Japanese waterstones in concert. A member here, I believe posts on other forums as "Old Navy". He's talked about how the Japanese waterstones attract customers because of that mystique. He also appeals to customers that want a very careful job done on their blades. ...and they are apparently willing to pay for it. If I were to offer hand sharpening on my waterstones, the price would be extremely variable. Blades that are in good shape can be done in 10 minutes or so and wouldn't cost too much. Beaten up blades though would require crazy amounts of work by hand. I've literally spent more than 5 hours on one blade on water stones (for a customer that I did the job for just for the experience; I didn't charge him a dime). I'd have no idea how much to charge to make that worth my while.

The people I know are not knife people at all and very few of them even want their knives sharpened. Of the very few customers I have charged for sharpening, I use a simple: $3 for up to 4" and $5 for 4" or more, up to 10". This is almost exclusively kitchen knives and almost all of them are cheap and beat to death. Which means I take off quite a bit of steel to re-establish the edge and I spend a TON of time (comparatively speaking) doing it. Even using the WSKO, I've spent an average of 20 to 25 minutes on each beaten kitchen knife to make it correct again. So in my case, I'm not making any money at all. I'd be happy to be able to pay for some supplies and perhaps eventually pay for the WSKO.

So far most seem really happy with the edges I'm giving them, which is rewarding in itself. It's one of the reasons I was drawn to sharpening: Very few people can do it these days and few of them do it well. I want to do it and do it very well.

Brian.
Click to expand...

Brian,

Good post. Seems like you and I both like making sure it's done right and that they're happy no matter the time taken. I have no idea what kind of shape these knives will be in so who knows how long it'll take. I just know that a couple are Henckels and the rest probably mystery steels. Yes some people like me are drawn by flashy, shiny edges and some people just want to cut their carrots. I think the effort into the edge should dictate the cost. Time = money, right?
 
As an apprentice mud guy on a brick building site, you seldom wonder how to bid jobs.

Speaking only for myself, I wonder what knife I will see next, and what challenges I will face, sharpening it. I figure once I have done a task about 10,000 times, I may begin to master it.
 
not really sure about charging your friends to sharpen their blades but I guess that is a fair price.
 
uofaengr said:
As I've gotten better and better with the Edge Pro and some friends, coworkers, etc. have seen my work (I do not go out of my way to show people) and want their knives sharpened..and they have friends too that want their knives sharpened. Close friends and family I'm not interested in charging money, but with people I'm not close to or don't know them at all, I feel like I should be compensated a little bit for my time and materials because I do spend a good bit of time making sure it's done right, and I think that's fair. The problem is I don't really know what's considered a fair price because I do want to be fair.

I had one guy at work give me $20 to sharpen and polish his Skeletool blade before I even did it because he said that's how much it costs him at Bass Pro Shops and that they do a piss poor job. I've seen some videos online of folks advertising sharpening services for $20 up to a 5" blade for a mirror polished edge. I've seen some services provided (locally, not on Bladeforums) for so many cents/dollars per blade inch though I don't know that they're putting a huge effort going up through all the grits...I really can't say. I had a friend of a friend contact me to do 3 chef's knives and 3 or 4 utility/paring knives and wanting to know cost, but I didn't really know what to tell him. I think $120 for all of those knives is a little excessive, but for what I think my time is worth, I wouldn't do them all for $20 or something like that.

I'm not trying to start a business or anything, but a little side money for the knife addiction never hurts. I haven't checked on here to see what the registered service providers charge for sharpening, but I was just curious as to what others think is fair. What do you think is fair and what is too high?

Edit: I know Rennd has put me to shame with his free sharpening for life GAW...but I guess he likes sharpening a lot more than me :) I can barely find the time to sharpen my own knives.
Click to expand...

I think that ultimately only you know what is fair to you. If you quote a price and the customer does not agree they go elsewhere. Only you know what your time is worth.
 
I've never taken money for a sharpening job. Friends have offered, but I enjoy sharpening and the practice I get. But, if I were to sharpen for cash, the price would be determined by desired finish and, to a lesser degree, blade length.
 
An idea that ran through my head is tiered pricing. People like having options. For example, $2/in for a working edge eq. to say 400 grit EP, $3/in for semi polished/toothy edge eq. to 1000 grit EP, $4/in for polished edge at 3k EP tapes, and $5/in for scary sharp super polished edge at 0.5u CBN. Each tier is 2 stones or steps after the last.

Throw in an adder at my discretion of say $1/in or more for more wear resistant steels like M4, ZDP, etc.

Again, again, and again, not charging friends. Friends are worth me giving up a few hours on a weekend. For random people, my time is worth more because like I said I barely have time to sharpen my own blades. Not intending this to be a business, but if someone I don't know asks, I like having a set rate to tell them and then it's up to them to decide.

I know I'm not the only one here who thinks it's a ripoff that Bass Pro charges people 20 bucks for Billy to run your pocketknife through an electric sharpener. And people actually pay that.
 
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I will be doing gun shows in a booth that offers two things.

Concealed Carry Permits and other gun safety classes.

Free knife sharpening.

The free knife sharpening is the bait for the gun classes. While I am sharpening a knife, people can pick up literature and ask questions.
 
NRA said:
I will be doing gun shows in a booth that offers two things.

Concealed Carry Permits and other gun safety classes.

Free knife sharpening.

The free knife sharpening is the bait for the gun classes. While I am sharpening a knife, people can pick up literature and ask questions.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea!
 
Think I've come to a conclusion on this. Too bad it was after the guy gave me his knives that looks like they were used to cut cinder blocks.
 
Worst case scenario if you do take a hit just consider free steel to practice on :)
 
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