The Cost of doing Business

Hi,

     Choosing a price for knife sharpening, for me was actually quite difficult and I think that is common thing for folks starting a business. I have adjusted it a few times but have since settled on a price.
     How do I do this:

     The first thing I did was look around at sharpening services in other parts of North America to get a ball park idea.  I can guarantee that my fees are either on par or less and in some cases quite significantly less. I was told by a person, knowledgeable about these things, not to undersell myself. I have been told that a few times and now I don't.
     I am quite proud of what I can do with a knife and the $10.00 fee per knife is quite quite reasonable considering what the return is.

     Also, one of the things that bothers me about some places is that they seem place an emphasis on the finishing stones grit to determine the cost, i.e. a 5,000 grit finish is less than a 10,000 or 12,000 grit finish. This gives the impression to knife owners that if I want the knife sharper I should get it taken all the way to 10k and pay a little more.

 Years ago I fell into this myself and had different edges at different costs, I long ago stopped that since becoming better educated on the effects of sharpening certain knives at different grits.

This method of calculating cost is not suitable in my opinion. 

     Now if you want a knife, any knife sharpened and finished at 16,000 grit just to see what it is like than I will do that but there is no increase in my cost.  If I finish your knife at 1k or 16k the cost is $10.00 for any knife under 8 inches.

    Choosing the finishing grit must be decided upon by knife being sharpened, not because I want to make people think I got it sharper because I went up to the roof in terms of grits.  The fact of the matter is, and I didn't always know this, but increased refinement of many knives can have a negative impact on edge retention. So a 1,000 grit finish is the best finish for so many knives, stainless knives. This in no way means the knife is less sharp, I spend a lot of time working on the knife with a coarse stone to make it sharp and varying pressure to get the edge I need, or rather, the edge you need.

    Don't be lured into thinking that a 10,000 grit edge is the best for my knife. It may be, if it is a Japanese knife with a high carbon content than yes, it can handle a higher level of refinement, it will beg for it :)


     If the cost of knife sharpening is the most important factor in choosing the sharpening service than I think people need to look around, I don't think they will find anyone that charges less anyway but the point is, if all a person cares about is how much it costs, then I may not be the best guy for that person.  Now if the person is worried about the knife and really concerned about how it will be when returned and how it is sharpened, I am definitely the right man:)

   

Did I thank you for being here?

:)

Peter