I am 5 minutes in, and both your audio and video look great and make paying attention easy, no distractions. How does the camera move and follow your face as you move? That seems like a cool option. Or is your cameraman just that responsive?

Just out of curiosity, would using a heat gun on a low setting work by opening the pores of the wood allowing the oil to saturate the wood. Just a rookie question, thank you.

This was a smart video. Love good ideas on how to upsell in ways customers love vs resent.

As far as training your competition, I just got in with one of the oldest groomers in the area (sharpening) and she said that she would be a great reference for me and said she's trained all the local groomers, meaning they all worked for her until they got good enough to leave and they left. She left her big building and transformed her garage into a small, one person salon to cut the overhead and to stop training the competition.

Did get mine yesterday. While it has the same actual microscope (cable, lens, housing and focus wheel) as another version I have, this wa cheaper and comes with the screen, holder and more. Really happy with it.

I think this may have been your best video yet. I have watched it a couple of times now. Your sharpening and tool reviews have really helped me, but you have given me just what I was looking for in this video. I am in the process of starting a Sharpening Service here in Southeast England, about 1 mile from Bisley Shooting ground. My existing business (shooting related) is seasonal and I needed to come up with something that would work over the winter to even cash out flow, yet still give me the ability to work from home and look after the kids (wife works full time). I cook a lot and get about 2 weeks of good edge from my Henckels. I use wet stones so my process is dead slow. I started researching and found the Tormek T8. This machine is overkill for my personal knives so I decided I would sharpen for 'friends and family'. Then I came up with the idea of sharpening for local families that I have contact with through school pick up and drop off. There is a large 'Housing Estate' (subdivision) about 500 meters from me so I thought I would start there. I am waiting for my Toolker 1 x 30 to arrive from China (stuck in Netherlands). I received Kaplan's book for my birthday last week and have read it a few times. I validated some of my ideas which was nice, but has really started me thinking. There are a few sharpening services near me and they do mostly garden tools, fix mowers, and seem to do knives on the side. They are really cheap. There is a business in a different part of the UK started run by an American (Great Edge Ltd). The guy is really nice and very technical. He has a great web site that I was thinking about copying. He is on youtube as well. He offers 2 tier pricing, basic and premium, but doesn't explain the difference on the website. I suspect he uses a Ken Onion for the basic and a Tormek for the premium. I was planning to do the same thing, but after reading Kaplan's book I think I will just offer a single price point. Why make the customer choose? I should choose for them as they are paying me to do what is best for them. Here in the UK, the post office will not handle knives. There are just 2 courier services that will accept them and they are both expensive. I was planning to offer free pick up and drop off just like another local sharpening service (Surrey Sharpening). They have a 'minimum spend' that varies by distance on their web site which is really complex as they list each village and have a different spend for each. My local village is really poor. Young military families and retired people. Your are either under 30 or over 90 in Bisley. There is a village a few miles away where the minimum rent for a house is around $6000 per month. It is about 10 minutes away but I was thinking that I would start with my local village to get references and then advertise on the well off village down the road, offering a free pick up and drop off service. There are lots of restaurants and hair dressers near me, but after watching your video I think I will focus on families. Like you, I am retired and like to work alone. I had 16 staff in my Canadian business and millions of dollars in liability. Leasing 3000 sq ft of prime office space, etc. Living with that for years took a toll on my family. I don't want to go back to that. I am still trying to decide on pricing. I think I just want to make customers happy (like I do with my existing business). A simple price model has its advantages that will probably be more successful in the long run through customer retention, but I can't prove this. Thanks again!

How bout a link to that video

Really interesting Paul! Great to hear some more in depth stuff about the business side of things. Big help for someone like me just starting their side hustle.

Great stuff, Paul!

Good podcast! Ty, Paul

Great video Paul! I’m new to knife sharpening and have been watching as many of your videos as I can in my free time.

What an insightful glimpse into the sharpening world! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. Looking forward to the next episode.

Great podcast Paul. Keep them coming.

Great video. Great info. Joined the Guild a few minutes ago with the Networking Plan so I can feel things out. Looking forward to this!

Great video. (Matt from Potomac Sharpening here). I actually just raised all of my prices. Keep up the great info, Paul.

Thanks for sharing this information with us amateurs out here. It was really helpful

Pro Strength Goof Off will take care of almost everything!

Came across this video and figured I'd share it with you they did alot of "upgrades" to their grizzly kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYe8c2V6hq-Lgrssi=iaHwpS1kclVfmw7G

Are you going to try and laser stipple the frame?

I've been using Hoppe's number 9 gunpowder solvent for years. Works really well for taking off sticky residue from packing tape etc.

I’ve used Goof Off Pro, and it does work great. But ... the odor really bothers me. I’m sensitive to chemical smells, so I use Goo Gone, which is a citrus based product. My experience is that it works well too. I let it work for a while - 30 to 60 minutes for stubborn adhesives. Just an alternative to keep in mind. Thanks, Paul,

That stuff does work good. I used to use soap and water and a scrub brush. What are your thoughts about WD-40 and a scrub brush? I want to give my customers a nice sharp but clean product without harming them. I have also tried windex.

Alot of people swear by ronsonol lighter fluid but you can just use naphtha

For stubborn labels I have to remove, I like to use a heat gun on low temperature setting. It softens the glue and it will peel right off. When I have to open a lot of packages and break down boxes, I like to use a Gerber EAB. It uses the small double ended contractor type utility blades. Cardboard will really dull a knife quickly. Why waste your good EDC knife blade on such a task?

Goof Off is the ticket for sure. I use it regularly on whatever EDC I’m carrying. I open and breakdown a lot of boxes (thank you Amazon!). A little bit off Goof Off cleans the residue off like magic. I didn’t know about the new tape and adhesive remover. I’ll be ordering from Amazon today! Ahhh…another box to open and breakdown! 😂

Reminded me of the fundamentals that sometimes I forget. Great one thank you

Many years ago. I had an old guy tell me that only happened with cheap knives. (The burr). I have struggled with knife sharpening for years. Thank you.

Same with me, on the best explanation on raising the burr and how to ,or why you should keep track on how many times you sharpen on each side. Great job on your explanation.

Great video! So informative and well taught. Thank you!

Sorry I sent the comment near the end of your video and soon realized you knew the platen tilted. I usually never comment so maybe I should continue in that practice. Lol.

Have the same grinder for knife making and just wanted to FYI that you can tilt the platen as well- which I do to grind bevels.

A couple of extra things to be aware of. 1. You dont need the remote control ti manipulate and take photos. All the controls along the lower bezel provive access to the microsope funtuons. 2 the newer updated versuon of the unit now also as an hdmi output which you can connect the scope direct to a large screen monitor without usung a computer/usb connection.

I built a 2" guide for my 2x42. One thing to really pay attention to is how wide the platen is. It needs to be at least 1/8" wider than the belt or you will catch the edge and shred the belt. Edge leading with a 2x42 is a bit too dangerous for my taste. Good luck with your new machine. It looks solid and very useful.

Paul, Thank You. I bought this after watching your previous video last week and I have to say, I am impressed! The camera/display is a flight of stairs above the 20x and 40x jewelers loupes I was using. This amount of clarity and visual information has vastly improved the quality of the edges I now produce. Thank you again!

Great video! How do the end results compare to the wicked edge that you sold?

I have made many mods to this machine you can contact me if you would like to see them

Fair amount of mod info out there for these. Might not apply to your plans, but that stuck on platen replacement seems to be common. Looking forward to seeing how you set this up!

Just purchased the Gochifix and the 40% coupon is still good after 5 days since you uploaded the video. Thank you, Paul, for helping the rookie out! Again, really appreciate you for sharing your instruction and knowledge! Thank you for making these videos!

Received mine yesterday. only took a few days to get it. Thanks for the discount code. Info presented in this video will be very helpful as I set it up this week. Thanks for todays lesson, Paul.

Looked at it for awhile since it came out but decided not to get. Toolcker could be better or just get an ameribrade 2 by 48.

I know the tormek is considerably faster, but in that situation to get the "EXACT" angle your shooting for i would use a fixed angle system, in your case the wicked edge. Thr end resilt though was very nice

If you sign up for their newsletter you get another 5% off, BTW.

I just wanted to say thank you. I retired from L.E. last year and I've been looking for a new career when I stumbled onto sharpening. You and a handful of other professionals have been amazing at helping me get on the right path.

Why? You have all you need. 🤷‍♂

I purchased one and look forward to your modifications

I saw that on sale and thought that was a pretty good deal!

Pretty solid looking machine!

Really appreciate your teaching and knowledge! Thank you for these videos!

received my microscope yesterday! AMAZING for the price. Thanks for getting this deal for us!

How do you choose how clear the negative image should be? On a clear surface, what would the Settings have been? Thank you and congratulations on the visa. It's wonderful! :)